{"id":49331,"date":"2012-10-29T20:08:11","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T20:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=49331"},"modified":"2012-10-29T20:08:11","modified_gmt":"2012-10-29T20:08:11","slug":"western-union-announces-commitment-to-design-and-launch-a-new-financial-platform-for-ngos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=49331","title":{"rendered":"Western Union Announces Commitment to Design and Launch a New Financial Platform for NGOs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, October 29, 2012\/ <strong>&#8212; <\/strong>The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernunion.com\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.westernunion.com<\/a>), a leader in global payment services, today announced its commitment to creating a financial platform specifically designed to meet the payment needs of non-profit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the people they serve.<strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>President and CEO Hikmet Ersek announces commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative to help NGOs bridge the last mile<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The platform, Western Union\u00ae NGO Global Pay, will be created to help NGOs overcome the \u2018last mile\u2019 and bridge the gap between funds that need to be disbursed and the people who need them in the field.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hikmet Ersek, President and CEO of Western Union, spoke on the opening day of the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York to announce the company\u2019s new Commitment to Action.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI am very excited by our new commitment,\u201d said Mr. Ersek. \u201cMany NGOs face persistent challenges delivering money to those who need it most. Western Union\u00ae NGO Global Pay will help them overcome these challenges and get funds into the field safely and securely. It will be an end-to-end financial platform that will combine Western Union\u2019s innovative payment products with our unparalleled global reach, meaning NGOs will be able to reach millions of people with vital funds faster and more effectively than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Western Union\u00ae NGO Global Pay will for the first time combine the dedicated business-to-business payment products offered by Western Union Business Solutions with the global infrastructure of the Western Union Agent network. Specifically, it will leverage the company\u2019s 510,000 physical locations to help connect NGOs to the people they serve in over 200 countries and territories around the world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr. Ersek continued, \u201cWestern Union is dedicated to serving the underserved \u2013 which often includes NGOs \u2013 and we will continue to work hard to increase their access to better, more inclusive financial products.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Western Union will work with NGO partners, including the International Children\u2019s Fund and Peace International, to design financial products that will promote efficiency and transparency via:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>New capabilities for moving funds via Western Union\u2019s global network of 510,000 Agent locations, helping to solve the last mile challenge and enabling a more rapid response in times of crisis;<\/li>\n<li>A wider array of pay-out options (including cash, bank accounts, mobile phones, and prepaid cards) for nonprofits to send funds to their field staff and beneficiaries;<\/li>\n<li>Tools to help NGOs monitor and report on fund disbursement, enabling greater end-to-end transparency and accountability;<\/li>\n<li>Currency risk management solutions that can help shield NGOs from exchange rate fluctuations;<\/li>\n<li>A portfolio of products that will enable NGOs to receive and manage incoming funds in multiple currencies efficiently, including integrated invoicing and tracking tools and new donation fulfillment capabilities that offer individual donors the opportunity to give online or in person via Western Union\u2019s global Agent network; and<\/li>\n<li>Financial education for NGOs on topics from mobile money to currency exchange, helping them better manage scarce and vital funds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Western Union\u00ae NGO Global Pay will launch with select NGO partners in November 2012 with further expansion planned for 2013. The product, which represents Western Union\u2019s new two-year Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action, will be fully in force by the end of 2014. It also builds on key insights from Western Union\u2019s successful CGI commitment, the Our World, Our Family\u00ae program, a $50 million commitment to foster greater economic opportunity for more than five million people worldwide.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>About Western Union<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernunion.com\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.westernunion.com<\/a>) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of June 30, 2012, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of approximately 510,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2011, The Western Union Company completed 226 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $81 billion of principal between consumers, and 425 million business payments.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>For more information<\/strong>, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernunion.com\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.westernunion.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<hr align=\"center\" size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, October 29, 2012\/ &#8212; The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) (http:\/\/www.westernunion.com), a leader in global payment services, today announced its commitment to creating [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[751,1],"tags":[12560],"class_list":["post-49331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-news","category-uncategorized","tag-western-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}