Western Union Enters Cross-Border Business-to-Business Market with Acquisition of Custom House

Acquisition's Completion Adds Account-to-Account Capabilities to Western Union`s
Portfolio of Services
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(Business Wire)--
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in the money transfer segment of
global payments, today announced it has completed the acquisition of
international business-to-business payments provider Custom House. Custom House
processes payments originating in seven countries for payout in 120 countries.

With its focus on cross-border payments for small to mid-sized enterprises
(SMEs) and an annualized revenue run rate of $100 million, the acquisition of
Custom House will introduce Western Union to a new market, significantly
expanding its service offerings and customer base. Western Union estimates that
the SME cross-border payments market generates global revenue at least as great
as the consumer-to-consumer money transfer market.

"Custom House opens up a world of opportunity for its customers," said Christina
Gold, president and chief executive officer, the Western Union Company. "It
enables small and medium-sized businesses to operate on a global scale,
simplifying international payment transactions and managing the risks associated
with foreign exchange. We believe that leveraging the brand, global footprint
and financial strength of Western Union will enable Custom House to accelerate
its international expansion and growth."

Through its multi-channel delivery system, Custom House enables more than 40,000
clients to make payments in over 150 currencies. Its clients range from
businesses with a need to pay international staff to firms that want to pay
vendors and merchants quickly and efficiently. The diversity of its client base
and the breadth of the addressable market for cross-border SME payments will
provide Western Union with a solid foundation in this new market.

"Custom House has a proven operating model, seasoned management team and
differentiating technology," said Ranjana Clark, president, Global Business
Payments and head of Global Strategy. "Its relatively small share of a large and
expanding market offers an incredible runway for growth. This acquisition makes
Western Union an instant player in the business-to-business payments space and
its account-to-account capabilities complement our existing services."

Custom House, which will be re-branded under the Western Union umbrella of
services, will continue to be headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia under
the leadership of its existing management team.

Safe Harbor Compliance Statement for Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that are forward-looking within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and
results may differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, our
forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "intends," "anticipates,"
"believes," "estimates," "guides," "provides guidance," "provides outlook" and
other similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will,"
"should," "would" and "could" are intended to identify such forward-looking
statements. Readers of this press release by The Western Union Company (the
"Company," "Western Union," "we," "our" or "us") should not rely solely on the
forward-looking statements and should consider all uncertainties and risks
discussed in the Risk Factors section and throughout the Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008. The statements are only as of the
date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any
forward-looking statement.

Possible events or factors that could cause results or performance to differ
materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements include the
following: changes in general economic conditions and economic conditions in the
regions and industries in which we operate; adverse movements and volatility in
capital markets and other events which affect our liquidity, the liquidity of
our agents, or the value of, or our ability to recover our investments; changes
in immigration laws, patterns and other factors related to migrants;
technological changes, particularly with respect to e-commerce; the failure by
us, our agents or subagents to comply with our business and technology standards
and contract requirements or applicable laws and regulations, especially laws
designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, and/or changing
regulatory or enforcement interpretations of those laws; our ability to attract
and retain qualified key employees and to manage our workforce successfully;
changes in foreign exchange rates, including the impact of the regulation of
foreign exchange spreads on money transfers; political conditions and related
actions in the United States and abroad which may adversely affect our
businesses and economic conditions as a whole; failure to maintain sufficient
amounts or types of regulatory capital to meet the changing requirements of our
regulators worldwide; significantly slower growth or declines in the money
transfer market and other markets in which we operate; failure to implement
agent contracts according to schedule; our ability to maintain our agent network
and biller relationships under terms consistent with or more advantageous to us
than those currently in place; interruptions of United States government
relations with countries in which we have or are implementing material agent
contracts; deterioration in consumers` and clients` confidence in our business,
or in money transfer providers generally; failure to manage credit and fraud
risks presented by our agents and consumers, or non-performance by our banks,
lenders, other financial services providers or insurers; adverse rating actions
by credit rating agencies; liabilities and unanticipated developments resulting
from litigation and regulatory investigations and similar matters, including
costs, expenses, settlements and judgments; changes in United States or foreign
laws, rules and regulations including the Internal Revenue Code, and
governmental or judicial interpretations thereof; our ability to favorably
resolve tax matters with the Internal Revenue Service and other tax
jurisdictions; changes in industry standards affecting our business; changes in
accounting standards, rules and interpretations; failure to compete effectively
in the money transfer industry with respect to global and niche or corridor
money transfer providers, banks and other money transfer services providers,
including telecommunications providers, card associations and card-based payment
providers; our failure to develop and introduce new products, services and
enhancements, and gain market acceptance of such products; our ability to
protect our brands and our other intellectual property rights; our failure to
manage the potential both for patent protection and patent liability in the
context of a rapidly developing legal framework for intellectual property
protection; any material breach of security of or interruptions in any of our
systems; mergers, acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses and
technologies into our company and the realization of anticipated synergies from
these acquisitions; adverse consequences from our spin-off from First Data
Corporation, including resolution of certain ongoing matters; decisions to
downsize, sell or close units, or to transition operating activities from one
location to another or to third parties, particularly transitions from the
United States to other countries; decisions to change our business mix;
cessation of various services provided to us by third-party vendors;
catastrophic events; and management`s ability to identify and manage these and
other risks.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services.
Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta and Pago Facil branded payment services,
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. Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta operate through a combined
network of more than 385,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories.
Famous for its pioneering telegraph services, the original Western Union dates
back to 1851. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

WU-G

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Western Union
Media
Tom Fitzgerald, +1-720-332-4374
tom.fitzgerald@westernunion.com
or
Investors
Brad Windbigler, +1-720-332-4052
brad.windbigler@westernunion.com

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