Western Union Canada

Englewood, Colo. and Toronto, Canada, June 3, 2011 - Western Union, in collaboration with L'Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane (ICBPI) which manages Istituto Nazionale Previdenza Sociale (INPS) pension payments for Italians living abroad, has processed the payment of more than 140,000 pensions across 60 countries since May 2010.

Western Union was chosen by ICBPI for the reliability of its service, expertise in handling cross border transactions, and its global network.

Beginning in May 2011, the Italian government via INPS mandated that overseas pensioners must prove their existence every year in order for the government to maintain updated pension payment records. Pensioners can satisfy this requirement by picking up their pensions in person at any one of Western Union's more than 412,000 Agent locations across more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, Western Union has more than 2,700 Agent locations.

The company is working hard to address challenges posed by the new verification requirement, including the lack of identification papers, changes in the spelling of names and more. ICBPI has also sent out letters to pensioners to explain and clarify the collection process, and pensioners should confirm records of their names with ICBPI before travelling to Western Union Agent locations to collect payments. Western Union continues to work with ICBPI and IINPS to identify ways to ease the process for pensioners.

Western Union is proud of its fast, reliable and simple processes for cross border money transfers and payments. Millions use Western Union to transfer money and pay bills every day - on average Western Union processes over 19 transactions per second. Currently Western Union also processes pension payments for French, Chilean and Italian pensioners overseas.

"This has been a learning process for everyone - Western Union, ICBPI, INPS. But we all share the same goal - to ensure pension payments are made to the right beneficiaries, quickly. Western Union had been paying out cash to pensioners for 12 months, before the new requirement by INPS for "proof of life" was mandated in May 2011.

"Our Agents are doing everything possible to help beneficiaries collect their pensions. However, money transfer, like all financial services, is highly regulated and we must meet strict international and national compliance laws when paying out money," said Brian Fox, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Canada - Western Union.

Pensioners who need assistance with the new processes can call ICBPI at (011) 39.0432.744.252 / fax (011) 39.0645.485.692 or email to servizio.inps@icbpi.it.

To find the nearest Western Union Agent location in Canada, go to http://westernunion.com and look for the Agent Locator Tool

Download ICBPI initiative FAQs in English.

Download ICBPI initiative FAQs in Italian.

Send money to Kenya directly into their hands.

You can now send money to your friends and family in Kenya directly to their mobile phone via M-PESA and Western Union. Simply visit a participating Western Union Agent location and make the transfer as normal giving the recipient's phon number as their address.

UNDP and Philippines national and local government collaborate to lead project

MANILA, Philippines, April 5, 2011 - The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Government of the Philippines today launched a US$250,000 major project wholly funded by the Western Union Foundation to harness the power of remittances from migrant workers to drive sustainable economic development in the Philippines.

The Overseas Filipinos Remittances for Development: Building a Future Back Home (OFs-RED) Project aims to launch a pilot program to pool funds from migrant workers and channel them into projects that lead to economic development and community-based enterprises in the workers' home communities.

The two-year project is made possible by a US$250,000 grant from Western Union's philanthropic arm The Western Union Foundation.

Renaud Meyer, UNDP country director in the Philippines, said: "The Western Union Foundation funded OFs-RED project will contribute to efforts in the Philippines to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the target to halve poverty by 2015, by supporting the creation of an enabling environment for overseas Filipinos and their families to use remittances for development."

The project will test a mechanism to facilitate and direct overseas remittances towards savings and investment in livelihood improvement and entrepreneurship for the poor and vulnerable, and ultimately create jobs and reduce poverty. The Philippines is the world's fourth largest recipient of overseas remittances after India, China and Mexico with US$18.76 billion sent home in 2010, or about 14% of GDP, Mr. Meyer said.

Patricia Riingen, Senior Vice President, Pacific and Indochina, said: "At Western Union, we believe that leaving home to work overseas should be a choice, not a necessity borne of lack of options. We share the dream that, some day, people in the Philippines and in developing countries everywhere will have the option to stay with their families, that jobs and opportunities at home will provide a choice and that going overseas will be but one way to make a better life. That is why we are so wholeheartedly committed to the OFs-RED project."

Western Union's commitment towards this project commenced in 2008, when the company funded an Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) report to test the interest of pooling remittance. The report found there was willingness to offer and use pooled or collective remittances to fund development, but there was no efficient mechanism to do so.

In 2009 Western Union facilitated a dialogue with multiple stakeholders from government, civil society, business and academia.

Luella Chavez D'Angelo, President of the Western Union Foundation added, "We are delighted that what commenced as a concept was tested in a dialogue and now we are turning the concept into action, collaboratively with development and government experts. This represents a breakthrough in Western Union's corporate social responsibility program here in the Philippines."

"Western Union transfers much more than money. We at the Western Union Foundation have decided to honor that by committing USD250,000 to the UNDP to develop the OFs-RED Project, which will be rolled out over in six stages over two years."

The program intends to efficiently and accountably link hard monies from overseas to create sustainable small businesses that generate jobs and economic opportunity back home in the Philippines. Upon success, the model will be replicated in different parts of the world," she said. The project will jointly be led by UNDP, the Philippines Government's National Economic and Development Authority, The Commission on Filipinos Overseas, Local Government Units and Western Union.

The six phase project will involve facilitating Governmental support for public policy inclusion of collective remittances; building awareness for the concept; getting people living and working overseas organized to pool funds; giving people at home the skills and capabilities to identify and carry out projects; promotion of the concept and mobilizing funds, including public and private fund matching and implementing a pilot between two send countries and Ilocos Norte and Taguig City in the Philippines.

Rolando G. Tugpalan, Deputy Director-General of the Philippines' National Economic and Development Authority, echoed the need for all stakeholders to work closely together. He said: "Consistent with the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016, the OFs-RED Project aims to develop policies and field-test models to harness remittances for community-based enterprise development. It encourages multistakeholder collaboration to expand livelihood opportunities and create more jobs."

"We are encouraged by Western Union's commitment and hope there would be many other corporations that would follow this example," he said.

Secretary Imelda Nicolas, Chair of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, said: "The objective of harnessing remittances for development is the next frontier for development banking.

"On behalf of OFWs we applaud Western Union's leadership and hope that the banking and financial sectors will create the same enabling and creative environment as they did in microfinance," she said. She challenged finance sector leaders to take up the challenge of working with overseas Filipinos and their families, all levels of government and civil society in creating a new model for development.

These contributions represent a portion of a US$1.1 million grant from the Western Union Foundation to support the efforts of three United Nations agencies to advance the Millennium Development Goals - a set of eight internationally-agreed goals designed to reduce poverty, hunger, disease, and maternal and child deaths by 2015.

Chinese New Year is coming! You can send money to China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, for as low as $ 10 transfer fee. Send $0.01 to $500 for $10 CDN, $500.01 to $1,000 for $15 CDN. For over $1000, $9 + 1% of money sent.

Send money to the Philippines for as low as $9 using our Next Day service at participating Western Union agent locations.

To find out more about our special offers for Very Important Pinoys (VIP) visit our VIP page.

Huseyin Guler, who came to Canada 10 years ago from Turkey, now lives with his family in Woodbridge, Ontario and regularly sends support to his parents left behind. After trying different methods of transferring money, Huseyin now only trusts Western Union: "Money is right there, as soon as I send it. It is very fast, and so easy for my parents to pick it up. So I don`t worry!" explains Huseyin.

Huseyin also goes to a particular Cash Money store, which is conveniently located in his neighbourhood and likes the fast and professional service offered by that Agent location. He was delighted to learn that one of his money transfers awarded him a grand prize from Western Union's Holiday Surprise promotion. Huseyin said this was a true surprise, and chose to take $1500 in cash lieu of the airline voucher. "I'm still not sure what my wife and I will do with this money, lots of options! But who knows, we might save it and really fly to Turkey., we can get almost two tickets for this money!" explained Huseyin.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., and TORONTO, Dec 2, 2010 - The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), and EnStream LP, today announced that the Western Union international money transfer service is available through the Zoompass Mobile Wallet Application.. In September, the two companies announced a strategic alliance that would enable 23 million Canadian mobile subscribers to send Western Union Money Transfer transactions from their mobile phones to over 200 countries and territories worldwide, through the Zoompass Wallet.

EnStream is a mobile-commerce joint venture company owned by Bell Canada, Rogers Communications and TELUS Corp. These three leading national mobile operators collectively serve 95 percent of the mobile market in Canada, consisting of 23 million subscribers.*

EnStream created the Zoompass Mobile Wallet to provide Canadians with an easy to use and convenient way to transact using digital currency, payment cards and other credentials accessible through a mobile device. The award-winning Zoompass Wallet application already provides Canadians with an innovative way to send, receive and request digital currency domestically. As of today, Zoompass users can send money around the world, using the Western Union Money Transfer service within the application.

"Enabling consumers to send a money transfer from a mobile device, at any time, and from anywhere, is an exciting new way for Canadians to remit funds back home," said Brian Fox, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Western Union in Canada. "The Western Union Money Transfer service represents a fast, convenient and reliable connection with family and friends. Anything that we can do to make that connection stronger is an example of the tremendous value the Western Union brand offers to consumers."

"The EnStream and Western Union teams have collaborated over the past six months to bring this revolutionary mobile remittance service to market," said Robin Dua, President of EnStream LP. "EnStream is working tirelessly to bring new Mobile Wallet services to all Zoompass users. With Western Union, we had the opportunity to create a sophisticated user interface, that makes it easy for all Canadians to move money worldwide, with just a few keystrokes on their mobile phone."

Once a Western Union Money Transfer transaction has been initiated through Zoompass, the recipient can pick up the funds in cash at a participating Western Union Agent location. Subscribers of mobile operators with whom Western Union has launched the Mobile Money Transfer service can also have funds delivered directly to their phone's Mobile Wallet account. This service is currently available on networks in 27 countries, including Smart Communications and Globe Telecom in the Philippines, M-Pesa in Kenya and Safaricom in the UK.

Western Union functionality is now available online, via mobile browser and within the downloadable Zoompass application for BlackBerry devices. The downloadable Zoompass application for iPhone and Android devices will follow in the coming weeks. To download the Zoompass Mobile Wallet application or to learn more about the Western Union Money Transfer service available through Zoompass, visit www.zoompass.com/westernunion.

*Source: CWTA Subscriber StatsQ4/2009; TNS Canadian Facts Survey, 2009, Delvinia DIG April 2010

Media Contacts:

Daniel Diaz, Western Union
+1 (720) 332-5564
daniel.diaz@westernunion.com

Erin McLean, EnStream
+ 1 (416) 365-9000 x233
erin.mclean@enstream.com

About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. The Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services are offered through a combined network of approximately 435,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2009, The Western Union Company completed 196 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $71 billion of principal between consumers, and 415 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com. About EnStream LP EnStream LP is a mobile commerce company working to bring transformational wireless payment solutions to market together with its carrier partners. With anytime-anywhere money transfers and payments representing a new frontier of wireless services, EnStream's mandate is to develop standardized, secure, and easy-to-use mobile commerce services that work across Canadian wireless carriers and with existing credit, debit, and prepaid capabilities offered by financial institutions. EnStream is a joint-venture company owned by Canada's three leading national wireless operators - Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications Inc., and TELUS Corporation. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. For further information, please visit www.enstream.com or www.zoompass.com/westernunion.

Check out our Canadian TV Commercials and our Youtube Channel as well!

Enjoy the convenience of sending money online to family and friends worldwide 24/7. Only $9 plus 1% of money sent for transfers below $1,000. Available on online transfers under $1,000 using Scotia OnLine® Financial Services. Plus, get 12 months of free banking when you send money and open a new Scotiabank Powerchequing® Account. See Scotiabank for details.

Western Union reaches out to some of its key consumers -- migrant workers from the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, the Philippines, and other countries -- by hosting sports and social events throughout Canada’s growing season from April to October.

The events provide the organization with opportunities to meet some of its consumers face to face and talk to them about how Western Union Money Transfer® services can help them achieve their goals.

“Some of these migrant workers are here for up to eight months of the year. They are away from their home country, their spouse, children, family and friends, and we try to provide some extra support while they are here,” says Brian Fox, senior vice president and regional manager for Canada. “We offer social outlets such as soccer and cricket matches for them to have some fun on their days off.”

Western Union representatives, who come from the same or similar parts of the world and speak the migrant workers’ language, run these events so that the workers feel more at home. They also distribute practical items that the migrant workers can use while out in the fields.

“Our people are here to build trusted relationships with the migrant worker community,” says Fox. “The community uses our services year after year so we feel it’s our responsibility to give something back and thank them for their loyalty.”

Western Union also distributes a Migrant Worker’s Handbook, which offers information about Canada, its weather, currency, public services, and cycling safety -- a key topic for members of the community who often use bicycles as their main source of transportation. Western Union has been hosting migrant worker events for several years and the organization’s commitment to the migrant worker community is well established. Soccer or cricket matches often attract from 300 to 500 migrant workers, and many tell Western Union’s representatives that they look forward each year to the summer events.

“Migrant workers are an amazing group of people who make tremendous sacrifices to support and improve the lives of their children and their families at home and provide invaluable service to Canadian agriculture,” says Fox. “Some have been coming to Canada to work for 20 years, sending most of what they earn back home to their families. We are proud that Western Union is there to help them achieve their goals.”