Russian money-transfer service Zolotaya Korona (Golden Crown) has displaced Western Union as the most-popular option for sending money to Ukraine, according to Elena Makhaeva, who heads the department tasked with overseeing money-transfer services for the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
Zolotaya Korona and Western Union together own more than half of the Ukrainian money-transfer market, with the Russian service completing 29.4% of transactions in 2013 and Western Union completing 28%.
Other competitors include Russian bank Unistream, with 9.6% market share, Russian Contact, which was developed by Contact Bank and holds a 9% share, and Texas-based money-transfer service MoneyGram, which maintains an 8% share.
Earlier this month, the NBU further announced that Russia represented the leading money-transfer partner for Ukraine in 2013. Ukrainians were the recipients of $4.9 billion in transfers last year, with 60% of the money coming from Russia, 7.7% coming from the United States, and 5.2% from Italy.
Of all money flowing from Ukraine during the same time-period, Russians were the recipients of 44%, people in China received 4.4%, and the United States and Uzbekistan were 3rd with less than 3%.
Sources: Delo.ua, Interfax.ua