Western Union has launched a new Visa prepaid gift card and greeting card offering enabling consumers to send the gift of money using Western Union branded prepaid gift cards available at http://www.WesternUnion.com. READ MORE

The latest Western Union Payment Services Money Mindset Index defines US consumers’ current money mindset as “cautious optimism” - "as consumers are more effectively managing their spending and expecting the economy to improve. Despite this optimism, respondents have conflicting feelings about the importance of credit scores. Given the current credit lending restrictions, consumers need to become savvier to ensure their credit score does not adversely affect their financial goals." READ MORE

Wells Fargo has announced the nationwide availability of its newest online bill pay feature - allowing customers to make “just in time” online bill payments to merchants, such as utility, auto finance and mortgage companies. According to the bank, the new service helps customers avoid missing payments or making late payments. Wells Fargo has teamed up with Western Union to provide the new same-day service. READ MORE

Western Union and Fifth Third Bank have announced an agreement to offer the Western Union global money-transfer service at Fifth Third’s more than 1,300 banking center locations in 12 states. The Western Union global money-transfer service, a new service offering for Fifth Third accountholders and walk-in consumers, will be available in the next several months. READ MORE

Western Union has announced the launch of a Digital Vendor Program intended to extend the reach and accessibility of Western Union Money Transfer services to mobile finance initiatives in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

"Establishing a strong mobile vendor program is a critical step in the delivery of our 'Western Union Anywhere' service proposition," said Matt Dill, SVP and Head of Western Union Digital Ventures. "By collaborating on a global level with proven mobile platform providers, we believe we can simplify deployments for our mobile partners and introduce a more consistent Western Union experience for consumers." READ MORE

In an article titled "Ex-CEO of First Data Corp., makes a power play in Denver" in the Denver Post, Aldo Svaldi writes about Charlie Fote, ex-CEO of First Data Corp., and his plans to launch a new holding company later this year that Fote says "will look like Western Union and First Data put together."

Western Union has announced results from a new survey finding that "79 percent of consumers favor regulations that place limits on credit card fees, such as interest rates and late payment penalties. Another 60 percent of consumers are strongly in favor of tighter regulations. In addition, 27 percent of consumers reported using cash more often than in the past."

The company also forecasts that, "as The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act is implemented, businesses will witness a change in consumer spending, with cash and pre-paid cards being a more desirable option among consumers." READ MORE

Western Union has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Canada-based Custom House, Ltd., a provider of business-to-business international payment solutions for small and medium enterprises. The US $370 million cash transaction is expected to close in the third quarter 2009, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. READ MORE

Western Union, Consumer Portfolio Services, and VeriSign have announced a pilot project to enable CPS customers to trigger their monthly car payment directly from their mobile phone. According to the companies, "unlike mobile payment services that direct the consumer to a website or interactive voice response system (IVR), the new service allows consumers to quickly and easily initiate their payment using their phone's text messaging service based on debit or credit card information entered online." READ MORE

Western Union and Fidelity National Information Services have announced an agreement to offer Western Union global money transfer services to FIS' more than 8,500 banking institution clients throughout the United States. The signing of FIS is an important step in Western Union's North America "go-to-market" strategy to continue its expansion into the banking channel. As Western Union expands its service offerings, in an effort to strongly position money transfers to consumers, it looks to tap into consumer banking channels including: Cash-to-Cash, Account-to-Cash, and Account-to-Account. READ MORE

Western Union has introduced a new way to send money within the U.S. using its prepaid card platform coupled with an Overnight Home Delivery service featuring Western Union's new MoneyWise Visa prepaid card. READ MORE

Western Union and U.S. Bank have announced an agreement to offer the Western Union global money-transfer service in 2,791 U.S. Bank branch offices across 24 states. The agreement will connect consumers to more than 334,000 Western Union Agent locations worldwide. READ MORE

Vodafone, Safaricom and Western Union have announced that they will partner to pilot a cross-border Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) service between the U.K. and Kenya. This service will enable customers to send cross-border remittances from select locations directly to Safaricom mobile subscribers in Kenya generally in minutes. READ MORE

Western Union has announced that it has created an alliance with Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E. ("Orascom Telecom"), one of the largest mobile operators in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, to work together to introduce mobile remittance services in select markets. According to the companies, "the services aim to make low-principal, high-frequency remittances more convenient to the millions of consumers who send money every day." READ MORE

Affinity Mobile has announced that adoption of the mobile wallet features enabled by its MADE platform is growing rapidly. According to Affinity, 'following the nationwide launch of Trumpet Mobile, Trumpet subscribers are quickly taking advantage of the mobile wallet capabilities with almost 50 percent of customers activating a mobile wallet at the point of sale.' READ MORE

Trumpet Mobile and RadioShack Corporation have announced the nationwide availability of Trumpet Mobile's prepaid wireless services at more than 4,300 RadioShack neighborhood locations. "As one of the fastest growing prepaid wireless service providers, Trumpet Mobile is a pioneer in the prepaid mobile money transfer market, which allows subscribers the unique ability to make Western Union money transfers within the U.S. and to Latin America and the Caribbean from their mobile phones."

Sara Silver reports for the Wall St. Journal on plans by Western Union, RadioShack, and Affinity Mobile's Trumpet Mobile to introduce a new service that 'lets people send money through their cellphones.' Silver says that 'to use the service, people will have to go to one of RadioShack's more than 4,000 stores and sign up for a Trumpet pre-paid phone - a cellphone where customers pay in advance for minutes to be used over a fixed period of time. Customers can then load up to $200 onto their phones for transfer via Western Union's network either within the U.S. or internationally.' Earlier this month, Kimberly Johnson reported on Affinity Mobile for the Denver Post.

The GSM Association (GSMA), a global trade association representing over 700 GSM mobile phone operators, and Western Union have announced an agreement "to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services."

Western Union and Yodlee have announced a program that the two companies says is "the first ever capable of linking financial institutions' online bill-payment services directly to Western Union's thousands of billers. These payment capabilities are featured in Yodlee's new BillPay PayItAll solution."

First Data Corp. today announced that it has completed the distribution of a tax-free special dividend to its shareholders consisting of approximately 765 million shares of common stock of The Western Union Company. First Data is distributing one share of common stock of Western Union for each share of First Data common stock to First Data shareholders as of September 22, 2006. As a result of that distribution, First Data will no longer own shares of Western Union, and Western Union will be an independent company. Western Union common stock has been authorized for listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and will trade under the symbol "WU."

Western Union has announced that it is beginning to make presentations to the equity investment community in preparation for its planned September 29, 2006 spin-off from First Data Corp. The meetings are being led by Christina Gold, President and Chief Executive Officer of Western Union, David Barnes, Executive Vice President of Finance and Strategic Development, and Scott Scheirman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The company's road show presentation is available at www.westernunion.com (PPT).

Western Union has announced the appointment of five new directors who will join Jack M. Greenberg, the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of McDonalds Corporation, Non-Executive Chairman of Western Union, and Christina A. Gold, Chief Executive Officer of the Western Union Company on the board of directors.

Michael Sisk writes for US Banker about First Data Corporation's strategy to spin off Western Union and focus on card processing. "The question is, can refocusing on the core processing business yield more growth for First Data than simply hanging on to Western Union?"

Western Union is currently running a promotion called the Western Union Million Dollar Giveaway and as part of the promotion of that has conducted a consumer survey asking over 1,000 consumers what they'd do if they won $1 million.

First Data Corp. has announced that Western Union has filed a Form 10 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the planned spin-off by First Data of the Western Union business.

Yvette Armendariz writes for the Arizona Republic about new ways to send remittances including one introduced Tuesday by Stored Value Cards Inc. called the Futura Maestro Prepaid Debit Card, issued by MetaBank under license from MasterCard.

First Data Corp. has posted the webcast of its investor call earlier today along with the accompanying Investor Presentation.

Betsy McKay reports on the story for the Wall St. Journal.

Reuters reports that Fitch Ratings has lowered FDC's issuer default rating as a result of today's announcement.

First Data Corp. has announced that it plans to separate its Western Union consumer payments business into an independent publicly traded company through a tax-free spin-off of 100% of Western Union to First Data shareholders.

Western Union Financial Services has signed a new, six-year agreement for money transfer services with Grupo Elektra, a leading retailer in Mexico.

Western Union Financial Services has announced an exclusive global agreement with Travelex, the world's largest non-bank foreign exchange payments company, whose locations will now only offer the Western Union Money Transfer service.