The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) today announced that it has
renewed its relationship with La Banque Postale. The new agreement
will enable Western Union to pursue a successful business strategy as
it continues to create rich opportunities by strengthening the Western
Union brand and its relationships with Agents.
With approximately 29 million customers, La Banque Postale
operates one of France's largest financial services networks. They
have a bank license that allows them to offer a wide range of
financial services. In October 2006, Western Union and La Banque
Postale celebrated 10 years of working together. The agreement with La
Banque Postale promises to increase Western Union's reach throughout
France. Presently, Western Union and its agents operate more than
3,000 locations across France, and customers carry out millions of
Western Union Money Transfers annually with La Banque Postale.
Both organizations also manage a successful joint venture "La
Societe Financiere de Paiements" (SFdP) which, along with its
correspondents, manages a network of 46 branches located in France's
major cities. This joint venture was created in 2003 to complement the
Western Union service offering within La Banque Postale and endeavor
to meet the wide-ranging needs of customers -- primarily immigrants
who have left home to seek a better life in France and who continue to
send money home to the families they have left behind. These
remittances provide support for everyday necessities like education,
food and health.
Establishing the joint venture has enabled Western Union to extend
opening hours, merchandise and brand stores to increase visibility and
focus on training employees solely on money transfer services. Many of
SFdP's employees are from varying ethnic backgrounds and have
multi-language skills. SFdP branches offer a personalized service with
staff, speaking Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Urdu and Turkish, among
other languages, as customers are primarily from Northern and
Sub-Saharan Africa, notably Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon and
Ivory Coast, but also from China, Haiti, Turkey and Brazil.
La Societe Financiere de Paiements is continuing to grow,
particularly through the creation of commercial relationships with new
banking partners like the WAFA Bank and Banque Accord. In February
2006, Travelex Banque signed an agreement with La Societe Financiere
de Paiements to offer Western Union services in 24 of their branches.
The joint venture's latest coup was acquiring five dedicated Agent
locations from CPR Billets, a subsidiary from the Tessi group. These
locations had already been offering the Western Union (R) Money
Transfer service, and their employees are well trained in the money
transfer sector. They are from diverse ethnic backgrounds and have
lots of experience with understanding Western Union consumers. These
newly bought dedicated Agent locations have already been recognized as
"Flagship" stores.
Hikmet Ersek, Vice President and Managing Director Western Union,
Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia, said, "Western Union is
one of the leading providers of money transfer services in the world.
We provide our customers with a valuable service. We continue to grow
by increasing our Agent network, and we are constantly striving
towards attaining complete customer satisfaction. The extension of our
agreement with La Banque Postale truly helps us to expand the Western
Union services throughout France."
About Western Union
Western Union, together with its affiliates Orlandi Valuta and
Vigo, is a leading provider of global money transfer services,
providing people with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send money
around the world, pay bills and purchase money orders through a
network of approximately 300,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries
and territories. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
WU-G
