Western Union 2011 Annual Report Download - page 16

Online money transfer service. Our websites allow consumers to send funds online, generally using a credit or
debit card, for pay-out at most Western Union branded agent locations around the world. As of December 31,
2011, we are now providing online money transfer service in more than 20 countries, allowing consumers in
these countries to send money throughout the world.
Account based money transfer service. This service allows consumers to access Western Union services
electronically, directly from their bank’s Internet or automated teller machine (“ATM”) banking service.
Consumers can use their bank account to initiate a Western Union money transfer electronically, without having
to visit a physical Western Union agent location. In the United States, including some United States outbound
corridors, Canada and in other select international corridors, we provide a “Direct to Bank” service, enabling a
consumer to send a transaction from an agent location directly to a bank account. Globally, we have relationships
with over 80 banks that have agreed to offer one or more of these services, primarily through their online banking
portals.
Mobile money transfer service. Our mobile money transfer service provides consumers in certain countries
with the ability to transfer money to a mobile wallet or bank account. Consumers in selected countries can also
initiate transactions from their mobile phones and send money from mobile wallets or bank accounts. As of
December 31, 2011, there were over 150,000 Western Union agent locations enabled with the technology to
transfer money to a mobile phone.
Money transfer services through electronic channels, which include online, account based, and mobile money
transfer, combined were 3% of consolidated revenue for the year ended December 31, 2011.
Distribution and Marketing Channels
We offer our consumer-to-consumer service to millions of consumers around the world primarily through our
global network of third-party agents in almost every country and territory, with approximately 90% of our agent
locations being located outside of the United States. Our agents facilitate the global distribution and convenience
associated with our Western Union and other brands, which in-turn helps create demand for our services and
helps us to recruit and retain agents. Western Union agents include large networks such as post offices, banks and
retailers and other established organizations that provide other consumer products and services. Many of our
agents have multiple locations. Our agents know the markets they serve and work with our management to
develop business plans for their markets. Many of our agents contribute financial resources to, or otherwise
support, our efforts to market the business. Many agents operate in locations that are open outside of traditional
banking hours, for example on nights and weekends. Our top 40 agents globally have been with us an average of
approximately 16 years and in 2011, these long-standing agents were involved in transactions that generated
approximately 60% of our consumer-to-consumer revenue.
We provide our third-party agents with our multi-currency, real-time money transfer processing systems used
to originate and pay money transfers. We continue to develop our network around the world to optimize send and
receive corridors. Our systems and processes enable our agents to pay money transfers in more than 120
currencies worldwide. Certain of our agents can pay in multiple currencies at a single location. Our agents
provide the physical infrastructure and staff required to complete the transfers. Western Union provides central
operating functions such as transaction processing, settlement, marketing support and customer relationship
management to our agents.
Some of our agents outside the United States manage subagents. We refer to these agents as superagents.
Although our subagents are under contract with these superagents (and not with Western Union directly), the
subagent locations typically have access to similar technology and services as our other agent locations.
Our international agents often customize services as appropriate for their geographic markets. In some
markets, individual agents are independently offering specific services such as stored-value card payout options
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