MasterCard and Western Union are working together to integrate MasterCard Send into the Western Union money transfer service, enabling Western Union to deliver funds to virtually all U.S. debit cards, according to a press release.

The companies said the alliance opens a new channel for U.S. consumers to quickly and conveniently send money via Western Union to the debit cards people use every day, including non-Mastercard cards.

Western Union is the first such company first to offer the debit card-enabled service via the MasterCard Send platform in the U.S., according to the release.

The new Western Union service, expected to be available in early 2018, will initially offer digital funds transfers within the U.S. via westernunion.com and the WU mobile app, enabling senders to use their U.S. debit, credit and bank accounts to fund a payment. Customers simply need to know the recipient's 16-digit debit card number to complete the transfer, according to the release.

"With MasterCard Send, Western Union customers now have a powerful new way to send funds directly to the debit cards in the wallets of millions of Americans," said Leigh Amaro, senior vice president of enterprise partnerships for MasterCard, in the release. "Today's consumer is busier than ever, and any option to make everyday tasks like money transfer more convenient is hugely important. Western Union is giving consumers one more option to make the service work for their needs."

In a separate announcement, MasterCard said that London-based Standard Chartered Bank is the most recent major bank integrating the Send service to broaden their cross-border payment services.