News

Western Union, Amex to offer money transfers at ATMs

February 21, 2002

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Western Union Financial Services, Inc., a subsidiary of First Data Corp. (NYSE:FDC), and American Express will provide Western Union® Money Transfer services to consumers at American Express owned and operated ATMs.

The wire transfer service will be piloted at ATMs in Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles and San Francisco early in the third quarter of 2000. The service will be rolled out to additional markets throughout 2000 and in early 2001. The companies are targeting 6,000 ATMs within the American Express network to receive the service.

The Western Union Money Transfer service will allow consumers to send funds from a Western Union agent location to any participating ATM in the U.S. To receive funds, consumers simply type in their identification number and system-assigned confirmation code. No bankcard is necessary, and because the combination of identification codes will be unique for every transaction, the process is secure.

"Our partnership with American Express marks a new era for Western Union" said Mike Yerington, president, Western Union North America. "By creating a fully automated means of transferring funds, we will achieve a level of unsurpassed security and convenience for consumers. As a result, we expect our overall transaction volume to grow."

"We are excited to be at the forefront of this innovative ATM capability and to fulfill our promise of providing additional financial services via our ATM network," said Eugene DeSilva, vice president of new business ventures at American Express. "Providing around-the-clock access to money transfers is a great value to our mutual customers and a terrific opportunity for our merchant partners to attract more consumers."

Western Union plans to enroll other ATM owners/operators in the network. "We believe our transaction volume can accelerate as we enroll other ATM owners/operators," Yerington added. "Unlike current ATM transactions, this represents an entirely new opportunity. Growth in the network will only increase the appeal of the service."

Western Union acquired the exclusive license rights to the technology covering cardless ATM transactions from EDS. The Plano, Texas-based company will provide data processing and transaction switching services to support the new network.