Chandigarh, India — Western Union, a worldwide leader in money transfer services, has reached its 300,000 agent location [1] milestone with its latest opening in Chandigarh, India. Western Union, together with its affiliates Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, is a leading provider of money transfer services in the world. Consumer demand for Western Union services continues to grow due to long-term global migration trends, which create increasing cross-border remittances. Globally the cross-border remittance market is estimated to be worth $269 billion [2] , and India is the largest receiver of remittances with $23.4 billion received in 2006 alone [3] .
Christina Gold, President and CEO Western Union: "In October 2006 Western Union completed a successful spin-off from First Data and rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange in celebration of the listing of the newly independent Western Union. At the time I stated that this is a very exciting time for the Western Union Company providing an opportunity to shape our own future by continuing to deliver quality and value to our consumers and agent partners. Reaching 300.000 Agent locations enables us to deliver on our promise to our consumers. We are constantly striving towards ensuring customer satisfaction and network enhancement through this growth strategy."
Hikmet Ersek, Executive Vice President and Managing Director Western Union, Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia who took part at the opening ceremony, inaugurating the 300.000th Agent location at the Paul Merchants Limited location in Chandigarh, India said: "Western Union continues to create rich opportunities by strengthening its brand, expanding and deepening relationships with consumers by re-investing in growing the business and strategically adding new agent locations to the Western Union network."
Western Union has over 36,000 agent locations in India across over 4,000 cities, towns and villages. This includes over 8,500 post offices, over 14,000 branches of leading banks and over 14,000 locations of leading public and private sector companies. The new agent location is run by Paul Merchants Limited, a principal agent for Western Union in India since 1998.
[1] Agent is Paul Merchants Limited
[2] Aite Group, LLC 2006
[3] World Bank Report 2006
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) a leading provider of global money transfer services. Together with its affiliates, Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. It operates through a network of approximately 300,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
About Paul Merchants
Paul Merchants Limited (PML) is the flagship Company of the renowned "PAUL MERCHANTS" Group based at Chandigarh, a conglomerate having prominent interest in fields like Forex, International Money Transfer, Finance, Immigration, Tours & Travels and Holidays Packages and Air Ticketing. The Group also has a presence in the Entertainment Industry, Distribution of Petroleum Products and Distribution of Telecommunication Services. Paul Merchants Limited is listed on Delhi Stock Exchange.
PML commenced Money Exchange business in 1995 and at the moment is one of the leading players in Money Exchange arena & is rated amongst top ten sellers of American Express (AMEX) Travelers Cheques in India. The company is already well established in the money exchange business and is in all the major cities across the length and breadth of the country. Paul Merchants Limited had already been operating as a Western Union Agent, but this new long-term agreement broadens the corporation.
