Western Union 2013 Annual Report Download - page 116

2013 FORM 10-K
6
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
The Western Union Company (the "Company," "Western Union," "we," "our" or "us") is a leader in global money movement
and payment services, providing people and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send money and make payments
around the world. The Company was incorporated in Delaware as a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Data Corporation ("First
Data") on February 17, 2006, and on September 29, 2006, First Data distributed all of its money transfer and consumer payments
businesses and its interest in a Western Union money transfer agent, as well as its related assets, including real estate, through a
tax-free distribution to First Data shareholders (the "Spin-off").
The Western Union® brand is globally recognized and represents speed, reliability, trust and convenience. As people move
and travel around the world, they are able to use the services of a well-recognized brand to transfer funds. Our Consumer-to-
Consumer money transfer service enables people to send money around the world, usually within minutes. As of December 31,
2013, our services were available through a global network of over 500,000 agent locations in more than 200 countries and
territories, with approximately 90% of those locations outside of the United States. Each location in our agent network is capable
of providing one or more of our services, with the majority offering a Western Union branded service. As of December 31, 2013,
approximately 70% of our locations had experienced money transfer activity in the previous 12 months.
We also provide consumers with flexible and convenient options for making one-time or recurring payments in our Consumer-
to-Business segment. This segment consists of United States bill payments, Pago Fácil (bill payments in Argentina), and
international bill payments.
The Business Solutions segment facilitates payment and foreign exchange solutions, primarily cross-border, cross-currency
transactions, for small and medium size enterprises and other organizations and individuals. The majority of the segment's business
relates to exchanges of currency at the spot rate, which enables customers to make cross-currency payments. In addition, in certain
countries, we write foreign currency forward and option contracts for customers to facilitate future payments.
We believe that brand strength, size and reach of our global network, convenience, reliability, and value for the price paid for
our customers have been important to the growth of our business. As we continue to seek to meet the needs of our customers for
fast, reliable and convenient global money movement and payment services, we are also working to enhance our services and
provide our consumer and business clients with access to an expanding portfolio of payment and other financial services and to
expand the ways our services can be accessed.
Our Segments
We manage our business around the consumers and businesses we serve and the types of services we offer. Each of our three
segments addresses a different combination of consumer groups, distribution networks and services offered. Our segments are
Consumer-to-Consumer, Consumer-to-Business and Business Solutions. Businesses not considered part of these segments are
categorized as "Other" and include our money order, prepaid and other businesses and services, in addition to costs for the review
and closing of acquisitions.