The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), a leader in global payment
services, announced today that it has renamed its international
business payments service Western Union Business Solutions.
Western Union has offered the service under the Custom House
name since September 2009. Western Union acquired Custom House –
which provides international business payments and foreign-exchange
solutions to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) – last year
to establish a foundation in the estimated US$24 billion SME
business payments market. With the rebranding of the service,
Western Union will cease using the Custom House brand.
Following the acquisition, the two companies conducted a wide
variety of qualitative and quantitative research to determine the
needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in making
international payments and whether they felt those needs were being
met.
According to Western Union’s research, many of the businesses
surveyed had experienced issues making cross-border payments with
their current providers, including:
- Lack of 24/7 access
- Difficult-to-use online payment
platforms
- Exchange-rate risk and lack of
expertise
- Lack of transparency in the payments
process
In addition, according to a report issued by independent
research firm Aite, many small businesses in the U.S. that were
surveyed separately reported that their current provider of the
service didn’t understand their needs in making cross-border
payments.
“Our research has found that SMEs’ overall satisfaction with
their financial institutions has decreased over the last few
years,” said Christine Barry, Research Director of Aite Group’s
Wholesale Banking segment. “Many SMEs don’t feel that their current
international payments provider offers the products and services
they need or an easy-to-use online banking application. In
addition, many SMEs don’t feel their current provider understands
the specific needs of their business.”
Western Union acquired Custom House for a number of reasons;
namely, because of the company’s established reputation for
providing exceptional customer service to SME clients through
direct branch locations and a robust online platform.
The rebranding of the B2B service as Western Union Business
Solutions is the culmination of the integration of the two
companies.
“Today we announce that two strong companies are now one,” said
David Yates, Executive Vice President for Alternative Channels,
Western Union. “The Custom House team brings deep expertise in
foreign exchange and in helping SMEs navigate the complicated
business of international payments. Western Union brings a
well-known global brand and expertise in moving money around the
globe. By combining the strengths of these two unique companies, we
can expand our service offering to new markets and geographies
around the world.”
With the Western Union Business Solutions service offering, SME
customers can access local, personalized service by contacting
experienced foreign-exchange professionals in 32 branch offices in
seven countries. In addition, businesses can make international
business payments online in more than 140 currencies 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. The new Western Union Business Solutions
website, http://business.westernunion.com, offers real-time
foreign-exchange rates and access to a dedicated team of industry
specialists – saving businesses like importers and their suppliers
both time and money.
The website also offers SMEs a variety of tools to manage their
businesses, including:
- Market newsletters detailing the latest
trends from industry experts
- Webinars to help businesses to better
manage payments
- Whitepapers containing the latest
information affecting businesses
In the coming year, Western Union plans to expand its B2B
service globally, with plans to enter several new markets in the
next several years, with a particular focus on the EU.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global
payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago
Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment
services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with
fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around
the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. The
Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services are offered
through a combined network of approximately 435,000 agent locations
in 200 countries and territories. In 2009, The Western Union
Company completed 196 million consumer-to-consumer transactions
worldwide, moving $71 billion of principal between consumers, and
415 million business payments. For more information, visit
www.westernunion.com.
Safe Harbor Compliance Statement for Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains certain statements that are
forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees
of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and
assumptions that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and
results may differ materially from those expressed in, or implied
by, our forward-looking statements. Words such as “expects,”
“intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “guides,”
“provides guidance,” “provides outlook” and other similar
expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,”
“should,” “would” and “could” are intended to identify such
forward-looking statements. Readers of this press release by The
Western Union Company (the “Company,” “Western Union,” “we,” “our”
or “us”) should not rely solely on the forward-looking statements
and should consider all uncertainties and risks discussed in the
Risk Factors section and throughout the Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2009. The statements are only as of
the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to
update any forward-looking statement.
Possible events or factors that could cause results or
performance to differ materially from those expressed in our
forward-looking statements include the following: changes in
immigration laws, patterns and other factors related to migrants;
our ability to adapt technology in response to changing industry
and consumer needs or trends; our failure to develop and introduce
new products, services and enhancements, and gain market acceptance
of such products; the failure by us, our agents or subagents to
comply with our business and technology standards and contract
requirements or applicable laws and regulations, especially laws
designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing,
and/or changing regulatory or enforcement interpretations of those
laws; failure to comply with the settlement agreement with the
State of Arizona; the impact on our business of the Dodd-Frank Wall
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the rules promulgated
there-under; changes in United States or foreign laws, rules and
regulations including the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as
amended, and governmental or judicial interpretations thereof;
changes in general economic conditions and economic conditions in
the regions and industries in which we operate; adverse movements
and volatility in capital markets and other events which affect our
liquidity, the liquidity of our agents or clients, or the value of,
or our ability to recover our investments or amounts payable to us;
political conditions and related actions in the United States and
abroad which may adversely affect our businesses and economic
conditions as a whole; interruptions of United States government
relations with countries in which we have or are implementing
material agent contracts; our ability to resolve tax matters with
the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities consistent
with our reserves; mergers, acquisitions and integration of
acquired businesses and technologies into our company, and the
realization of anticipated financial benefits from these
acquisitions; changes in, and failure to manage effectively
exposure to, foreign exchange rates, including the impact of the
regulation of foreign exchange spreads on money transfers and
payment transactions; failure to maintain sufficient amounts or
types of regulatory capital to meet the changing requirements of
our regulators worldwide; our ability to maintain our agent network
and business relationships under terms consistent with or more
advantageous to us than those currently in place; failure to
implement agent contracts according to schedule; deterioration in
consumers’ and clients’ confidence in our business, or in money
transfer providers generally; failure to manage credit and fraud
risks presented by our agents, clients and consumers or
non-performance by our banks, lenders, other financial services
providers or insurers; any material breach of security of or
interruptions in any of our systems; adverse rating actions by
credit rating agencies; liabilities and unanticipated developments
resulting from litigation and regulatory investigations and similar
matters, including costs, expenses, settlements and judgments;
failure to compete effectively in the money transfer industry with
respect to global and niche or corridor money transfer providers,
banks and other money transfer services providers, including
telecommunications providers, card associations, card-based payment
providers and electronic and internet providers; our ability to
protect our brands and our other intellectual property rights; our
failure to manage the potential both for patent protection and
patent liability in the context of a rapidly developing legal
framework for intellectual property protection; cessation of
various services provided to us by third-party vendors; changes in
industry standards affecting our business; changes in accounting
standards, rules and interpretations; our ability to attract and
retain qualified key employees and to manage our workforce
successfully; significantly slower growth or declines in the money
transfer market and other markets in which we operate; adverse
consequences from our spin-off from First Data Corporation;
decisions to downsize, sell or close units, or to transition
operating activities from one location to another or to third
parties, particularly transitions from the United States to other
countries; decisions to change our business mix; catastrophic
events; and management’s ability to identify and manage these and
other risks.
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