Western Union Company (WU)

Western Union’s unmatched and growing network of agents (almost 3 times as many as MoneyGram’s) serves to keep Western Union as the key player globally.

Western Union and Travelex, the world's largest specialist foreign exchange company have agreed to offer money transfer services in Japan after the passing of the new Financial Settlement Act, which is to be implemented in June 2010. The act will allow non-banks to conduct money transfer operations, so upon Western Union's successful registration as a money transfer provider, Travelex is expected to become Western Union's first agent to offer the Wester Union Money Transfer service in Japan. This expansion of coverage into Japan will increase Western Union's global reach and increase its revenues.

World Bank estimates that remittances in 2008 were $283b, up from $265b in 2007. These numbers were estimated from nearly 200m migrants from developing countries, and don't include unrecorded remittances. With the economy and world labor markets recovering, Western Union has the potential to hold, as well as gain more, revenue through consumer-to-consumer fees because of its massive global network position. As the labor markets bounce back, WU should see an upward trend in remittance fees.

WU has a large network and gives consumers access to international products -- a nice asset for U.S. businesses to use when expanding internationally, away from the U.S. Economy.

Western Union’s strong position as a market share leader with brand name recognition

The large and growing migrant population is driving Western Union's growth.