Deal Adds Additional 70 Agent Locations in United Arab Emirates
DENVER, June 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC), a
global leader in electronic commerce and payment services, today announced
that its Western Union Financial Services subsidiary has signed an agreement
with the United Arab Emirates General Postal Authority. Under the agreement,
in July 2002, the Emirates Post will begin offering Western Union Money
Transfer(R) services in 15 pilot locations throughout the United Arab
Emirates. The companies anticipate expanding to the remaining 55 Emirates
Post locations in early 2003.
The agreement significantly expands Western Union's presence throughout
the United Arab Emirates to 184 agent locations, increasing the total number
of Western Union agent locations in the MESA Region (Middle East & South Asia)
to more than 6,100 locations.
Emirates Post is the latest addition to Western Union's growing network of
international Post Offices. The company currently has agreements with nearly
70 postal organizations, including India Post, China Post, La Poste in France
and Deutsche Post in Germany. Western Union's relationships with the world's
postal organizations offer it unique growth opportunities. These
organizations provide a large, stable network of locations in both rural
communities and urban centers, allowing Western Union to extend availability
of its services to all segments of the population.
"Western Union continues to expand availability of its services
internationally," said Bill Thomas, president, Western Union International.
"As the world's population continues to migrate in search of opportunity,
Western Union's increased presence around the world insures that we will be
where our customers need us, when they need us. The addition of the Emirates
Post to our international agent network allows Western Union to better serve
the large UAE community in the world and the millions of expatriates living in
the Emirates who continue to provide financial support to their loved ones
back home."
"Emirates Post has always been keen to introduce a variety of quality
services to enhance our customers satisfaction," said Abdulla Al Daboos,
director general of the Emirates Post. "We are proud to have come together
with Western Union to boost the money transfer business and to introduce a
tailor-made service to the market. This alliance will provide Emirates Post's
clients with access to convenient, reliable, and fast money transfer
services."
About Western Union Financial Services, Inc. and First Data
Western Union Financial Services, Inc., a subsidiary of First Data Corp.
(NYSE: FDC), is an international leader in consumer money transfer services.
Consumers can quickly, safely and reliably pay bills and transfer money around
the globe using the company's proprietary money transfer network. Western
Union and its subsidiary, Orlandi Valuta, together make up one of the world's
largest money transfer networks with a total of approximately 124,000 Agent
locations in more than 185 countries and territories. Famous for its
pioneering telegraph service, the original Western Union dates back to 1851
and introduced electronic money transfer service in 1871. For more
information, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.westernunion.com .
First Data Corp., with global headquarters in Denver, helps power the
global economy. Serving approximately 2.8 million merchant locations, 1,400
card issuers and millions of consumers, First Data makes it easy, fast and
secure for people and businesses to buy goods and services, using virtually
any form of payment: credit, debit, smart card, stored-value card or check at
the point-of-sale, over the Internet or by money transfer. For more
information, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.firstdata.com .
SOURCE Western Union Financial Services, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.westernunion.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/138116.html
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/103364.html
CONTACT:
Wendy Carver Herbert of Western Union
Financial Services, Inc., +1-303-967-6416,
wendy.carver@firstdatacorp.com
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