Case Study: Western Union Business Solutions achieves PSD2-compliant 2FA and reduced verification costs with Twilio Authy & Verify

How Western Union Protects Customers Sending Cross-border Payments With The Twilio Authy Api

Western Union Business Solutions, the corporate payments arm of Western Union serving 60,000+ clients and processing cross‑border payments in 130 currencies across 200+ countries, faced the need to meet Europe’s PSD2/open banking requirements for strong customer authentication. The company needed a way to deliver two‑factor authentication across B2C and B2B portals, preserve a cohesive branded experience, support users with varying device constraints, and avoid the complexity and cost of building its own global verification system.

WUBS implemented Twilio Authy (with Twilio Verify and Lookup) for registration, logins and transaction authorization, white‑labeling the flow for a consistent brand experience and offering multiple 2FA options (mobile app, desktop app, SMS, voice/SIP). Pre‑validation of phone numbers and push confirmations reduced one‑time passcode delivery costs, simplified migration from legacy methods, and delivered a single, PSD2‑compliant authentication solution that meets diverse customer needs while improving security and operational efficiency.

Western Union Business Solutions

Teri Jossul

Global Business Analysis Manager