The Western Union Company.
WU.US | Other financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding activities, n.e.c.
The Western Union Company is a global financial services and communications company. It is primarily known for its money transfer services, enabling individuals and businesses to send and receive money quickly and reliably around the world. Western Union operates through a network of agent locations...Show More
Better Health for All
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The Western Union Company's core business of money transfer has no direct positive or negative health impact, nor does it involve health risks, health products, or health data. The Western Union Foundation responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by committing to relief efforts in February 2020, with planning starting in December 2019, and provided over $1,000,000 in funding.
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This funding supported medical training and equipment for frontline healthcare workers, provided hygiene supplies for prevention, and was directed to vulnerable populations.
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However, the provided articles do not contain the specific quantitative data (e.g., percentage of revenue, percentage of population reached, or percentage of health-related expenditure) required by the rubric to score the company's health-related initiatives.
Fair Money & Economic Opportunity
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Western Union's core business revolves around money transfer services, bill payments, and money orders.
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The company does not provide debt products to consumers, which makes the debt burden ratio not applicable to its customer base.
Fair Pay & Worker Respect
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The available articles indicate a median annual salary for Western Union employees of $145,475
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, with another source reporting an overall median salary of $54,270.
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The lowest reported salary is $17,413 for a Financial Analyst.
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Employee ratings show 66% satisfaction with compensation
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and 61% satisfaction with benefits.
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The company ranks in the bottom 45% for perks and benefits.
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Executive salaries include $612,000 for the President
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and $567,000 for the Executive VP & CFO.
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Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing
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Western Union is a financial services company primarily involved in money transfer, and as such, does not procure or trade physical commodities. Therefore, KPIs related to fair-trade certifications, sourcing audits, traceability of physical goods, ethical sourcing clauses, and high-risk materials are not applicable to its core business model. Similarly, the KPI for forced/child labor incidents is not applicable as the company has no exposure to upstream labor practices in a physical goods supply chain. While the company reports no substantiated forced or child labor findings for 2022
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and no complaints related to suspected human trafficking incidents through its Ethics Helpline in 2021 and 2022,
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,
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these relate to its financial operations and internal conduct, not a physical supply chain. No quantitative data is provided regarding the percentage of its procurement budget directed to diverse suppliers.
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Honest & Fair Business
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Western Union reports a median complaint resolution time of 15 business days for its WUPSIL complaints office in Rome.
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The company has reported zero financial restatements over the past five years.
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It maintains a Global Anti-Corruption Policy that prohibits government bribery, commercial bribery, and facilitation payments, with training provided to all employees, agents, and business partners.
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A formal 'Speak Up & Anti-Retaliation Policy', revised in February 2024, includes anonymous reporting channels, anti-retaliation measures, and commits to acknowledging reports within 7 days and completing investigations within 3 months.
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Western Union scored 64% on the CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure.
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However, the company does not have an external assurance policy for its ESG report.
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Kind to Animals
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No evidence available to assess The Western Union Company on Kind to Animals.
No War, No Weapons
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The company suspended operations in Russia and Belarus in 2022
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, and indefinitely suspended money transfers to Cuba in 2025 due to new US sanctions.
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Services to Afghanistan were temporarily suspended in 2021 and resumed after implementing controls.
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The company states compliance with economic and trade sanctions
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and invested approximately $1 billion over five years in compliance technology, including state-of-the-art systems, predictive analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
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Planet-Friendly Business
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The provided article describes Western Union's partnership with Sogexpress in Haiti to facilitate remittances for renewable energy purchases.
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This initiative focuses on enabling customers to engage in renewable energy, rather than detailing Western Union's own operational environmental performance, emissions, targets, or other relevant metrics. No specific, concrete data points were provided to assess the company against any of the 'Planet-Friendly Business' KPIs.
Respect for Cultures & Communities
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The Western Union Foundation invested over $140 million in nonprofits across more than 150 geographies
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, which represents approximately 3.3% of the company's $4.210 billion revenue.
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In response to a claim of discrimination by the Arab American Civil Rights League, Western Union stated they were looking into the matter.
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Safe & Smart Tech
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Western Union invested $67 million in cybersecurity in 2023, representing approximately 0.985% of its $6.8 billion total revenue for that year.
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The company has faced significant regulatory penalties, including a $586 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2017 for Bank Secrecy Act violations
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and a $94 million FinCEN fine
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, alongside ongoing regulatory scrutiny in 14 international markets.
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Despite these issues, Western Union is compliant with a comprehensive set of privacy and security certifications, including PCI, HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR, ISO 27001, FedRamp, and CSA Star Level 1.
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The company states that AI decisions must be auditable, models explainable, and datasets protected, with safeguards and explainability embedded into every layer of its systems.
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It operates a public bug bounty program via Bugcrowd, offering rewards from $100 to $5,000 per bug
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, which evolved from a private program active since early 2014.
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Employees receive mandatory annual cybersecurity and data privacy training, supplemented by monthly phishing simulations.
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Zero Waste & Sustainable Products
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Western Union implemented six waste reduction initiatives, including saving approximately 780 million inches of receipt paper in 2023 by optimizing printed receipts for retail remittance transactions.
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Other initiatives include eliminating disposable dishes and silverware, and individual trash and recycling bins at its Denver headquarters, establishing a recycling program in its San José, Costa Rica office, and reducing printers and moving to electronic documents in its Vilnius, Lithuania office.
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The company manages hazardous waste by working with a global electronic recycling and e-waste specialist certified to the e-Stewards standard.
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Western Union reported no significant fines or sanctions for non-compliance with environmental laws or regulations in both the 2022 and 2023 reporting periods.
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