Western Union, a global leader in money transfer services, provides immigrants throughout the world with the financial choice, convenience and control that helps connect them to their families and friends. Western Union understands that its strength and longevity as a company are a direct result of the trust and loyalty of its customers. The company is rewarding that loyalty by using the same qualities that have made it successful as a business to improve the lives and communities of the people it serves.
Immigration is one of the primary forces shaping the world today. That single fact makes Western Union one of the primary companies shaping the global movement of the payments and remittances that increasingly play a vital role in the global economy.
By their sheer numbers, immigrants are a nation unto themselves. The International Organization for Migration estimates that there are today more than 185 million immigrants in the world . Like immigrants throughout history, these are people who have left their home countries seeking opportunity abroad or fleeing poverty or oppression at home. By themselves they constitute the sixth largest population in the world, just slightly smaller than the population of Brazil.
The money these immigrants earn in a new locale and then send home to family and friends is a large piece of — the global remittance market — which the Aite Group estimates at $249 billion in 2005 growing at an annual rate of about eight percent. And at the center of all of that as a nexus for the financial freedom of immigrants is Western Union. Many misconceptions exist about remittance services and the consumers who use them. Through its ongoing relationship with its customers, Western Union has shattered some myths not only about those who use our products and services, but also about why they do and what products and services they find essential. For example…
| Western Union’s employees are a reflection of the consumers it serves around the world. Western Union services are offered in more than 200 countries and territories. Western Union employs nearly 5000 people around the world. Its operations span 18 global time zones. Its employees speak more than 75 different languages including dialects. |
MYTH: People who use remittances don’t use banks.
FACT: People who use Western Union also use the services of banks. They are not so much averse to banks as they are welcoming to the kind of services we provide and the way in which we provide them.
MYTH: Competition in the remittance market is shrinking.
FACT: Competition in the remittance market is growing – and not just competition for remittances, but also for money order and bill payment services, where large financial institutions are vying for a piece of the business. Western Union welcomes this competition. It is the catalyst that spurs our continued growth and innovation, benefiting both the consumer and the industry. Open competition has resulted in competitively priced services and availability of options to consumers within different segments.
MYTH: Consumers who use money transfer services do not show brand loyalty.
FACT: Western Union is enjoying significant success with its Gold Card loyalty program, which encourages customer retention by delivering a service that speeds transactions and rewards repeat business. Where the Gold Card is available, Western Union agents have found that transaction times are lower, retention is higher, and the number of transactions is greater when customers use loyalty cards. Consumers benefit also from increased convenience and time-savings. In some countries, consumers can also earn merchandise and even free phone time with every qualifying transaction. More than five million consumers in 56 countries now use Western Union’s loyalty cards.
MYTH: Consumers who use Western Union are poor.
FACT: The appeal of speed, convenience and reliability is strong across all income levels. A Peruvian consul general in the U.S. sends money home through Western Union for the simple reason that it gives her “peace of mind.” More than 50 percent of consumers who use the westernunion.com site to transfer funds have a household income of greater than $50,000 annually.
MYTH: Banks will make the money transfer business obsolete.
FACT: While many banks offer some type of money transfer service, it is difficult to compare these services, feature-for-feature, to Western Union. Most traditional bank wire services are designed with the bank’s current customers in mind. They require a banking relationship not only on the sender side, but also on the receiving end. Transfer of funds can take up to several days. However, many banks have realized the value of offering a more immediate money transfer service to complement their own traditional products. Western Union has teamed with many of these financial institutions and today, banks are one of the largest classes of trade in Western Union’s global agent network. More bank locations offer Western Union services than any other kind of business.
MYTH: Technology will make the money transfer business obsolete.
FACT: Just the opposite – technology has made the business more robust, not only in the number of products and services it enables, but also in the safety and security that is fundamental to all Western Union systems.
MYTH: Money transfers are a burden to the poor.
FACT: The convenience, reliability, plentiful agent locations, convenient hours and agents who speak in a consumer’s native tongue make Western Union not the cheapest, and not the most expensive, but the best value in the business. We have enough respect for our customers to know that if they thought our services weren’t right for them, or if we didn’t work hard to earn their business, they would take that business elsewhere.
Together, Western Union, Orlandi Valuta and Vigo offer money transfer services through more than 271,000 agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories. But numbers tell only half the story. Western Union’s leadership in the market and reach around the world translate into a deeper and more complete understanding of its customers — and a business model built on the belief that transactions are just one of the building blocks of sustainable, productive, mutually beneficial relationships.
Think of it this way: The millions of money transfers Western Union completes every year are merely the symptom of Western Union’s relationships. But trust is the cause. Western Union gives its customers choice, control, convenience, speed, value and reliability. But it can do so only if it has earned their trust. And Western Union clearly has earned that trust. Here’s why.
Migrants follow the opportunities, but they lead the Western Union business. The company has watched the patterns of immigration and the needs of immigrants for more than a century as governments have changed, borders have changed and political landscapes have changed.
Those changes in turn have led Western Union to become an ingrained part of the migrant community, not just a vendor for it. Whether those communities are Dominicans in New York City, Jamaicans in London or Romanians in Milan, Western Union contributes to their communities by finding agents who speak their language, services that meet their needs, business hours that fit their schedules, locations that add convenience and community involvement that adds to their quality of life.
By extending the relationship beyond the counter and into the community, Western Union helps to improve the lives of immigrants in a number of ways. For example, the company links its charitable giving to those issues that can make the most difference in the lives of its customers. Through the First Data Western Union Foundation it matches employee donations that do the same. And in the process, Western Union has learned that the more it can benefit its customer, the more customers it has benefiting Western Union.
The latest expression of Western Union’s focus on relationships is its involvement in the 4×1 Program. The program, which started in Zacatecas, Mexico, a state historically affected by migration to the United States, revolves around hometown associations of Mexicans in the U.S. Those associations raise funds for infrastructure improvements in their former towns in Mexico. For every dollar the associations send to Mexico, Mexican municipal, state and federal governments each add another dollar. Western Union’s parent company, First Data Corp. joined the program as the first private-sector company to be involved, and adds another dollar to the three from government and the one from hometown associations, becoming the fifth entity in the 4×1 Program. Its initial commitment is for $1.25 million.
The donations fund agricultural infrastructure, natural resources conservation efforts and community-based economic development projects, leading to more employment and a higher quality of life. Because of its existing involvement with immigrant communities, Western Union is in a unique position to help support the hometown associations. Once up and running, the hometown associations also tend to become more active and involved in their adopted communities.
The company is excited about the program’s possibilities in other states in Mexico, such as Michoacan and Jalisco, and with other countries around the world. Its experience in connecting people, its knowledge of the immigrants it serves, and its street-corner presence are more than fundamental to its business success. They’re also fundamental to the good it does for people.
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Through Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, Western Union is further increasing the choice and control it offers consumers. Headquartered in Cerritos, California, Orlandi Valuta provides same-day money transfer services |
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