Western Union 2014 Annual Report Download - page 163

2014 FORM 10-K
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Our future growth depends on our ability to compete effectively in money transfer and business payments. For example, if
we fail to price our services appropriately, consumers may not use our services, which could adversely affect our business and
financial results. In addition, we have historically implemented and will likely continue to implement price reductions from time
to time in response to competition and other factors. Price reductions generally reduce margins and adversely affect financial
results in the short term and may also adversely affect financial results in the long term if transaction volumes do not increase
sufficiently. Further, failure to compete on service differentiation and service quality could significantly affect our future growth
potential and results of operations.
As noted below under risk factor "Risks associated with operations outside the United States and foreign currencies could
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations," many of our agents outside the United States are
national post offices. These entities are usually governmental organizations that may enjoy special privileges or protections that
could allow them to simultaneously develop their own money transfer businesses. International postal organizations could agree
to establish a money transfer network among themselves. Due to the size of these organizations and the number of locations
they have, any such network could represent significant competition to us.
If customer confidence in our business or in consumer money transfer and payment service providers generally deteriorates,
our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our business is built on customer confidence in our brands and our ability to provide fast, reliable money transfer and
payment services. Erosion in customer confidence in our business, or in consumer money transfer and payment service providers
as a means to transfer money, could adversely impact transaction volumes which would in turn adversely impact our business,
financial condition and results of operations.
A number of factors could adversely affect customer confidence in our business, or in consumer money transfer and payment
service providers generally, many of which are beyond our control, and could have an adverse impact on our results of operations.
These factors include:
• changes or proposed changes in laws or regulations or regulator or judicial interpretation thereof that have the effect of
making it more difficult or less desirable to transfer money using consumer money transfer and payment service providers,
including additional customer due diligence, identification, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements;
• the quality of our services and our customer experience, and our ability to meet evolving consumer needs and preferences,
including customer preferences related to our digital services;
• failure of our agents or their subagents to deliver services in accordance with our requirements;
• reputational concerns resulting from actual or perceived events, including those related to fraud or consumer protection;
• actions by federal, state or foreign regulators that interfere with our ability to transfer consumers' money reliably, for example,
attempts to seize money transfer funds, or limit our ability to or prohibit us from transferring money in certain corridors;
• federal, state or foreign legal requirements, including those that require us to provide consumer or transaction data pursuant
to our settlement agreement with the State of Arizona and other requirements or to a greater extent than is currently required;
• any significant interruption in our systems, including by fire, natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failure,
terrorism, vendor failure, unauthorized entry and computer viruses or disruptions in our workforce; and
• any breach of our computer systems or other data storage facilities resulting in a compromise of personal data.
Many of our money transfer consumers are migrants. Consumer advocacy groups or governmental agencies could consider
migrants to be disadvantaged and entitled to protection, enhanced consumer disclosure, or other different treatment. If consumer
advocacy groups are able to generate widespread support for actions that are detrimental to our business, then our business,
financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.