Edgar Filing: Western Union CO

WU-12.31.2013-10K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

_______________________________

FORM 10-K

_______________________________



þ	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
	For the fiscal year ended: December 31, 2013



¨	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
	For the transition period from to

Commission File Number: 001-32903

THE WESTERN UNION COMPANY

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



DELAWARE		20-4531180
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

THE WESTERN UNION COMPANY

12500 East Belford Avenue

Englewood, Colorado 80112

(Address of principal executive offices)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (866) 405-5012

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:



Title of each class		Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, $0.01 Par Value		The New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes þ No ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨ No þ

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its Corporate website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes þ No ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):



Large accelerated filer þ	Accelerated filer ¨	Non-accelerated filer ¨ (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)	Smaller reporting company ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ¨ No þ

As of June 28, 2013, the aggregate market value of the registrant's common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $9.4 billion based on the closing sale price of $17.11 of the common stock as reported on the New York Stock Exchange.

As of February 18, 2014, 547,936,621 shares of the registrant's common stock were outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Registrant's proxy statement for the 2014 annual meeting of stockholders are incorporated into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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INDEX



		PAGE NUMBER

PART I

Item 1.	Business	6

Item 1A.	Risk Factors	23

Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	47

Item 2.	Properties	48

Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	48

Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	51

PART II

Item 5.	Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	52

Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	54

Item 7.	Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	56

Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	84

Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	87

Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	151

Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	151

Item 9B.	Other Information	151

PART III

Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	152

Item 11.	Executive Compensation	152

Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	152

Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	152

Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	152

PART IV

Item 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	153

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PART I

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K and materials we have filed or will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (as well as information included in our other written or oral statements) contain or will contain 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 "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," and "might" are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Readers of this Annual Report on Form 10-K of 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 throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including those described under "Risk Factors." 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:

Events Related to Our Business and Industry


•	deterioration in consumers' and clients' confidence in our business, or in money transfer and payment service providers generally;


•	changes in general economic conditions and economic conditions in the regions and industries in which we operate, including global economic and trade downturns, or significantly slower growth or declines in the money transfer, payment service, and other markets in which we operate, including those related to interruptions in migration patterns;


•	political conditions and related actions in the United States and abroad which may adversely affect our business and economic conditions as a whole;


•	failure to compete effectively in the money transfer and payment service industry with respect to global and niche or corridor money transfer providers, banks and other money transfer and payment service providers, including telecommunications providers, card associations, card-based payment providers, electronic and Internet providers, and digital currencies;


•	the pricing of our services and any pricing reductions, and their impact on consumer demand for our services and our financial results;


•	our ability to adopt technology in response to changing industry and consumer needs or trends;


•	our failure to develop and introduce new services and enhancements, and gain market acceptance of such services;


•	changes in, and failure to manage effectively, exposure to foreign exchange rates, including the impact of the regulation of foreign exchange spreads on money transfers and payment transactions;


•	our ability to maintain our agent network and business 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 significant business relationships with agents or clients;

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•	mergers, acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses and technologies into our Company, including Travelex Global Business Payments, and the failure to realize anticipated financial benefits from these acquisitions, and events requiring us to write down our goodwill;


•	any material breach of security, including cybersecurity, or safeguards of or interruptions in any of our systems;


•	decisions to change our business mix;


•	failure to manage credit and fraud risks presented by our agents, clients and consumers or non-performance by our banks, lenders, other financial services providers or insurers;


•	increased costs or loss of business due to difficulty for us, our agents or their subagents in establishing or maintaining relationships with banks needed to conduct our services;


•	adverse movements and volatility in capital markets and other events which affect our liquidity, the liquidity of our agents or clients, or the value of, or our ability to recover, our investments or amounts payable to us;


•	adverse rating actions by credit rating agencies;


•	our ability to realize the anticipated benefits from productivity and cost-savings and other related initiatives, which may include decisions to downsize or to transition operating activities from one location to another, and to minimize any disruptions in our workforce that may result from those initiatives;


•	our ability to attract and retain qualified key employees and to manage our workforce successfully;


•	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;


•	changes in tax laws and unfavorable resolution of tax contingencies;


•	cessation of or defects in various services provided to us by third-party vendors;


•	material changes in the market value or liquidity of securities that we hold;


•	restrictions imposed by our debt obligations;


•	changes in industry standards affecting our business;

Events Related to Our Regulatory and Litigation Environment

•

liabilities or loss of business resulting from a failure by us, our agents or their subagents to comply with laws and regulations and regulatory or judicial interpretations thereof, including laws and regulations designed to detect and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and other illicit activity, and increased costs or loss of business associated with compliance with those laws and regulations;

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•	increased costs or loss of business due to regulatory initiatives and changes in laws, regulations and industry practices and standards affecting us, our agents, or their subagents, including related to anti-money laundering regulations, anti-fraud measures, customer due diligence, or agent and subagent due diligence, registration, and monitoring requirements;


•	liabilities or loss of business and unanticipated developments resulting from governmental investigations and consent agreements with or enforcement actions by regulators, including those associated with compliance with or failure to comply with the settlement agreement with the State of Arizona, as amended on January 31, 2014;


•	the impact on our business from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the rules promulgated there-under, and the actions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and similar legislation and regulations enacted by other government authorities;


•	changes in United States or foreign laws, rules and regulations including the Internal Revenue Code, governmental or judicial interpretations thereof and industry practices and standards, including the impact of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance provisions of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act;


•	liabilities resulting from litigation, including class-action lawsuits and similar matters, including costs, expenses, settlements and judgments;


•	failure to comply with regulations regarding consumer privacy and data use and security;


•	effects of unclaimed property laws;


•	failure to maintain sufficient amounts or types of regulatory capital to meet the changing requirements of our regulators worldwide;


•	changes in accounting standards, rules and interpretations;

Other Events


•	adverse tax consequences from our spin-off from First Data Corporation;


•	catastrophic events; and


•	management's ability to identify and manage these and other risks.

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

The Western Union Company (the "Company," "Western Union," "we," "our" or "us") is a leader in global money movement and payment services, providing people and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send money and make payments around the world. The Company was incorporated in Delaware as a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Data Corporation ("First Data") on February 17, 2006, and on September 29, 2006, First Data distributed all of its money transfer and consumer payments businesses and its interest in a Western Union money transfer agent, as well as its related assets, including real estate, through a tax-free distribution to First Data shareholders (the "Spin-off").

The Western Union^® brand is globally recognized and represents speed, reliability, trust and convenience. As people move and travel around the world, they are able to use the services of a well-recognized brand to transfer funds. Our Consumer-to-Consumer money transfer service enables people to send money around the world, usually within minutes. As of December 31, 2013, our services were available through a global network of over 500,000 agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories, with approximately 90% of those locations outside of the United States. Each location in our agent network is capable of providing one or more of our services, with the majority offering a Western Union branded service. As of December 31, 2013, approximately 70% of our locations had experienced money transfer activity in the previous 12 months.

We also provide consumers with flexible and convenient options for making one-time or recurring payments in our Consumer-to-Business segment. This segment consists of United States bill payments, Pago Fácil (bill payments in Argentina), and international bill payments.

The Business Solutions segment facilitates payment and foreign exchange solutions, primarily cross-border, cross-currency transactions, for small and medium size enterprises and other organizations and individuals. The majority of the segment's business relates to exchanges of currency at the spot rate, which enables customers to make cross-currency payments. In addition, in certain countries, we write foreign currency forward and option contracts for customers to facilitate future payments.

We believe that brand strength, size and reach of our global network, convenience, reliability, and value for the price paid for our customers have been important to the growth of our business. As we continue to seek to meet the needs of our customers for fast, reliable and convenient global money movement and payment services, we are also working to enhance our services and provide our consumer and business clients with access to an expanding portfolio of payment and other financial services and to expand the ways our services can be accessed.

Our Segments

We manage our business around the consumers and businesses we serve and the types of services we offer. Each of our three segments addresses a different combination of consumer groups, distribution networks and services offered. Our segments are Consumer-to-Consumer, Consumer-to-Business and Business Solutions. Businesses not considered part of these segments are categorized as "Other" and include our money order, prepaid and other businesses and services, in addition to costs for the review and closing of acquisitions.

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The table below presents the components of our consolidated revenue:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2013		2012		2011
Consumer-to-Consumer	80	%	81	%	84	%
Consumer-to-Business	11	%	11	%	11	%
Business Solutions	7	%	6	%	3	%
Other	2	%	2	%	2	%
	100	%	100	%	100	%

No individual country outside the United States accounted for more than approximately 6% of our consolidated revenue for each of the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011.

For additional details regarding our Consumer-to-Consumer, Consumer-to-Business and Business Solutions segments, including financial information regarding our international and United States revenues and long-lived assets, see Part II, Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

See Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, for a discussion of certain risks relating to our foreign operations.

Consumer-to-Consumer Segment

Individual money transfers from one consumer to another are the core of our business, representing 80% of our total consolidated revenues for 2013. We view our money transfer service as one interconnected global network where a money transfer can be sent from one location to another, around the world, including related transactions that can be initiated in certain countries through websites and account based money transfers. The segment includes five geographic regions whose functions are limited to generating, managing and maintaining agent relationships and localized marketing activities and also includes our online money transfer service conducted through Western Union branded websites ("westernunion.com"). By means of common processes and systems, these regions and westernunion.com create an interconnected network for consumer transactions, thereby constituting one global Consumer-to-Consumer money transfer business and one operating segment.

Although most remittances are sent from one of our agent locations worldwide, in some countries we offer the ability to send money over the Internet or phone using a credit or debit card, or through a withdrawal directly from a consumer's bank account. All agent locations accept cash to initiate a transaction, and some also accept debit cards. We offer consumers several options to receive a money transfer. While the vast majority of transfers are paid in cash at agent locations, in some places we offer payout directly to the receiver's bank account, to a stored-value card, or through the issuance of a money order.

Operations

Our revenue in this segment is derived primarily from transaction fees charged to consumers to transfer money. In money transfers involving different send and receive currencies, we also generate revenue based on the difference between the exchange rate set by us to the consumer and the rate at which we or our agents are able to acquire the currency.

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In a typical money transfer transaction, a consumer goes to one of our agent locations, completes a form specifying, among other things, the name and address of the recipient, and delivers it, along with the principal amount of the money transfer and the fee, to the agent. In some jurisdictions, the agent collects the principal and fees after the presentation of a disclosure that generally identifies the exchange rate and all fees and charges associated with the transaction and the consumer has agreed to the transaction, as described in the disclosure. Certain of these processes are streamlined for our customers who participate in our loyalty programs. The sending agent enters the transaction information into our money transfer system and the funds are made available for payment, usually within minutes. The recipient enters an agent location in the designated receiving area or country, presents identification, where applicable, and is paid the transferred amount. Recipients generally do not pay a fee. However, in limited circumstances, a tax may be imposed by the local government on the receipt of the money transfer, or a fee may be charged by the receiver's institution related to the use of an account. We determine the fee paid by the sender, which generally is based on the principal amount of the transaction and the send and receive locations.

We generally pay our agents a commission based on a percentage of revenue. A commission is usually paid to both the agent that initiated the transaction, the "send agent," and the agent that paid the transaction, the "receive agent." For most agents, the costs of providing the physical infrastructure and staff are typically covered by the agent's primary business (e.g., postal services, banking, check cashing, travel and retail businesses), making the economics of being a Western Union agent attractive. Western Union's global reach and large consumer base allow us to attract agents we believe to be of high quality.

To complement the convenience offered by our network's global physical locations, in certain countries we have also made our services available through other channels, as described below under "Services."

Over 85% of our Consumer-to-Consumer transactions involve at least one non-United States location. No individual country outside the United States accounted for greater than 7% of this segment's revenue during all periods presented.

Services

We offer money transfer services in more than 200 countries and territories. In 2013, the substantial majority of our Consumer-to-Consumer transactions were cash money transfers involving our walk-in agent locations around the world. Although demand for in-person, cash money transfers has historically been the strongest, we offer a number of options for sending and receiving funds that provide consumers convenience and choice. The different ways consumers can send or receive money include the following:

Walk-in and telephone money transfer service. The substantial majority of our remittances constitute transactions in which cash is collected by the agent and payment (usually cash) is available for pick-up at another agent location, usually within minutes. In certain countries, we also offer convenience to our consumers to initiate a transaction through the phone using a debit or credit card or through our account based money transfer service, as described below. Additionally, in a few select markets, we offer consumers a lower-priced next day delivery service option for money transfers that do not need to be received within minutes.

Online money transfer service. Western Union branded websites allow consumers to send funds online, including through mobile devices, generally using a credit or debit card for pay-out at most Western Union branded agent locations around the world. As of December 31, 2013, we were providing online money transfer service through Western Union branded websites in over 20 countries.

Account based money transfer service. We offer services that allow consumers to initiate a money transfer from an account or direct a transfer to be received in an account. These services include allowing consumers to initiate a Western Union money transfer electronically through their bank’s internet banking service or automated teller machines (“ATMs”), without having to visit a physical Western Union agent location. Also, in certain countries, receivers can choose to be paid through credit to their accounts, and in the United States and other countries we provide a "Direct to Bank" service, enabling a consumer to send a transaction from an agent location or our websites into an account in a number of countries.

Money transfer services through electronic channels, which include online, account based, and mobile money transfer, combined were approximately 5% of consolidated revenue for the year ended December 31, 2013.

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Distribution and Marketing Channels

We offer our Consumer-to-Consumer service to millions of consumers around the world primarily through our global network of third-party agents in most countries and territories, with approximately 90% of our agent locations being located outside of the United States. Our agents facilitate the global distribution and convenience associated with our brands, which in turn helps create demand for our services and helps us to recruit and retain agents. Western Union agents include large networks such as post offices, banks and retailers, and other established organizations and smaller independent retail locations that provide other consumer products and services. Many of our agents have multiple locations. No individual agent accounted for greater than 10% of the segment's revenue during all periods presented. Our agents know the markets they serve and work with our management to develop business plans for their markets. Many of our agents contribute financial resources to, or otherwise support, our efforts to market the business. Many agents operate in locations that are open outside of traditional banking hours, for example on nights and weekends. Our top 40 agents globally have been with us an average of approximately 17 years and in 2013, these long-standing agents were involved in transactions that generated approximately 60% of our Consumer-to-Consumer revenue.

We provide our third-party agents with access to our multi-currency, real-time money transfer processing systems used to originate and pay money transfers. We continue to develop our network around the world to optimize send and receive corridors. Our systems and processes enable our agents to pay money transfers in more than 120 currencies worldwide. Certain of our agents can pay in multiple currencies at a single location. Our agents provide the physical infrastructure and staff required to complete the transfers. Western Union provides central operating functions such as transaction processing, settlement, marketing support and customer relationship management to our agents, as well as compliance training and related support.

Some of our agents outside the United States manage subagents. We refer to these agents as superagents. Although these subagents are under contract with these superagents (and not with Western Union directly), the subagent locations typically have access to similar technology and services as our other agent locations.

Our international agents often customize services as appropriate for their geographic markets. In some markets, individual agents are independently offering specific services such as stored-value card payout options or Direct to Bank service. We market our services to consumers in a number of ways, directly and indirectly through our agent partners, leveraging advertising promotional activities, grassroots and digital advertising, and loyalty programs. Our marketing benefits from feedback from our agents and consumers.

Our marketing strategy includes our customer programs, such as "My WU^SM," which are available in a growing number of countries and territories. These programs offer customers faster service at the point-of-sale. Additionally, in certain countries and at westernunion.com, these programs offer reduced transaction fees or cash back; however, such redemption activity has been insignificant to the results of our operations. Customers in these programs generally initiate more transactions and have a higher rate of retention than other customers.

Industry Trends

Trends in the cross-border money transfer business tend to correlate to migration trends, global economic opportunity and related employment levels worldwide. Another significant trend impacting the money transfer industry is increasing regulation. Regulations in the United States and elsewhere focus, in part, on anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist activities and consumer protection. Regulations require money transfer providers, banks and other financial institutions to develop systems to prevent, detect, monitor and report certain transactions. Such regulations increase the costs to provide money transfer services and can make it more difficult or less desirable for consumers and others to use money transfer services, either of which could have an adverse effect on money transfer providers' revenues and operating profits. For further discussion of the regulatory impact on our business, see the "Regulation" discussion in this section, Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, and the "Enhanced Regulatory Compliance" section in Part II, Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. In addition, our ability to enter into or maintain exclusive arrangements with our agents has been and may continue to be challenged by both regulators and certain of our current and prospective agents, especially in certain inbound countries.

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Competition

We face robust competition in the highly-fragmented Consumer-to-Consumer money transfer industry. We compete with a variety of remittance providers, including:


•	Global money transfer providers - Global money transfer providers allow consumers to send money to a wide variety of locations, in both their home countries and abroad.


•	Regional money transfer providers - Regional money transfer providers, or "niche" providers, provide the same services as global money transfer providers, but focus on a smaller group of geographic corridors or services within one region, such as North America to the Caribbean, Central or South America, or Western Europe to North Africa.


•	Electronic channels - Online money transfer service providers, including certain electronic payment providers, allow consumers to send and receive money electronically using the Internet or through mobile devices. Electronic channels also include digital wallets and digital currencies.


•	Banks and postbanks - Banks and postbanks of all sizes compete with us in a number of ways, including bank wire services and card-based services.


•	Informal networks - Informal networks enable people to transfer funds without formal mechanisms and often without compliance with government reporting requirements. We believe that such networks comprise a significant share of the market.


•	Alternative channels - Alternative channels for sending and receiving money include mail and commercial courier services, and card-based options, such as ATM cards and stored-value cards.

We believe the most significant competitive factors in Consumer-to-Consumer remittances relate to the overall consumer value proposition, including brand recognition, trust and reliability, consumer experience and price, and distribution network and channel options.

Consumer-to-Business Segment

In our Consumer-to-Business segment, which represented 11% of our total consolidated revenues for 2013, we provide fast and convenient options to make one-time or recurring payments from consumers to businesses and other organizations, including utilities, auto finance companies, mortgage servicers, financial service providers, government agencies and other businesses. We believe our business customers who receive payments through our services benefit from their relationship with Western Union as it provides them with real-time or near real-time posting of their customers' payments. In many circumstances, our relationships with business customers also provide them with an additional source of income, as well as reduced expenses for cash and check handling.

Operations

Our revenue in this segment is derived primarily from transaction fees paid by the consumer. The transaction fees are typically less than the fees charged in our Consumer-to-Consumer segment. Consumers may make a cash payment at an agent or Company-owned location or may make an electronic payment over the phone or on the Internet using their credit or debit card, through the automated clearing house ("ACH") system, or via a wire transfer. Our Internet services are provided through our own websites or in partnership with other websites for which we act as the service provider. In addition, we generate revenue from upfront enrollment fees received for our Equity Accelerator^® service, and we earn investment income on funds received from services sold in advance of settlement with payment recipients. The significant majority of the segment's revenue was generated in the United States during all periods presented, with the remainder primarily generated in Argentina.

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Services

Our Consumer-to-Business payments services are available through a variety of services that give consumers choices as to the payment channel and method of payment, and include the following:

Speedpay^®. Our Speedpay service is offered principally in the United States and allows consumers to make payments to a variety of businesses using credit cards, debit cards, ACH and in limited situations, checks. Payments are initiated over the phone or electronically through the Internet. We also partner with some businesses to allow their customers to access Speedpay from their websites.

Pago Fácil^®. In South America, we offer walk-in, cash bill payment services which allow consumers to make payments for services such as phone, utilities and other recurring bills. In Argentina, we provide this service under the Pago Fácil brand. We offer this service under the Western Union brand in Peru, Panama and Brazil.

Western Union Payments. The Western Union Payments service allows consumers to send funds to businesses and government agencies, primarily across the United States and Canada, using cash and, in certain locations, a debit card. This service is offered primarily at Western Union agent locations, but is provided via our westernunion.com website in limited situations. This service is also offered in select international locations under the service mark Quick Pay^SM. We also offer Quick Cash^®, a cash disbursement service used by businesses, government agencies, and financial institutions primarily to send money to employees or individuals with whom they have accounts or other business relationships. Consumers also use our Western Union Convenience Pay^® ("Convenience Pay") service to send payments by cash or check from a smaller number of Convenience Pay agent locations primarily to utilities and telecommunication providers. We are in the process of consolidating all of these services, in addition to our Quick Collect^® service, to be marketed as Western Union Payments.

Equity Accelerator. Our Equity Accelerator service enables consumers to make mortgage payments by ACH. It is marketed as a convenient way for homeowners to schedule additional recurring principal payments on their mortgages. Consumers who enroll in this service make mortgage payments based on an accelerated program, which results in a more rapid reduction of their mortgage balance, as well as interest savings.

Distribution and Marketing Channels

Our electronic consumer payment services are available primarily through the phone and online, including through certain mobile devices, while our cash-based consumer services are available through our agent networks and select Company-owned locations, primarily in South America.

Businesses market our services to consumers in a number of ways, and we market our services directly to consumers using a variety of means, including advertising materials, promotional activities, call campaigns and attendance at trade shows and seminars. Our Internet services are marketed to consumers on our websites, on the websites of our partners who offer our payment solutions or through co-branding arrangements with these partners.

We have relationships with over 15,000 consumer payments businesses to which consumers can make payments. These relationships are a core component of our global payments services. On average, we have provided our payment services to our top 20 businesses to which our consumers can make payments for approximately 15 years. No individual consumer or business accounted for greater than 10% of this segment's revenue during all periods presented.

Industry Trends

The global payments industry has evolved with technological innovations that have created new methods of processing payments from consumers to businesses. The various services within the global payments industry are in varying stages of development outside the United States. We believe that the United States is in the midst of a trend away from cash and paper checks for bill payments toward electronic payment methods accessible through multiple technologies.

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Competition

Western Union competes with a diverse set of service providers offering both cash and electronic-based payment solutions. Competition in electronic payment services includes financial institutions (which may offer consumer bill payment in their own name or may "host" payment services operated under the names of their clients) and other non-bank competitors. Competition for electronic payments also includes businesses offering their own or third-party services to their own customers and third-party providers of all sizes offering services directly to consumers. In many cases, competitors specialize in a small number of industries. Competitors for cash payments include businesses that allow consumers to pay a bill at one of their locations, or at the location of a partner business, as well as mail and courier services. The ongoing trend away from cash-based bill payments in the United States and competitive pressures, which result in lower cash-based bill payment volumes and a shift to lower revenue per transaction services, continues to impact this business.

We believe the most significant competitive factors in this segment relate to customer service, trust and reliability, convenience, speed, variety of payment methods, biller relationships and service offerings, innovation, price, and brand recognition.

Business Solutions Segment

In our Business Solutions segment, which represented 7% of our total consolidated revenues for 2013, we facilitate payment and foreign exchange solutions, primarily cross-border, cross-currency transactions, for small and medium size enterprises and other organizations and individuals.

Operations

The substantial majority of our revenue in this segment is derived from foreign exchange revenues, which are based on the difference between the exchange rate set by us to the customer and the rate at which we are able to acquire the currency. Customers may make an electronic or wire transfer or remit a check in order to initiate a transaction. Our Internet services are provided through our own website and also in partnership with other websites for which we act as the service provider. The significant majority of the segment's revenue was generated outside the United States during all periods presented.

Services

Business Solutions payment transactions are conducted through various channels including the phone and Internet. Payments are made predominately through wire transfers and ACH, but in some situations, checks are remitted. The majority of Business Solutions' business relates to exchanges of currency at the spot rate, which enables customers to make cross-currency payments. In addition, in certain countries, we write foreign currency forward and option contracts for customers to facilitate future payments.

Distribution and Marketing Channels

Our business payment services are primarily offered over the phone, through partner channels, and via the Internet. Our Internet services are marketed through co-branding arrangements with our website partners as well as on our own website.

We have relationships with more than 100,000 customers with respect to our payment solutions. These relationships are a core component of our business payments services. No individual customer accounted for greater than 10% of this segment's revenue since our acquisition of Travelex Global Business Payments ("TGBP") in November 2011.

Industry Trends

The business-to-business payments industry has evolved with technological innovations that have created new methods of processing payments from businesses to other businesses. The various products and services within the business-to-business payments industry are in varying stages of development. We believe that the cross-border payments industry will expand in the future due to the expanding global focus of many businesses. Increased regulation and compliance requirements are trends also impacting the business-to-business payments industry, which will likely result in increased costs in this segment.

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Competition

Western Union competes with a diverse set of service providers offering payment services and foreign exchange risk management solutions, including financial institutions and other non-bank competitors. We believe the most significant competitive factors in this segment relate to recurring relationships founded on customer service and expertise in payments and foreign exchange, customized solutions for specific industries and clients, convenience and speed of payments network, availability of derivative products, variety of inbound and outbound payment methods, brand recognition and price.

Other

Our remaining businesses are grouped in the "Other" category, which primarily includes our money order, prepaid and other businesses and services, in addition to costs for the review and closing of acquisitions.

Customers use our money orders for making purchases, paying bills, and as an alternative to checks. We derive investment income from interest generated on our money order settlement assets, which are primarily held in United States tax exempt state and municipal debt securities.

Our prepaid business is now primarily composed of providing reload/top up services for various types of prepaid services including mobile phone and prepaid accounts, including prepaid cards, and partnering with select program managers around the world to launch prepaid accounts that meet varying customer needs. Our prepaid business represented less than 1% of total consolidated revenues for all periods presented.

Intellectual Property

The Western Union logos, trademarks, service marks and trade dress (collectively, "Marks") are registered and/or used worldwide and are material to our Company. The WU^® service mark and logos are also registered and used in many countries around the world. The international expansion of our agent network over the past decade has taken the Western Union brand to more than 200 countries and territories. We offer money transfer services under the Western Union, Orlandi Valuta^SM and Vigo^® brands. We also provide various payment and other services such as Western Union Payments, Quick Collect, Convenience Pay, Quick Pay, Quick Cash, Speedpay, Equity Accelerator, Pago Fácil (registered in Argentina), Western Union Business Solutions and MoneyWise^TM.

Our operating results over the past several years have allowed us to invest significantly each year to support our brands. In 2013, we invested approximately $220 million to market, advertise and promote our brands and services, including costs of dedicated marketing personnel. Many of our agents have also contributed significant financial resources to assist with marketing our services.

We own patents and patent applications covering various aspects of our processes and services. We have been, are and in the future may be, subject to claims and suits alleging that our technology or business methods infringe patents owned by others, both in and out of the United States. Unfavorable resolution of these claims could require us to change how we deliver services, result in significant financial consequences, or both, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Risk Management

Our Company has a credit risk management department that evaluates and monitors our credit and fraud risks. We are exposed to credit risk related to receivable balances from agents in the money transfer, walk-in bill payment and money order settlement process. We also are exposed to credit risk directly from consumer transactions particularly through our online services and electronic channels, where transactions are originated through means other than cash, and therefore are subject to "chargebacks," insufficient funds, or other collection impediments, such as fraud. Our credit risk management team monitors fraud risks jointly with our information security and global compliance departments. Our credit risk management team also performs a credit review before each agent signing and conducts periodic analyses.

We are exposed to credit risk in our Business Solutions business relating to: (a) derivatives written by us to our customers and (b) receivables from certain customers for which beneficiaries are paid prior to receiving cleared funds from the customer, where we have offered "trade credit." For the derivatives, the duration of these contracts at inception is generally less than one year. The credit risk associated with our derivative contracts increases when foreign currency exchange rates move against our customers, possibly impacting their ability to honor their obligations to deliver currency to us or to maintain appropriate collateral with us. For those receivables where we have offered trade credit, collection ordinarily occurs within a few days. To mitigate risk associated with potential customer defaults, we perform credit reviews of the customer on an ongoing basis, and, for our derivatives, we may require certain customers to post or increase collateral.

To manage our exposures to credit risk with respect to investment securities, money market fund investments, derivatives and other credit risk exposures resulting from our relationships with banks and financial institutions, we regularly review investment concentrations, trading levels, credit spreads and credit ratings, and we attempt to diversify our investments among global financial institutions.

A key component of the Western Union business model is our ability to manage financial risk associated with conducting transactions worldwide. We settle with the majority of our agents in United States dollars or euros. However, in certain circumstances, we settle in other currencies. We typically require the agent to obtain local currency to pay recipients; thus, we generally are not reliant on international currency markets to obtain and pay illiquid currencies. The foreign currency exposure that does exist is limited by the fact that the majority of money transfer transactions are paid by the next day after they are initiated and agent settlements occur within a few days in most instances. We also utilize foreign currency exchange contracts, primarily forward contracts, to mitigate the risks associated with currency fluctuations and to provide predictability of future cash flows. We have additional foreign exchange risk and associated foreign exchange risk management due to the nature of our Business Solutions business. The majority of this business' revenue is from exchanges of currency at the spot rate enabling customers to make cross-currency payments. Business Solutions aggregates its foreign exchange exposures arising from customer contracts, including the derivative contracts described above, and hedges the resulting net currency risks by entering into offsetting contracts with established financial institution counterparties. The foreign exchange risk is actively managed.

Our financial results may fluctuate due to changes in interest rates. We review our overall exposure to floating and fixed rates by evaluating our net asset or liability position in each, also considering the duration of the individual positions. We manage this mix of fixed versus floating exposure in an attempt to minimize risk, reduce costs and improve returns. Our exposure to interest rates can be modified by changing the mix of our interest-bearing assets, as well as adjusting the mix of fixed versus floating rate debt. The latter is accomplished primarily through the use of interest rate swaps and the decision regarding terms of any new debt issuances (i.e., fixed versus floating). We use interest rate swaps designated as hedges to increase the percentage of floating rate debt, subject to market conditions.

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International Investment

No provision has been made for United States federal and state income taxes on certain of our outside tax basis differences, which primarily relate to accumulated foreign earnings of approximately $5.0 billion as of December 31, 2013, as we have reinvested and expect to continue to reinvest these earnings outside the United States indefinitely. We intend to invest these earnings to expand and diversify our global distribution and explore new service offerings, and we may also consider international acquisition opportunities. In 2011, our foreign cash allowed us to acquire TGBP and the remaining interests in two of our largest European-based agents, Finint S.r.l. and Angelo Costa, S.r.l. However, if we are unable to utilize accumulated earnings outside of the United States and we repatriate these earnings to the United States in the form of actual or constructive dividends, we would be subject to significant United States federal income taxes (subject to an adjustment for foreign tax credits), state income taxes and possible withholding taxes payable to various foreign countries.

Regulation

Our business is subject to a wide range of laws and regulations enacted by the United States federal government, each of the states, many localities and many other countries and jurisdictions, including the European Union. These include an increasingly strict set of legal and regulatory requirements intended to help detect and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, and other illicit activity. These also include laws and regulations regarding: financial services, consumer disclosure and consumer protection, currency controls, money transfer and payment instrument licensing, payment services, credit and debit cards, electronic payments, foreign exchange hedging services and the sale of spot, forward and option currency contracts, unclaimed property, the regulation of competition, consumer privacy, data protection and information security. Failure by Western Union, our agents, or their subagents (agents and subagents are third parties, over whom Western Union has limited legal and practical control) to comply with any of these requirements or their interpretation could result in the suspension or revocation of a license or registration required to provide money transfer services and/or payment services or foreign exchange products, the limitation, suspension or termination of services, loss of consumer confidence, the seizure of our assets, and/or the imposition of civil and criminal penalties, including fines and restrictions on our ability to offer services.

We have developed and continue to enhance our global compliance programs, including our anti-money laundering program comprised of policies, procedures, systems and internal controls to monitor and to address various legal and regulatory requirements. In addition, we continue to adapt our business practices and strategies to help us comply with current and evolving legal standards and industry practices, including heightened regulatory focus on compliance with anti-money laundering or fraud prevention requirements. These programs include dedicated compliance personnel, training and monitoring programs, suspicious activity reporting, regulatory outreach and education, and support and guidance to our agent network on regulatory compliance. Our money transfer and payment service networks operate through third-party agents in most countries, and, therefore, there are limitations on our legal and practical ability to completely control those agents' compliance activities. In 2013, the Company spent over $150 million on its compliance and regulatory programs, including costs related to our amended settlement agreement with the State of Arizona.

Money Transfer and Payment Instrument Licensing and Regulation

Our money transfer and money order services are subject to anti-money laundering laws and regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended, including by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (collectively, the "BSA"), and similar state laws and regulations. The BSA, among other things, requires money transfer companies and the issuers and sellers of money orders, to develop and implement risk-based anti-money laundering programs, to report large cash transactions and suspicious activity, and in some cases, to collect and maintain information about consumers who use their services and maintain other transaction records. Many states impose similar and, in some cases, more stringent requirements. These requirements also apply to our agents and their subagents. In addition, the United States Department of the Treasury has interpreted the BSA to require money transfer companies to conduct due diligence into and risk-based monitoring of their agents inside and outside the United States, and certain states also require money transfer companies to conduct due diligence reviews of their agents and subagents. Compliance with anti-money laundering laws and regulations continues to be a focus of regulatory attention, with agreements being reached with Western Union and several large financial institutions, including another money transfer provider.

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Economic and trade sanctions programs administered by the United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") and by certain foreign jurisdictions prohibit or restrict transactions to or from (or dealings with) certain countries, their governments, and in certain circumstances, their nationals, as well as with specifically-designated individuals and entities such as narcotics traffickers, terrorists and terrorist organizations. We provide very limited money transfer and payments services to individuals in Cuba, Syria and Sudan in accordance with United States laws authorizing such services and pursuant to and as authorized by advisory opinions of, or specific or general licenses granted by, OFAC.

In the United States, most states license money transfer services providers and many exercise authority over the operations of our money transfer services and, as part of this authority, regularly examine us. Many states require us to invest the proceeds of money transfers in highly-rated, investment grade securities, and our use of such investments is restricted to satisfy outstanding settlement obligations. We regularly monitor credit risk and attempt to mitigate our exposure by investing in highly-rated securities in compliance with these regulations. The majority of our investment securities, classified within "Settlement assets" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets, are held in order to comply with state licensing requirements in the United States and had credit ratings of "AA-" or better from a major credit rating agency as of December 31, 2013.

These licensing laws also cover matters such as government approval of controlling shareholders and senior management of our licensed entities, regulatory approval of agents and in some instances their locations, consumer disclosures and the filing of periodic reports by the licensee, and require the licensee to demonstrate and maintain certain net worth levels. Many states also require money transfer providers and their agents to comply with federal and/or state anti-money laundering laws and regulations.

Outside of the United States, our money transfer business is subject to some form of regulation in all of the countries and territories in which we offer those services. These laws and regulations may include limitations on what types of entities may offer money transfer services, agent registration requirements, limitations on the amount of principal that can be sent into or out of a country, limitations on the number of money transfers that may be sent or received by a consumer and controls on the rates of exchange between currencies. They also include laws and regulations intended to detect and prevent money laundering or terrorist financing, including obligations to collect and maintain information about consumers, recordkeeping, reporting and due diligence, and supervision of agents and sub-agents similar to and in some cases exceeding those required under the BSA. In most countries, either we or our agents are required to obtain licenses or to register with a government authority in order to offer money transfer services.

The Payment Services Directive ("PSD") in the European Union ("EU") and similar laws in other jurisdictions have imposed rules on payment service providers like Western Union. In particular, Western Union is responsible for the regulatory compliance of our agents and their subagents who are engaged by one of our payments institution subsidiaries. Thus, the costs to monitor our agents and the risk of adverse regulatory action against us because of the actions of our agents in those areas have increased. The majority of our EU business is managed through our Irish PSD subsidiary, which is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Under the PSD, we are subject to investment safeguarding rules and periodic examinations similar to those we are subject to in the United States. These rules have resulted in increased compliance costs and may lead to increased competition in our areas of service. Additional countries may adopt legislation similar to these laws. The PSD, as well as legislation in other countries such as Russia, has also allowed an increased number of non-bank entities to become money transfer agents, allowing Western Union and other money transfer providers to expand their agent networks in these countries but also resulting in increased competition.

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In February 2010, Western Union Financial Services, Inc. ("WUFSI"), a subsidiary of the Company, signed an agreement and settlement ("Settlement Agreement"), which resolved all outstanding legal issues and claims with the State of Arizona (the "State") and required us to fund a multi-state not-for-profit organization promoting safety and security along the United States and Mexico border, in which California, Texas and New Mexico are participating with Arizona. As part of the Settlement Agreement, we have made and expect to make certain investments in our compliance programs along the United States and Mexico border and a monitor (the "Monitor") has been engaged for those programs. We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, significant costs in connection with the Settlement Agreement. The Monitor has made a number of recommendations related to our compliance programs. In addition, in the fourth quarter of 2012, our Business Solutions business was included in the scope of the Monitor's review. On January 31, 2014, WUFSI and the State agreed to amend the Settlement Agreement. Such amendment (the “Amendment”) was subsequently approved by the Superior Court of the State of Arizona In and For the County of Maricopa that same day. The Amendment extends the term of the Settlement Agreement until December 31, 2017, and imposes obligations on the Company and WUFSI in connection with WUFSI’s anti-money laundering compliance programs and cooperation with law enforcement. See Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors - "Western Union is the subject of governmental investigations and consent agreements with or enforcement actions by regulators" for more information on the Settlement Agreement, including the potential impact on our business.

Regulators worldwide are exercising heightened supervision of money transfer providers and requiring increasing efforts to ensure compliance. As a result, we are experiencing increasing compliance costs related to customer, agent, and subagent due diligence, verification, transaction approval, disclosure, and reporting requirements, along with other requirements that have had and will continue to have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Government agencies both inside and outside the United States may impose new or additional rules on money transfers affecting us or our agents or their subagents, including regulations that:


•	prohibit transactions in, to or from certain countries or with certain governments, individuals and entities;


•	impose additional customer identification and customer, agent, and subagent due diligence requirements;


•	impose additional reporting or recordkeeping requirements, or require enhanced transaction monitoring;


•	limit the types of entities capable of providing money transfer services, impose additional licensing or registration requirements on us, our agents, or their subagents, or impose additional requirements on us with regard to selection or oversight of our agents or their subagents;


•	impose minimum capital or other financial requirements on us or our agents and their subagents;


•	limit or restrict the revenue which may be generated from money transfers, including transaction fees and revenue derived from foreign exchange;


•	require enhanced disclosures to our money transfer customers;


•	require the principal amount of money transfers originated in a country to be invested in that country or held in trust until they are paid;


•	limit the number or principal amount of money transfers which may be sent to or from the jurisdiction, whether by an individual, through one agent or in aggregate; or


•	impose taxes or fees on money transfer transactions.

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Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and Other Similar Legislation

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act") became United States federal law in 2010. The Dodd-Frank Act created a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the "CFPB") whose purpose is to issue and enforce consumer protection initiatives governing financial products and services, including money transfer services. The CFPB has created additional regulatory oversight for us. Regulations issued by the CFPB have affected our business in a variety of areas. These include: a requirement to provide consumers sending funds internationally from the United States enhanced pre-transaction written disclosures, including the disclosure of third-party fees and taxes, an obligation to resolve various errors, including certain errors that may be outside our control, and an obligation to cancel transactions that have not been completed at a consumer's request. We have modified certain of our systems, business practices, service offerings or procedures to comply with these regulations. We also face liability for the failure of our money transfer agents and their subagents to comply with the rules and have implemented and are continuing to implement additional policies, procedures, and oversight measures designed to foster compliance by our agents. The extent of these policies, procedures, and measures may be considered by the CFPB in any action or proceeding against us for noncompliance with the rules by our agents. The CFPB has also implemented a direct portal for gathering information regarding consumer complaints in the money transfer area. It is likely that this effort will lead to additional regulatory scrutiny. In January 2014, the CFPB proposed a rule to directly supervise “larger participants” in the market for international transfers. If finalized, this rule will result in the direct examination and supervision of Western Union and its largest competitors by the CFPB.

Additionally, rules adopted under the Dodd-Frank Act by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as by member states of the European Union pursuant to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation ("EMIR"), have subjected our foreign exchange hedging transactions, including certain intercompany hedging transactions, certain of the corporate interest rate hedging transactions we may enter into in the future, and certain of the foreign exchange derivative contracts we offer as part of our Business Solutions segment, to reporting, recordkeeping, and other requirements. Additionally, certain of the corporate interest rate hedging transactions we may enter into in the future are subject to centralized clearing and margin requirements and certain of our other transactions may become so in the future. Further, we may become subject to additional and potentially costly regulatory and supervisory requirements if we exceed derivative transaction thresholds set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act and EMIR, including subjecting our foreign exchange derivative transactions to centralized clearing and margin requirements under EMIR. Governments outside of the United States and the European Union are also considering regulations similar to those described above. These regulations have added costs to our business and any additional requirements could result in additional costs or impact the way we conduct our hedging activities as well as impact how we conduct our business within our Business Solutions segment. For further discussion of these risks, see Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors - "The Dodd-Frank Act, as well as the regulations required by that Act and the actions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and similar legislation and regulations enacted by other government authorities, could adversely affect us and the scope of our activities, and could adversely affect our operations, results of operations and financial condition."

Unclaimed Property Regulations

Our Company is subject to unclaimed property laws in the United States and abroad. These laws require us to turn over to certain government authorities the property of others held by our Company that has been unclaimed for a specified period of time, such as unpaid money transfers and money orders. We hold property subject to unclaimed property laws and we have an ongoing program to comply with the laws. We are subject to audits with regard to our escheatment practices.

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Privacy and Information Security Regulations

We must collect, transfer, disclose, use and store personal information in order to provide our services. These activities are subject to information security standards, data privacy, data breach and related laws and regulations in the United States and other countries. In the United States, data privacy and data breach laws such as the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and various state laws apply directly to a broad range of financial institutions including money transfer providers like Western Union, and indirectly to companies that provide services to or on behalf of those institutions. The United States Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") has an on-going program of investigating the privacy practices of companies and has commenced enforcement actions against many, resulting in multimillion dollar settlements and multi-year agreements governing the settling companies' privacy practices. The FTC and several states have expanded their area of concern to include privacy practices related to mobile applications. Many state laws require us to provide notification to affected individuals, state officers and consumer reporting agencies in the event of a security breach of computer databases or physical documents that contain certain types of non-public personal information and present a risk for unauthorized use.

The collection, transfer, disclosure, use and storage of personal information required to provide our services is subject to data privacy laws outside of the United States, such as laws adopted pursuant to the EU's 95/46 EC Directive of the European Parliament (the "Data Protection Directive"), and national and provincial laws throughout the world. In some cases, these laws are more restrictive than the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and impose more stringent duties on companies. These laws, which are not uniform, do one or more of the following: restrict the collection, transfer, processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal information, require notice to individuals of privacy practices and give individuals certain rights to prevent the use or disclosure of personal information for secondary purposes such as marketing.

These regulations, laws and industry standards also impose requirements for safeguarding personal information through the issuance of internal data security standards, controls or guidelines.

In connection with regulatory requirements to assist in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and pursuant to legal obligations and authorizations, Western Union makes information available to certain United States federal and state, as well as certain foreign, government agencies when required by law. In recent years, Western Union has experienced increasing data sharing requests by these agencies, particularly in connection with efforts to prevent terrorist financing or reduce the risk of identity theft. During the same period, there has also been increased public attention to the corporate use and disclosure of personal information, accompanied by legislation and regulations intended to strengthen data protection, information security and consumer privacy. These regulatory goals - the prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and identity theft and the protection of the individual's right to privacy - may conflict, and the law in these areas is not consistent or settled. While we believe that Western Union is compliant with its regulatory responsibilities, the legal, political and business environments in these areas are rapidly changing, and subsequent legislation, regulation, litigation, court rulings or other events could expose Western Union to increased program costs, liability and reputational damage.

Banking Regulation

We have subsidiaries that operate under banking licenses granted by the Austrian Financial Market Authority and the Brazilian Central Bank which subject these subsidiaries to Austrian and Brazilian regulations. We are also subject to regulation, examination and supervision by the New York State Department of Financial Services (the "Financial Services Department"), which has regulatory authority over our entity that holds all interests in these subsidiaries, a limited liability investment company organized under Article XII of the New York Banking Law. An Agreement of Supervision with the Financial Services Department imposes various regulatory requirements including operational limitations, capital requirements, affiliate transaction limitations, and notice and reporting requirements. Approval is required from the Financial Services Department under New York Banking Law, and from the Austrian Financial Market Authority and the Brazilian Central Bank under Austrian and Brazilian regulations, respectively, prior to certain direct or indirect changes in control of the Article XII investment company and its banking subsidiaries, including a change in control of its ultimate parent, the Company.

Since these subsidiaries do not operate any banking offices in the United States and do not conduct business in the United States except as may be incidental to their activities outside the United States, our Company's affiliation with these subsidiaries does not cause them to be subject to the provisions of the Bank Holding Company Act in the United States.

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Other

Some of our services are subject to card association rules and regulations. For example, an independent standards-setting organization, the Payment Card Industry ("PCI") Security Standards Council (including American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc. International) developed a set of comprehensive requirements concerning payment card account security through the transaction process, called the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard ("PCI DSS"). All merchants and service providers that store, process and transmit payment card data are required to comply with PCI DSS as a condition to accepting credit cards. We are subject to annual reviews to ensure compliance with PCI regulations worldwide and are subject to fines if we are found to be non-compliant.

Stored-value services offered by Western Union are subject to United States federal and state laws and regulations, as well as laws and regulations outside of the United States, related to consumer protection, licensing, escheat and money laundering. Similar services that we offer internationally are subject to various country laws. These laws are evolving, and the extent to which they apply to Western Union or its consumers is sometimes unclear. While we are unable to determine the full impact that new laws and changing interpretations may have on these services, recent history suggests that new rules may, among other things, broaden our liability for the services and increase the scope of the information that we and our agents must collect, maintain and report about consumers.

Employees and Labor

As of January 31, 2014, our businesses employed approximately 10,000 employees, of which approximately 8,000 employees are located outside of the United States.

Available Information

The Western Union Company is a Delaware corporation and its principal executive offices are located at 12500 East Belford Avenue, Englewood, CO, 80112, telephone (866) 405-5012. The Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports are available free of charge through the "Investor Relations" portion of the Company's website, www.westernunion.com, as soon as reasonably practical after they are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The SEC maintains a web site, www.sec.gov, which contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information filed electronically with the SEC by the Company.

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Executive Officers of the Registrant

As of February 24, 2014, our executive officers consist of the individuals listed below:



Name	Age	Position
Hikmet Ersek	53	President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Rajesh K. Agrawal	48	Executive Vice President, Interim Chief Financial Officer
Odilon Almeida	52	Executive Vice President and President, Americas and European Union
John R. Dye	54	Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Jean Claude Farah	43	Executive Vice President and President, Middle East, Africa, APAC, Eastern Europe & CIS
Diane Scott	43	Executive Vice President, Chief Product and Marketing Officer
J. David Thompson	47	Executive Vice President, Global Operations and Chief Information Officer
Richard L. Williams	48	Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer

Hikmet Ersek is our President and Chief Executive Officer (from September 2010) and a member of the Company's Board of Directors (from April 2010). From January 2010 to August 2010, Mr. Ersek served as the Company's Chief Operating Officer. Prior to January 2010, Mr. Ersek served as the Company's Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific Region from December 2008. From September 2006 to December 2008, Mr. Ersek served as the Company's Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Europe/Middle East/Africa/South Asia. Prior to September 2006, Mr. Ersek held various positions of increasing responsibility with Western Union. Prior to joining Western Union in September 1999, Mr. Ersek was with GE Capital specializing in European payment systems and consumer finance.

Rajesh K. Agrawal is our Executive Vice President (from November 2011) and Interim Chief Financial Officer (from January 2014). Prior to January 2014, Mr. Agrawal was President, Western Union Business Solutions (from August 2011). Prior to August 2011, Mr. Agrawal served as General Manager, Business Solutions from November 2010, and as Senior Vice President of Finance for Business Units, from August 2010 to November 2010. Previously, Mr. Agrawal served as Senior Vice President of Finance of the Company's Europe, Middle East, and Africa and Asia Pacific regions from July 2008 to August 2010, and as Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Western Union from June 2006 to May 2008. Mr. Agrawal joined Western Union in 2006.

Odilon Almeida is currently Executive Vice President and President, Americas and European Union. From January 2013 until December 2013, Mr. Almeida was Senior Vice President and President for the Americas region for Western Union. Mr. Almeida joined Western Union in 2002 and has held roles of increasing responsibility, including Regional Vice President, Southern Cone, Americas from December 2002 to August 2007; Senior Vice President, South America region from January 2008 to December 2010; and Senior Vice President and Managing Director for the Latin America and Caribbean region from December 2010 to December 2012. Prior to joining Western Union, Mr. Almeida worked at FleetBoston Financial, The Coca-Cola Company and Colgate-Palmolive in Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States.

John R. Dye is our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Prior to taking this position in November 2011, Mr. Dye was Senior Vice President, Interim General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("FHLMC") from July 2011. From July 2007 to July 2011, Mr. Dye served as Senior Vice President, Principal Deputy General Counsel Corporate Affairs, of FHLMC. Prior to joining FHLMC, Mr. Dye served as Associate General Counsel at Citigroup Inc. from August 1999 to July 2007, and as Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel at Salomon Smith Barney from 1994 to 1999. Prior to that time, Mr. Dye was an attorney at the law firm of Brown & Wood. Mr. Dye is also Chairman of the Board of the Western Union Foundation.

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Jean Claude Farah is currently Executive Vice President and President, Middle East, Africa, APAC, Eastern Europe and CIS. From March 2009 to December 2013, Mr. Farah served as Senior Vice President for the Middle East and Africa region at Western Union. Mr. Farah joined Western Union in 1999 as Marketing Manager, Middle East & North Africa. He has held a variety of progressively responsible positions with the company, including Regional Director from March 2003 to June 2005, Regional Vice President from June 2005 to March 2009 and Senior Vice President for the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan region. Mr. Farah started his career in 1995 with Renault SA. Prior to joining Western Union, he was Area Manager for Orangina Pernod Ricard.

Diane Scott is our Executive Vice President, Chief Product and Marketing Officer. Prior to taking this position in December 2012, Ms. Scott was our Chief Marketing Officer (from April 2011) and President, Western Union Ventures (from August 2011). Prior to April 2011, Ms. Scott was Senior Vice President, Marketing, Americas since March 2009. From March 2008 to March 2009, Ms. Scott served as Vice President, Marketing Services, and General Manager, Domestic Money Transfer. From March 2007 to March 2008, Ms. Scott served as Vice President, Domestic Money Transfer and Marketing Services, and from January 2005 to March 2007, she served as Vice President and General Manager, Domestic Money Transfer. Ms. Scott joined Western Union in 2001. Prior to joining Western Union, Ms. Scott held marketing positions with Izodia plc, US West Communications Inc., and various advertising agencies.

J. David Thompson is our Executive Vice President, Global Operations (from November 2012) and Chief Information Officer (from April 2012). Prior to April 2012, Mr. Thompson was Group President, Services & Support and Global CIO of Symantec Corporation since January 2008. From February 2006 to January 2008, Mr. Thompson served as Symantec's Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining Symantec, Mr. Thompson was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Oracle Corporation from January 2005 to January 2006. From August 1995 to January 2005, he was Vice President of Services and Chief Information Officer at PeopleSoft, Inc. Mr. Thompson is a director of CoreSite Realty Corporation.

Richard L. Williams is our Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer. Mr. Williams was appointed as our Chief Human Resources Officer in October of 2013 and previously served as Interim Chief Human Resources Officer from March 2013 to October 2013 and as Senior Vice President, Human Resources - Global Consumer Financial Services from June 2011 to October 2013. Mr. Williams joined Western Union in November 2009 as the Vice President of Human Resources for the Americas and Global Cards. Before joining Western Union, Mr. Williams worked for Fullerton Financial Holdings (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings) as its Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from September 2007 to October 2009. Previously, Mr. Williams spent 17 years (May 1998 to August 2007 and August 1989 to February 1997) with American Express Company.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

There are many factors that affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, some of which are beyond our control. These risks include, but are not limited to, the risks described below. Such risks are grouped according to:


•	Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry;


•	Risks Related to Our Regulatory and Litigation Environment; and


•	Risks Related to the Spin-Off.

You should carefully consider all of these risks.

Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry

If consumers' confidence in our business or in consumer money transfer and payment service providers generally deteriorates, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our business is built on consumers' confidence in our brands and our ability to provide fast, reliable money transfer and payment services. Erosion in consumers' confidence in our business, or in consumer money transfer and payment service providers as a means to transfer money, could adversely impact transaction volumes which would in turn adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A number of factors could adversely affect consumers' confidence in our business, or in consumer money transfer and payment service providers generally, many of which are beyond our control, and could have an adverse impact on our results of operations. These factors include:


•	changes or proposed changes in laws or regulations or regulator or judicial interpretation thereof that have the effect of making it more difficult or less desirable for consumers to transfer money using consumer money transfer and payment service providers, including additional customer due diligence, identification, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements;


•	the quality of our services and our customer experience, and our ability to meet evolving consumer needs and preferences, including customer preferences related to our digital services;


•	failure of our agents or their subagents to deliver services in accordance with our requirements;


•	reputational concerns resulting from actual or perceived events, including those related to fraud or consumer protection;


•	actions by federal, state or foreign regulators that interfere with our ability to transfer consumers' money reliably, for example, attempts to seize money transfer funds, or limit our ability to or prohibit us from transferring money in certain corridors;


•	federal, state or foreign legal requirements, including those that require us to provide consumer or transaction data pursuant to our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and other requirements or to a greater extent than is currently required;


•	any significant interruption in our systems, including by fire, natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failure, terrorism, vendor failure, unauthorized entry and computer viruses or disruptions in our workforce; and


•	any breach of our security policies or legal requirements resulting in a compromise of consumer privacy or data use and security.

Many of our money transfer consumers are migrants. Consumer advocacy groups or governmental agencies could consider migrants to be disadvantaged and entitled to protection, enhanced consumer disclosure, or other different treatment. If consumer advocacy groups are able to generate widespread support for actions that are detrimental to our business, then our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

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Global economic downturns or slower growth or declines in the money transfer, payment service, and other markets in which we operate, including those related to interruptions in migration patterns, and difficult conditions in global financial markets and financial market disruptions could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The global economy has experienced in recent years, and in the future may experience, downturns, volatility and disruption, and we face certain risks relating to such events, including:


•	Demand for our services could soften, including due to low consumer confidence, high unemployment, or reduced global trade.


•	Our Consumer-to-Consumer money transfer business relies in large part on migration, which brings workers to countries with

greater economic opportunities than those available in their native countries. A significant portion of money transfers are sent by international migrants. Migration is affected by (among other factors) overall economic conditions, the availability of job opportunities, changes in immigration laws, and political or other events (such as war, terrorism or health emergencies) that would make it more difficult for workers to migrate or work abroad. Changes to these factors could adversely affect our remittance volume and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

•

Many of our consumers work in industries that may be impacted by deteriorating economic conditions more quickly or significantly than other industries. Reduced job opportunities, especially in retail, healthcare, hospitality, and construction, or overall weakness in the world’s economies could adversely affect the number of money transfer transactions, the principal amounts transferred and correspondingly our results of operations. If general market softness in the economies of countries important to migrant workers occurs, our results of operations could be adversely impacted. Additionally, if our consumer transactions decline, if the amount of money that consumers send per transaction declines, or if migration patterns shift due to weak or deteriorating economic conditions, our results of operations may be adversely affected.

•

Our agents or clients could experience reduced sales or business as a result of a deterioration in economic conditions. As a result, our agents could reduce their numbers of locations or hours of operation, or cease doing business altogether. Businesses using our services may make fewer cross-currency payments or may have fewer customers making payments to them through us, particularly businesses in those industries that may be more affected by an economic downturn.


•	Our exposure to receivables from our agents, consumers and businesses could impact us. For more information on this risk, see risk factor, "We face credit, liquidity and fraud risks from our agents, consumers and businesses that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations."


•	The market value of the securities in our investment portfolio may substantially decline. The impact of that decline in value may adversely affect our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.


•	The counterparties to the derivative financial instruments that we use to reduce our exposure to various market risks, including changes in interest rates and foreign exchange rates, may fail to honor their obligations, which could expose us to risks we had sought to mitigate. That failure could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

•

We aggregate our foreign exchange exposures in our Business Solutions business, including the exposure generated by the derivative contracts we write to our customers as part of our cross-currency payments business, and typically hedge the net exposure through offsetting contracts with established financial institution counterparties. If our customers fail to honor their obligations or if the counterparties to our offsetting positions fail to honor their obligations, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.


•	We may be unable to refinance our existing indebtedness as it becomes due or we may have to refinance on unfavorable terms, which could require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our debt, thereby reducing funds available for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, share repurchases, dividends, and other purposes.

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•	Our revolving credit facility with a consortium of banks is one source for funding liquidity needs and also backs our commercial paper program. If any of the banks participating in our credit facility fails to fulfill its lending commitment to us, our short-term liquidity and ability to support borrowings under our commercial paper program could be adversely affected.


•	The third-party service providers on whom we depend may experience difficulties in their businesses, which may impair their ability to provide services to us and have a potential impact on our own business. The impact of a change or temporary stoppage of services may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.


•	Banks upon which we rely to conduct our business could fail or be unable to satisfy their obligations to us. This could lead to our inability to access funds and/or credit losses for us and could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business.


•	If market disruption and volatility occurs, we could experience difficulty in accessing capital on favorable terms and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

We face competition from global and niche or corridor money transfer providers, United States and international banks, card associations, card-based payments providers and a number of other types of service providers, including electronic and Internet providers and digital currencies. Our future growth depends on our ability to compete effectively in the industry.

Money transfer and global business payments are highly competitive industries which include service providers from a variety of financial and non-financial business groups. Our competitors include banks, credit unions, automated teller machine providers and operators, card associations, card-based payments providers such as issuers of e-money, travel cards or stored-value cards, informal remittance systems, web-based services, phone payment systems (including mobile phone networks), postal organizations, retailers, check cashers, mail and courier services, currency exchanges, consumer money transfer companies, and digital currencies. These services are differentiated by features and functionalities such as brand recognition, customer service, trust and reliability, distribution network and channel options, convenience, price, speed, variety of payment methods, service offerings, and innovation. Distribution network and channel options, such as the electronic money transfer business, which includes online, account based, and mobile money transfer, have been and may continue to be impacted by increased competition, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our future growth depends on our ability to compete effectively in money transfer and global business payments. For example, if we fail to price our services appropriately, consumers may not use our services, which could adversely affect our business and financial results. In addition, failure to compete on service differentiation and service quality could significantly affect our future growth potential and results of operations.

As noted below under risk factor "Risks associated with operations outside the United States and foreign currencies could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations," many of our agents outside the United States are national post offices. These entities are usually governmental organizations that may enjoy special privileges or protections that could allow them to simultaneously develop their own money transfer businesses. International postal organizations could agree to establish a money transfer network among themselves. Due to the size of these organizations and the number of locations they have, any such network could represent significant competition to us.

We may not realize the anticipated benefits of pricing reductions, which could adversely affect our business.

We have made, and expect to continue to make, periodic pricing reductions from time to time in response to competition and to implement our brand investment strategy, which includes better meeting consumer needs, maximizing market opportunities and strengthening our overall competitive positioning. Pricing reductions generally reduce margins and adversely affect financial results in the short term, but are done in anticipation that they will result in increased transaction volumes which may lead to increased revenues and operating income in these certain corridors thereafter. However, the anticipated benefits of these pricing reductions may not be realized within a certain time period or at all. If we fail to realize the anticipated benefit of the pricing reductions, our business and financial results could be adversely affected.

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Our ability to adopt new technology to respond to new and enhanced products, changing industry and regulatory standards, and evolving customer needs or trends poses a challenge to our business.

Our industry is subject to rapid and significant technological changes, with the constant introduction of new and enhanced products and services and evolving industry and regulatory standards and consumer needs and preferences. Our ability to enhance our current products and services and introduce new products and services that address these changes has a significant impact on our ability to be successful. We actively seek to respond in a timely manner to changes in customer (both consumer and business) needs and preferences, technology advances and new and enhanced products such as technology-based money transfer and Business Solutions payments services, including Internet, phone-based and other mobile money transfer services and prepaid, stored-value and other card-based money transfer services. Failure to respond well to these challenges on a timely basis could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, even if we respond well to these challenges, the business and financial models offered by many of these alternative, more technology-reliant means of money transfer and electronic payment solutions may be less advantageous to us than the model offered by our traditional cash/agent model.

Risks associated with operations outside the United States and foreign currencies could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A substantial portion of our revenue is generated in currencies other than the United States dollar. As a result, we are subject to risks associated with changes in the value of our revenues and net monetary assets denominated in foreign currencies. Our Business Solutions business provides currency conversion and, in certain countries, foreign exchange hedging services to its customers, further exposing us to foreign currency exchange risk. In order to mitigate these risks, we enter into derivative contracts. However, these contracts do not eliminate all of the risks related to fluctuating foreign currency rates.

For example, a substantial portion of our revenue is generated in the euro. Due to concerns in recent years regarding the ability of certain European countries to continue to service their sovereign debt obligations, the value of the euro has fluctuated more widely than in the past. If there is a significant devaluation of the euro and we are unable to hedge our foreign exchange exposure to the euro, the value of our euro-denominated net monetary assets and liabilities would be correspondingly reduced when translated into United States dollars for inclusion in our financial statements.

We operate in almost all the emerging markets throughout the world. For many countries in these markets, our foreign currency exposure is limited because most transactions are receive transactions and we settle with our agents in either United States dollars or euros as reimbursement for the payment of these transactions. However, there are certain countries in these emerging markets where we generate transaction revenue from send transactions. Our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations in those countries is increased as these fluctuations impact our revenues and operating profits. Typically, in these markets the cost of hedging activities is prohibitive.

We have operations in countries where government-imposed restrictions limit the transfer of cash outside the country. In Argentina, our money transfer and bill payment operations together represent less than 5% of our 2013 total consolidated revenues. However, as of December 31, 2013, approximately $100 million in cash and cash equivalents, representing several years of accumulated operating profits and excess cash flows from both businesses, continue to be held in Argentina due to government imposed restrictions. Changes in the official Argentine peso exchange rate are immediately reflected in net income for our money transfer operations, whereas these effects are reflected in other comprehensive income for our bill payment operations. The continued devaluation of the Argentine peso and limits on returning excess cash balances could further adversely affect future distributions and our results of operations.

Our foreign exchange risk is relatively greater, and our foreign exchange risk management is heightened, in our Business Solutions business. The majority of Business Solutions' revenue is from exchanges of currency at the spot rate enabling customers to make cross-currency payments. In certain countries, this business also writes foreign currency forward and option contracts for our customers. The duration of these derivative contracts at inception is generally less than one year. The credit risk associated with our derivative contracts increases when foreign currency exchange rates move against our customers, possibly impacting their ability to honor their obligations to deliver currency to us or to maintain appropriate collateral with us. Business Solutions aggregates its foreign exchange exposures arising from customer contracts, including the derivative contracts described above, and hedges the resulting net currency risks by entering into offsetting contracts with established financial institution counterparties. If we are unable to obtain offsetting positions, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

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A substantial portion of our revenue is generated outside of the United States and much of the cash and cash equivalents from this business are held by our foreign entities. Repatriating these funds to the United States would, in many cases, result in significant tax obligations because most of these funds have been taxed at foreign tax rates that are relatively low compared to our combined federal and state tax rates in the United States. If repatriation of these funds is required or if a change in legislation requires a different tax treatment, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted. For further discussion regarding the risk that our future effective tax rates could be adversely impacted by changes in tax laws, both domestically and internationally, see risk factor "Changes in tax laws and unfavorable resolution of tax contingencies could adversely affect our tax expense" below.

Money transfers and payments to, from, within, or between countries may be limited or prohibited by law. At times in the past, we have been required to cease operations in particular countries due to political uncertainties or government restrictions imposed by foreign governments or the United States. Occasionally agents or their subagents have been required by their regulators to cease offering our services, see risk factor "Regulatory initiatives and changes in laws, regulations and industry practices and standards affecting us, our agents or their subagents could require changes in our business model and increase our costs of operations, which could adversely affect our operations, results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity" below. Additionally, economic or political instability or natural disasters may make money transfers to, from, within, or between particular countries difficult or impossible, such as when banks are closed, when currency devaluation makes exchange rates difficult to manage or when natural disasters or civil unrest makes access to agent locations unsafe. These risks could negatively impact our ability to offer our services, to make payments to or receive payments from international agents or our subsidiaries or our ability to recoup funds that have been advanced to international agents or are held by our subsidiaries, and as a result could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the general state of telecommunications and infrastructure in some lesser developed countries, including countries where we have a large number of transactions, creates operational risks for us and our agents that generally are not present in our operations in the United States and other more developed countries.

Many of our agents outside the United States are post offices, which are usually owned and operated by national governments. These governments may decide to change the terms under which they allow post offices to offer remittances and other financial services. For example, governments may decide to separate financial service operations from postal operations, or mandate the creation or privatization of a "post bank," which could result in the loss of agent locations, or they may require multiple service providers in their network. A government could decide to restrict remittance service to only the national post office. These changes could have an adverse effect on our ability to distribute, offer or price our services in countries that are material to our business.

Breaches of our information security policies or safeguards could adversely affect our ability to operate and could damage our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

We collect, transfer and retain consumer, business, employee and agent data as part of our business. These activities are subject to laws and regulations in the United States and other jurisdictions, see risk factor "Current and proposed regulation addressing consumer privacy and data use and security could increase our costs of operations, which could adversely affect our operations, results of operations and financial condition" below. The requirements imposed by these laws and regulations, which often differ materially among the many jurisdictions, are designed to protect the privacy of personal information and to prevent that information from being inappropriately used or disclosed. We have developed and maintain technical and operational safeguards designed to comply with applicable legal requirements. However, despite those safeguards, it is possible that hackers, employees acting contrary to our policies or others could improperly access our systems or the systems of our business partners and service providers and improperly obtain or disclose data about our consumers, business customers, agents and/or employees. Further, because some data is collected and stored by third parties, it is possible that a third party could intentionally or inadvertently disclose personal data in violation of law. Also, in some jurisdictions we transfer data related to our employees, business customers, consumers, agents and potential employees to third-party vendors in order to perform due diligence and for other reasons. It is possible that a vendor could intentionally or inadvertently disclose such data. Any breach of our security policies or applicable legal requirements resulting in a compromise of consumer, business, employee or agent data could require us to notify impacted individuals, and in some cases regulators, of a possible or actual breach, expose us to regulatory enforcement action, including fines, limit our ability to provide services, subject us to litigation and/or damage our reputation.

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Interruptions in our systems, including as a result of cyber attacks, or disruptions in our workforce may have a significant effect on our business.

Our ability to provide reliable service largely depends on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of our computer information systems and those of our service providers. Any significant interruptions could harm our business and reputation and result in a loss of consumers. These systems and operations could be exposed to damage or interruption from fire, natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failure, terrorism, vendor failure, unauthorized entry and computer viruses or other causes, many of which may be beyond our control or that of our service providers. Further, we have been and continue to be the subject of cyber attacks. These attacks are primarily aimed at interrupting our business or exploiting information security vulnerabilities. Historically, none of these attacks or breaches has individually or in the aggregate resulted in any material liability to us or any material damage to our reputation, and disruptions related to cybersecurity have not caused any material disruption to the Company's business, although there can be no assurance that a material breach will not occur in the future. Although we have taken steps to prevent systems disruptions, our measures may not be successful and we may experience problems other than system disruptions. We also may experience software defects, development delays, installation difficulties and other systems problems, which would harm our business and reputation and expose us to potential liability which may not be fully covered by our business interruption insurance. Our data applications may not be sufficient to address technological advances, regulatory requirements, changing market conditions or other developments. In addition, any work stoppages or other labor actions by employees, the significant majority of which are located outside the United States, could adversely affect our business.

Acquisitions and integration of new businesses create risks and may affect operating results.

We have acquired and may acquire businesses both inside and outside the United States. The acquisition and integration of businesses involve a number of risks. The core risks involve valuation (negotiating a fair price for the business based on inherently limited due diligence) and integration (managing the complex process of integrating the acquired company's people, products and services, technology and other assets in an effort to realize the projected value of the acquired company and the projected synergies of the acquisition). In addition, the need in some cases to improve regulatory compliance standards is another risk associated with acquiring companies, see "Risks Related to Our Regulatory and Litigation Environment" below. Acquisitions often involve additional or increased risks including, for example:


•	realizing the anticipated financial benefits from these acquisitions and where necessary, improving internal controls of these acquired businesses;


•	managing geographically separated organizations, systems and facilities;


•	managing multi-jurisdictional operating, tax and financing structures;


•	integrating personnel with diverse business backgrounds and organizational cultures;


•	integrating the acquired technologies into our Company;


•	complying with regulatory requirements;


•	enforcing intellectual property rights in some foreign countries;


•	entering new markets with the services of the acquired businesses; and


•	general economic and political conditions, including legal and other barriers to cross-border investment in general, or by United States companies in particular.

Integrating operations could cause an interruption of, or divert resources from, one or more of our businesses and could result in the loss of key personnel. The diversion of management's attention and any delays or difficulties encountered in connection with an acquisition and the integration of the acquired company's operations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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As of December 31, 2013, we had $3,172.0 million of goodwill comprising approximately 31% of our total assets, including $1,947.7 million of goodwill in our Consumer-to-Consumer reporting unit and $996.0 million of goodwill in our Business Solutions reporting unit. TGBP represents a significant majority of the goodwill related to the Business Solutions reporting unit. For the Business Solutions reporting unit, a decline in estimated fair value of approximately 15% could occur before triggering an impairment of goodwill. If we or our reporting units do not generate operating cash flows at levels consistent with our expectations, we may be required to write down the goodwill on our balance sheet, which could have a significant adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations in future periods. See the "Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates" discussion in Part II, Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation, for more detail.

We face credit, liquidity and fraud risks from our agents, consumers and businesses that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The vast majority of our global funds transfer business is conducted through third-party agents that provide our services to consumers at their retail locations. These agents sell our services, collect funds from consumers and are required to pay the proceeds from these transactions to us. As a result, we have credit exposure to our agents. In some countries, our agent networks include superagents that establish subagent relationships; these agents must collect funds from their subagents in order to pay us. We are not insured against credit losses, except in certain circumstances related to agent theft or fraud. If an agent becomes insolvent, files for bankruptcy, commits fraud or otherwise fails to pay money order, money transfer or payment services proceeds to us, we must nonetheless pay the money order, complete the money transfer or payment services on behalf of the consumer.

The liquidity of our agents is necessary for our business to remain strong and to continue to provide our services. If our agents fail to settle with us in a timely manner, our liquidity could be affected.

From time to time, we have made, and may in the future make, short-term advances and longer term loans to our agents. These advances and loans generally are secured by settlement funds payable by us to these agents. However, the failure of these borrowing agents to repay these advances and loans constitutes a credit risk to us.

In our Business Solutions business, we are also exposed to credit risk relating to foreign currency forward and option contracts written by us to our customers. The duration of these derivative contracts at inception is generally less than one year. The credit risk associated with our derivative contracts increases when foreign currency exchange rates move against our customers, possibly impacting their ability to honor their obligations to deliver currency to us or to maintain appropriate collateral with us. If a customer becomes insolvent, files for bankruptcy, commits fraud or otherwise fails to pay us for the value of these contracts, we may be exposed to the value of an offsetting position with a financial institution counterparty.

We offer consumers, primarily in the United States, the ability to transfer money utilizing their bank account or credit or debit card via the Internet and phone. These transactions have experienced and continue to experience a greater risk of fraud and higher fraud losses. Additionally, money transfers funded by ACH, or similar methods, are not preauthorized by the sender's bank and carry the risk that the account may not exist or have sufficient funds to cover the transaction. We apply verification and other tools to help authenticate transactions and protect against fraud. However, these tools are not always successful in protecting us against fraud. As the merchant of these transactions, we may bear the financial risk of the full amount sent in some of the fraudulent transactions. Issuers of credit and debit cards may also incur losses due to fraudulent transactions through our distribution channels and may elect to block transactions by their cardholders in these channels with or without notice. We may be subject to additional fees or penalties if the amount of chargebacks exceeds a certain percentage of our transaction volume. Such fees and penalties escalate over time if we do not take effective action to reduce chargebacks below the threshold, and if chargeback levels are not ultimately reduced to acceptable levels, our merchant accounts could be suspended or revoked, which would adversely affect our results of operations.

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If we are unable to maintain our agent, subagent or global business payments networks under terms consistent with those currently in place, or if our agents or their subagents fail to comply with Western Union business and technology standards and contract requirements, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Most of our Consumer-to-Consumer revenue is derived through our agent network. In addition, our international agents may have subagent relationships in which we are not directly involved. If, due to competition or other reasons, agents or their subagents decide to leave our network, or if we are unable to sign new agents or maintain our agent network under terms consistent with those currently in place, or if our agents are unable to maintain relationships with or sign new subagents, our revenue and profits may be adversely affected. Agent attrition might occur for a number of reasons, including a competitor engaging an agent, an agent's dissatisfaction with its relationship with us or the revenue derived from that relationship, or an agent's or its subagents' unwillingness or inability to comply with our standards or legal requirements, including those related to compliance with anti-money laundering regulations, anti-fraud measures, or agent registration and monitoring requirements. For example, changes to our compliance-related practices as a result of our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and changes to our business model, primarily related to our Vigo and Orlandi Valuta brands, resulted in the loss of over 7,000 agent locations in Mexico in 2012. In addition, agents may generate fewer transactions or less revenue for various reasons, including increased competition, political unrest, or changes in the economy, and the cost of maintaining agent or subagent locations may increase because of increased compliance efforts. Because an agent is a third party that engages in a variety of activities in addition to providing our services, it may encounter business difficulties unrelated to its provision of our services, which could cause the agent to reduce its number of locations, hours of operation, or cease doing business altogether.

We rely on our agents' information systems and/or processes to obtain transaction data. If an agent or their subagent loses information, if there is a significant disruption to the information systems of an agent or their subagent, or if an agent or their subagent does not maintain the appropriate controls over their systems, we may experience reputational and other harm which could result in losses to the Company.

We have relationships with over 15,000 consumer payments businesses to which our customers can make payments. These relationships are a core component of our global payments services, and we derive a substantial portion of our Consumer-to-Business revenue through these relationships. If we are unable to sign new relationships or maintain our current relationships under terms consistent with those currently in place, our revenue and profit growth rates may be adversely affected.

For example, changes in laws regulating competition or in the interpretation of those laws could undermine our ability to enter into or maintain our exclusive arrangements with our current and prospective agents, especially in certain inbound countries. See risk factor "Regulatory initiatives and changes in laws, regulations and industry practices and standards affecting us, our agents or their subagents could require changes in our business model and increase our costs of operations, which could adversely affect our operations, results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity" below. In addition, certain of our agents and subagents have refused to enter into exclusive arrangements. The inability to enter into exclusive arrangements or to maintain our exclusive rights under our contracts could adversely affect our operations, revenue, and operating profit by, for example, allowing competitors to benefit from the goodwill associated with the Western Union brand at our agent locations.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed by adverse rating actions by credit rating agencies.

If our credit ratings are downgraded, or if they are placed under review or revised to have a negative outlook, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected and perceptions of our financial strength could be damaged, which could adversely affect our relationships with our agents, particularly those agents that are financial institutions or post offices, and our banking and other business relationships. In addition, an adverse credit rating by a rating agency, such as a downgrade or negative outlook, could result in regulators imposing additional capital and other requirements on us, including imposing restrictions on the ability of our regulated subsidiaries to pay dividends. Also, a downgrade below investment grade will increase our interest expense under certain of our notes and any significant downgrade could increase our costs of borrowing money more generally or adversely impact or eliminate our access to the commercial paper market, each of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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We may not realize all of the anticipated benefits from productivity and cost-savings and other related initiatives, which may include decisions to downsize or to transition operating activities from one location to another, and we may experience disruptions in our workforce as a result of those initiatives.

We have engaged in actions and activities associated with productivity improvement initiatives and expense reduction measures. We may implement additional initiatives in future periods. While these initiatives are designed to increase productivity and result in cost savings, there can be no assurance that the anticipated benefits will be realized, and the costs to implement such initiatives may be greater than expected. In addition, these initiatives have resulted and will likely result in the loss of personnel, some of whom may support significant systems or operations. Consequently, these initiatives could result in a disruption to our workforce. If we do not realize the anticipated benefits from these initiatives, or the costs to implement them are greater than expected, or if the actions result in a disruption to our workforce greater than anticipated, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

There can be no guarantee that we will continue to make dividend payments or repurchase stock.

For risks associated with our ability to continue to make dividend payments or repurchase shares, please see Part II, Item 5, Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Our ability to remain competitive depends in part on our ability to protect our brands and our other intellectual property rights and to defend ourselves against potential intellectual property infringement claims.

The Western Union brand, which is protected by trademark registrations in many countries, is material to our Company. The loss of the Western Union trademark or a diminution in the perceived quality associated with the name would harm our business. Similar to the Western Union trademark, the Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Speedpay, Equity Accelerator, Pago Fácil, Western Union Payments, Quick Collect, Quick Pay, Quick Cash, Convenience Pay, Western Union Business Solutions and other trademarks and service marks are also important to our Company and a loss of the service mark or trademarks or a diminution in the perceived quality associated with these names could harm our business.

Our intellectual property rights are an important element in the value of our business. Our failure to take appropriate actions against those who infringe upon our intellectual property could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The laws of certain foreign countries in which we do business do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States. Adverse determinations in judicial or administrative proceedings in the United States or in foreign countries could impair our ability to sell our services or license or protect our intellectual property, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have been, are and in the future may be, subject to claims alleging that our technology or business methods infringe intellectual property rights of others, both inside and outside the United States. Unfavorable resolution of these claims could require us to change how we deliver a service, result in significant financial consequences, or both, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in tax laws and unfavorable resolution of tax contingencies could adversely affect our tax expense.

Our future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by changes in tax laws, both domestically and internationally. From time to time, the United States Congress and foreign, state and local governments consider legislation that could increase our effective tax rates or impose other obligations. If changes to applicable tax laws are enacted, our results of operations could be negatively impacted.

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Our tax returns and positions (including positions regarding jurisdictional authority of foreign governments to impose tax) are subject to review and audit by federal, state, local and international taxing authorities. An unfavorable outcome to a tax audit could result in higher tax expense, thereby negatively impacting our results of operations. We have established contingency reserves for a variety of material, known tax exposures. As of December 31, 2013, the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits was a liability of $125.5 million, including accrued interest and penalties, net of related items. Our reserves reflect our judgment as to the resolution of the issues involved if subject to judicial review. While we believe that our reserves are adequate to cover reasonably expected tax risks, there can be no assurance that, in all instances, an issue raised by a tax authority will be resolved at a financial cost that does not exceed our related reserve, and such resolution could have a material effect on our effective tax rate, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows in the current period and/or future periods. With respect to these reserves, our income tax expense would include (i) any changes in tax reserves arising from material changes during the period in the facts and circumstances (i.e. new information) surrounding a tax issue, and (ii) any difference from the Company's tax position as recorded in the financial statements and the final resolution of a tax issue during the period. Such resolution could increase or decrease income tax expense in our consolidated financial statements in future periods and could impact our operating cash flows. For example, in 2011, we reached an agreement with the United States Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") resolving substantially all of the issues related to the restructuring of our international operations in 2003, which resulted in a tax benefit of $204.7 million related to the adjustment of reserves associated with this matter and requires cash payments to the IRS and various state tax authorities of approximately $190 million, of which $92.4 million has been paid as of December 31, 2013. See the "Capital Resources and Liquidity" discussion in Part II, Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The IRS completed its examination of the United States federal consolidated income tax returns of First Data, which include our 2005 and pre-Spin-off 2006 taxable periods and issued its report on October 31, 2012 ("FDC 30-Day Letter"). Furthermore, the IRS completed its examination of our United States federal consolidated income tax returns for the 2006 post-Spin-off period through 2009 and issued its report also on October 31, 2012 ("WU 30-Day Letter"). Both the FDC 30-Day Letter and the WU 30-Day Letter propose tax adjustments affecting us, some of which are agreed and some of which are unagreed. We filed our protest on November 28, 2012 related to the unagreed proposed adjustments with the IRS Appeals Division. See Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 10, "Income Taxes" for a further discussion of this matter.

We receive services from third-party vendors that would be difficult to replace if those vendors ceased providing such services adequately or at all. Cessation of or defects in various services provided to us by third-party vendors could cause temporary disruption to our business.

Some services relating to our business, such as software application support, the development, hosting and maintenance of our operating systems, check clearing, and processing of returned checks are outsourced to third-party vendors, which would be difficult to replace quickly. If our third-party vendors were unwilling or unable to provide us with these services in the future, our business and operations could be adversely affected.

Material changes in the market value or liquidity of the securities we hold may adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

As of December 31, 2013, we held $1.9 billion in investment securities, the significant majority of which are state and municipal debt securities. The majority of this money represents the principal of money transfers sent by consumers and money orders issued by us to consumers in the United States. We regularly monitor our credit risk and attempt to mitigate our exposure by investing in highly-rated securities and by diversifying our investments. As of December 31, 2013, the majority of our investment securities had credit ratings of "AA-" or better from a major credit rating agency. Despite those ratings, it is possible that the value of our portfolio may decline in the future due to any number of factors, including general market conditions, credit issues, the viability of the issuer of the security, failure by a fund manager to manage the investment portfolio consistently with the fund prospectus or increases in interest rates. Any such decline in value may adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

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The trust holding the assets of our pension plan has assets totaling approximately $295.8 million as of December 31, 2013. The fair value of these assets held in the trust are compared to the plan's projected benefit obligation to determine the pension liability of $70.4 million recorded within "Other liabilities" in our Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2013. We attempt to mitigate risk through diversification, and we regularly monitor investment risk on our portfolio through quarterly investment portfolio reviews and periodic asset and liability studies. Despite these measures, it is possible that the value of our portfolio may decline in the future due to any number of factors, including general market conditions and credit issues. Such declines could have an impact on the funded status of our pension plan and future funding requirements.

We have substantial debt obligations that could restrict our operations.

As of December 31, 2013, we had approximately $4.2 billion in consolidated indebtedness, and we may also incur additional indebtedness in the future.

Our indebtedness could have adverse consequences, including:


•	limiting our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders or to repurchase stock consistent with our historical practices;


•	increasing our vulnerability to changing economic, regulatory and industry conditions;


•	limiting our ability to compete and our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry;


•	limiting our ability to borrow additional funds; and


•	requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our debt, thereby reducing funds available for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other purposes.

There would be adverse tax consequences associated with using certain earnings generated outside the United States to pay the interest and principal on our indebtedness. Accordingly, this portion of our cash flow will be unavailable under normal circumstances to service our debt obligations.

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Risks Related to Our Regulatory and Litigation Environment

As described under Part I, Item 1, Business, our business is subject to a wide range of laws and regulations enacted by the United States federal government, each of the states (including licensing requirements), many localities and many other countries and jurisdictions. Laws and regulations to which we are subject include those related to: financial services, consumer disclosure and consumer protection, currency controls, money transfer and payment instrument licensing, payment services, credit and debit cards, electronic payments, foreign exchange hedging services and the sale of spot, forward and option currency contracts, unclaimed property, the regulation of competition, consumer privacy, data protection and information security. The failure by us, our agents or their subagents to comply with any such laws or regulations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could seriously damage our reputation and brands, and result in diminished revenue and profit and increased operating costs.

Our business is subject to a wide range of laws and regulations. Liabilities or loss of business resulting from a failure by us, our agents or their subagents to comply with laws and regulations and regulatory or judicial interpretations thereof, including laws and regulations designed to detect and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and other illicit activity, and increased costs or loss of business associated with compliance with those laws and regulations has had and we expect will continue to have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our services are subject to an increasingly strict set of legal and regulatory requirements, including those intended to help detect and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, and other illicit activity. The interpretation of those requirements by judges, regulatory bodies and enforcement agencies is changing, often quickly and with little notice. Economic and trade sanctions programs that are administered by the United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control prohibit or restrict transactions to or from or dealings with specified countries, their governments, and in certain circumstances, their nationals, and with individuals and entities that are specially-designated nationals of those countries, narcotics traffickers, and terrorists or terrorist organizations. As United States federal and state as well as foreign legislative and regulatory scrutiny and enforcement action in these areas increase, we expect that our costs of complying with these requirements will continue to increase, perhaps substantially, or our compliance will make it more difficult or less desirable for consumers and others to use our services or for us to contract with certain intermediaries, either of which would have an adverse effect on our revenue and operating profit. For example, we anticipate significant additional investments in 2014 in our compliance programs based on the current and rapidly evolving environment and our internal reviews of the increasingly complex and demanding global regulatory requirements, and we expect incremental compliance program costs as well as the potential negative business impact from new compliance procedures. These additional investments relate to enhancing our compliance capabilities, including our consumer protection efforts. Further, failure by Western Union, our agents, or their subagents (agents and subagents are third parties, over whom Western Union has limited legal and practical control) to comply with any of these requirements or their interpretation could result in the suspension or revocation of a license or registration required to provide money transfer, payment or foreign exchange services, the limitation, suspension or termination of services, loss of consumer confidence, the seizure of our assets, and/or the imposition of civil and criminal penalties, including fines and restrictions on our ability to offer services.

We are subject to regulations imposed by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the "FCPA") in the United States and similar laws in other countries, such as the Bribery Act in the United Kingdom, which generally prohibit companies and those acting on their behalf from making improper payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Some of these laws, such as the Bribery Act, also prohibit improper payments between commercial enterprises. Because our services are offered in virtually every country of the world, we face significant risks associated with our obligations under the FCPA, the Bribery Act, and other national anti-corruption laws. Any determination that we have violated these laws could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, our United States business is subject to reporting, recordkeeping and anti-money laundering provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended, including by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (collectively, the "BSA"), and to regulatory oversight and enforcement by the United States Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN"). We have subsidiaries that are subject to banking regulations, primarily those in Brazil and Austria. These subsidiaries are also subject to regulation, examination and supervision by the New York Department of Financial Services. Under the Payment Services Directive ("PSD") in the European Union ("EU"), which became effective in late 2009, and similar legislation enacted or proposed in other jurisdictions, we have and will increasingly become directly subject to reporting, recordkeeping, and anti-money laundering regulations, and agent oversight and monitoring requirements, which have increased and will continue to increase our costs. These laws could also increase competition in some or all of our areas of service.

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The remittance industry, including Western Union, has come under increasing scrutiny from government regulators and others in connection with its ability to prevent its services from being abused by people seeking to defraud others. While we believe our fraud prevention efforts are effective and comply with applicable law, the ingenuity of criminal fraudsters, combined with the potential susceptibility to fraud by consumers, make the prevention of consumer fraud a significant and challenging problem. Our failure to continue to help prevent such frauds and increased costs related to the implementation of enhanced anti-fraud measures, or a change in fraud prevention laws or their interpretation or the manner in which they are enforced could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Further, any determination that our agents or their subagents have violated laws and regulations could seriously damage our reputation and brands, resulting in diminished revenue and profit and increased operating costs. In some cases, we could be liable for the failure of our agents or their subagents to comply with laws which also could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

For example, in the EU, Western Union is responsible for the compliance of our agents and their subagents with the PSD when they are acting on behalf of one of our payments institution subsidiaries. The majority of our EU business is managed through our Irish PSD subsidiary, which is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Thus, the risk of adverse regulatory action against Western Union because of actions by its agents or their subagents and the costs to monitor our agents or their subagents in those areas has increased. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the "CFPB") created by the Dodd-Frank Act has issued amendments to the final regulations implementing the remittance provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which impose responsibility on us for any related compliance failures of our agents and their subagents.

The changes associated with the PSD, the Dodd-Frank Act and similar legislation enacted or proposed in other countries have resulted and will likely continue to result in increased costs to comply with the new requirements, and in the event we or our agents are unable to comply, could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additional countries may adopt similar legislation.

Our fees, profit margins and/or foreign exchange spreads may be reduced or limited because of regulatory initiatives and changes in laws and regulations or their interpretation and industry practices and standards that are either industry wide or specifically targeted at our Company.

The evolving regulatory environment, including increased fees or taxes, regulatory initiatives, and changes in laws and regulations or their interpretation, industry practices and standards imposed by state, federal or foreign governments and expectations regarding our compliance efforts, is impacting the manner in which we operate our business and may change the competitive landscape and is expected to continue to adversely affect our financial results. New and proposed legislation relating to financial services providers and consumer protection in various jurisdictions around the world has and may continue to affect the manner in which we provide our services, see risk factor "The Dodd-Frank Act, as well as the regulations required by that Act and the actions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and similar legislation and regulations enacted by other government authorities, could adversely affect us and the scope of our activities, and could adversely affect our operations, results of operations and financial condition." Recently proposed and enacted legislation related to financial services providers and consumer protection in various jurisdictions around the world and at the federal and state level in the United States has subjected and may continue to subject us to additional regulatory oversight, mandate additional consumer disclosures and remedies, including refunds to consumers, or otherwise impact the manner in which we provide our services. If governments implement new laws or regulations that limit our right to set fees and/or foreign exchange spreads, then our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, changes in regulatory expectations, interpretations or practices could increase the risk of regulatory enforcement actions, fines and penalties.

For example, our business has been affected and is currently being affected by on-going changes to our compliance procedures related to our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona. See risk factor "Western Union is the subject of governmental investigations and consent agreements with or enforcement actions by regulators." Due to regulatory initiatives, we have changed our compliance related practices and business model along the United States and Mexico border, including in the southwestern region of the United States. Such changes have had, and will likely continue to have an adverse effect on our revenue, profit margins, and business operations related to our United States to Mexico and United States to Latin America and the Caribbean corridors.

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In addition, one state has passed a law imposing a fee on certain money transfer transactions, and certain other states have proposed similar legislation. Several foreign countries have enacted rules imposing taxes or fees on certain money transfer transactions, as well. Although money transfer services themselves are not generally subject to sales tax on money transfer services elsewhere in the United States, the current budget shortfalls in many jurisdictions, combined with continued federal inaction on comprehensive immigration reform, may lead other states or localities to impose similar taxes or fees. Similar circumstances in foreign countries could invoke similar consequences. A tax or fee exclusively on money transfer services like Western Union could put us at a competitive disadvantage to other means of remittance which are not subject to the same taxes or fees.

Other examples of changes to our financial environment include the possibility of regulatory initiatives that focus on lowering international remittance costs. For example, members of the Canadian parliament have proposed legislation that would limit the fees and foreign exchange spreads charged by remittance companies. Such initiatives may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Regulators around the world look at each other's approaches to the regulation of the payments and other industries. Consequently, a development in any one country, state or region may influence regulatory approaches in other countries, states or regions. This includes the interpretation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act"). Similarly, new laws and regulations in a country, state or region involving one service may cause lawmakers there to extend the regulations to another service. As a result, the risks created by any one new law or regulation are magnified by the potential they have to be replicated, affecting our business in another place or involving another service. Conversely, if widely varying regulations come into existence worldwide, we may have difficulty adjusting our services, fees and other important aspects of our business, with the same effect. Either of these eventualities could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Regulatory initiatives and changes in laws, regulations and industry practices and standards affecting us, our agents or their subagents could require changes in our business model and increase our costs of operations, which could adversely affect our operations, results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity.

Our agents and their subagents are subject to a variety of regulatory requirements, which differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and are subject to change. Material changes in the regulatory requirements for offering money transfer services, including with respect to anti-money laundering requirements, fraud prevention, consumer protection, customer due diligence, agent registration, or increased requirements to monitor our agents or their subagents in a jurisdiction important to our business have meant and could continue to mean increased costs and/or operational demands on our agents and their subagents, which have resulted and could continue to result in their attrition, a decrease in the number of locations at which money transfer services are offered, an increase in the commissions paid to agents and their subagents to compensate for their increased costs, and other negative consequences. For example, changes to our compliance-related practices as a result of our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and changes to our business model, primarily related to our Vigo and Orlandi Valuta brands, resulted in the loss of over 7,000 agent locations in Mexico in 2012.

Our regulatory status and the regulatory status of our agents could affect their ability to offer our services. For example, we and our agents are considered Money Service Businesses, or "MSBs," under the BSA. An increasing number of banks view MSBs, as a class, as higher risk customers for purposes of their anti-money laundering programs. Furthermore, some of our agents and our businesses have had difficulty establishing or maintaining banking relationships due to the banks' policies. If a significant number of our agents are unable to maintain existing or establish new banking relationships, or if these agents face higher fees to maintain or establish new bank accounts, they may not be able to continue to offer our services. Additionally, if we are unable to maintain our banking relationships, it would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

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The types of enterprises that are legally authorized to act as our agents vary significantly from one country to another. Changes in the laws affecting the kinds of entities that are permitted to act as money transfer agents (such as changes in requirements for capitalization or ownership) could adversely affect our ability to distribute our services and the cost of providing such services, both by us and our agents. For example, a requirement that a money transfer provider be a bank or other highly regulated financial entity could increase significantly the cost of providing our services in many countries where that requirement does not exist today or could prevent us from offering our services in an affected country. Further, any changes in law that would require us to provide directly the money transfer services to consumers as opposed to through an agent network (which would effectively change our business model) or that would prohibit or impede the use of subagents could significantly adversely impact our ability to provide our services, and/or the cost of our services, in the relevant jurisdiction. Changes mandated by laws which make Western Union responsible for acts of its agents while they are providing the Western Union money transfer service increase our risk of regulatory liability and our costs to monitor our agents' performance.

Although most of our Orlandi Valuta and Vigo branded agents also offer money transfer services of our competitors, most of our Western Union branded agents have agreed to offer only our money transfer services. While we expect to continue signing agents under exclusive arrangements and believe that these agreements are valid and enforceable, changes in laws regulating competition or in the interpretation of those laws could undermine our ability to enforce them in the future. Over the past several years, several countries in Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Africa and South Asia, including India, have promulgated laws or regulations, or authorities in these countries have issued orders, which effectively prohibit payment service providers, such as money transfer companies, from agreeing to exclusive arrangements with agents in those countries. Certain institutions, non-governmental organizations and others are actively advocating against exclusive arrangements in money transfer agent agreements. Advocates for laws prohibiting or limiting exclusive agreements continue to push for enactment of similar laws in other jurisdictions. In addition to legal challenges, certain of our agents and their subagents have refused to enter into exclusive arrangements. See risk factor "If we are unable to maintain our agent, subagent or global business payments networks under terms consistent with those currently in place, or if our agents or their subagents fail to comply with Western Union business and technology standards and contract requirements, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected" above.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance provisions of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act ("FATCA"), which is intended to address tax compliance issues related to United States taxpayers holding non-United States accounts, may require some of our business units outside the United States to report to the IRS, directly or through foreign government agencies cooperating with the IRS, information about financial transactions made by United States taxpayers and other specified entities or individuals, and could impose withholding, documentation and reporting requirements on such transactions. This provision may also affect withholding, documentation, and reporting requirements of certain payments made to non-United States recipients. Full implementation of FATCA will be phased in over a multi-year period. The additional administrative requirements of FATCA may result in increased compliance costs and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

In addition to legal or regulatory restrictions discussed in the "Capital Resources and Liquidity" section in Part II, Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, some jurisdictions use tangible net worth and other financial strength guidelines to evaluate financial position. If our regulated subsidiaries do not abide by these guidelines, they may be subject to heightened review by these jurisdictions, and the jurisdictions may be more likely to impose new formal financial strength requirements. Additional financial strength requirements imposed on our regulated subsidiaries or significant changes in the regulatory environment for money transfer providers could impact our primary source of liquidity.

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Western Union is the subject of governmental investigations and consent agreements with or enforcement actions by regulators.

On February 11, 2010, Western Union Financial Services, Inc. ("WUFSI"), a subsidiary of the Company, signed an agreement and settlement ("Settlement Agreement," filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 16, 2010), which resolved all outstanding legal issues and claims with the State of Arizona (the "State") and required us to fund a multi-state not-for-profit organization promoting safety and security along the United States and Mexico border, in which California, Texas and New Mexico are participating with Arizona. The Settlement Agreement also required us to make payments to the State for its costs associated with this matter. In addition, as part of the Settlement Agreement, we have made and expect to make certain investments in and enhancements to our compliance programs along the United States and Mexico border and a monitor (the “Monitor”) has been engaged for those programs. We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, significant costs in connection with the Settlement Agreement. The Monitor has made a number of recommendations related to our compliance programs. In addition, in the fourth quarter of 2012, our Business Solutions business was included in the scope of the Monitor's review.

On January 31, 2014, WUFSI and the State agreed to amend the Settlement Agreement. Such amendment (the “Amendment”) was subsequently approved by the Superior Court of the State of Arizona In and For the County of Maricopa that same day. The Amendment extends the term of the Settlement Agreement until December 31, 2017, and imposes obligations on the Company and WUFSI in connection with WUFSI’s anti-money laundering compliance programs and cooperation with law enforcement. In particular, the Amendment requires WUFSI to continue implementing the primary and secondary recommendations made by the Monitor appointed pursuant to the Settlement Agreement related to WUFSI’s anti-money laundering compliance program, and includes, among other things, timeframes for implementing such primary and secondary recommendations. Under the Amendment, the Monitor may make additional primary recommendations until January 1, 2015, and additional secondary recommendations until January 31, 2017. After these dates, the Monitor may only make additional primary or secondary recommendations, as applicable, that meet certain requirements as set forth in the Amendment. Primary recommendations may also be re-classified as secondary recommendations.

The Amendment provides that if WUFSI is unable to implement an effective anti-money laundering compliance program along the U.S. and Mexico border, as determined by the Monitor and subject to limited judicial review, within the timeframes to implement the Monitor’s primary recommendations, the State may, within 180 days after the Monitor delivers its final report on the primary recommendations on December 31, 2016, and subsequent to any judicial review of the Monitor’s findings, elect one, and only one, of the following remedies: (i) assert a willful and material breach of the Settlement Agreement and pursue remedies under the Settlement Agreement, which could include initiating civil or criminal actions; or (ii) require WUFSI to pay (a) $50 million plus (b) $1 million per primary recommendation or group of primary recommendations that WUFSI fails to implement successfully. There are currently more than 70 primary recommendations and groups of primary recommendations.

If the Monitor concludes that WUFSI has implemented an effective anti-money laundering compliance program along the U.S. and Mexico border within the timeframes to implement the Monitor’s primary recommendations, the State cannot pursue either of the remedies above, except that the State may require WUFSI to pay $1 million per primary recommendation or group of primary recommendations that WUFSI fails to implement successfully.

If, at the conclusion of the timeframe to implement the secondary recommendations on December 31, 2017, the Monitor concludes that WUFSI has not implemented an effective anti-money laundering compliance program along the U.S. and Mexico border, the State cannot assert a willful and material breach of the Settlement Agreement but may require WUFSI to pay an additional $25 million. Additionally, if the Monitor determines that WUFSI has implemented an effective anti-money laundering compliance program along the U.S. and Mexico border but has not implemented some of the Monitor’s secondary recommendations or groups of secondary recommendations that were originally classified as primary recommendations or groups of primary recommendations on the date of the Amendment, the State may require WUFSI to pay $500,000 per such secondary recommendation or group of recommendations. There is no monetary penalty associated with secondary recommendations that are classified as such on the date of the Amendment or any new secondary recommendations that the Monitor makes after the date of the Amendment.

The Amendment also requires WUFSI to make a one-time payment of $250,000 and thereafter $150,000 per month for five years to fund the activities and expenses of a money transfer transaction data analysis center formed by WUFSI and a Financial Crimes Task Force comprised of federal and state and local law enforcement representatives, including those from the State. In addition, the Amendment requires WUFSI to continue funding the Monitor’s reasonable expenses in $500,000 increments as requested by the Monitor.

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The changes in WUFSI’s anti-money laundering program required by the Settlement Agreement, including the Amendment, and the Monitor’s recommendations have had, and will continue to have, adverse effects on the Company’s business, including additional costs. Additionally, if WUFSI is not able to implement a successful anti-money laundering compliance program along the U.S. and Mexico border or timely implement a substantial portion of the Monitor’s primary recommendations, each as determined by the Monitor, pursuit by the State of remedies under the Settlement Agreement, including the Amendment, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations.

We are in the process of making or have made certain changes to our compliance program for transactions from the United States to Mexico and the Latin America and the Caribbean region, including:


•	revisions to agent agreements to increase our ability to oversee the compliance of our agents and their subagents;


•	reduced thresholds at which our consumers are required to provide identification for transactions from certain states along the United States southwest border; and


•	enhancement of our information systems including migrating customer information for our Orlandi Valuta and Vigo brands onto our Western Union database and migrating to a standard point of sale system.

Such changes have had, and will likely continue to have adverse effects on our business, primarily our United States to Mexico business and our United States to Latin America and the Caribbean business. Such adverse effects include fewer transactions, lower revenue, lower profits, increased compliance costs, loss of agents, reduced ability to attract or activate new agents, and a less desirable customer experience. Any additional changes that we elect or are required to make in the United States to Mexico and the United States to Latin America and the Caribbean corridors, or similar changes that we may elect or be required to make in other corridors or for our other services, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Over the past several years, we have entered into consent agreements with federal and state authorities, including FinCEN, the New York Department of Financial Services, the California Department of Financial Institutions and the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions, relating to the BSA and anti-money laundering requirements and related consumer identification matters. These agreements required us to make various payments and to take certain measures to enhance our compliance with recordkeeping, reporting, training and agent oversight requirements under applicable state and federal law.

The consent agreements with the New York Department of Financial Services and the California Department of Financial Institutions were lifted during 2008. However, the financial services industry and businesses like ours continue to be under significant federal and state regulatory scrutiny with respect to the BSA and anti-money laundering compliance matters. It is possible that as a result of periodic examinations or otherwise, we could be subject to deficiency findings, fines, criminal penalties, asset seizures or enforcement actions that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In 2011, 2012 and 2013, Western Union received Civil Investigative Demands from certain state attorneys general who have initiated an investigation into the adequacy of the Company's consumer protection efforts over the last several years. The Civil Investigative Demands seek information and documents relating to money transfers sent from the United States to certain countries, consumer fraud complaints that the Company has received and the Company's procedures to help identify and prevent fraudulent transfers. Due to the stage of the investigation, the Company is unable to predict the outcome of the investigation, or the possible loss or range of loss, if any, which could be associated with any possible civil claims that might be brought by one or more of the states. Should such claims be brought, the Company could face significant fines, damage awards, or regulatory consequences, or compulsory changes in our business practices that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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On March 20, 2012, the Company was served with a federal grand jury subpoena issued by the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California ("USAO") seeking documents relating to Shen Zhou International ("US Shen Zhou"), a former Western Union agent located in Monterey Park, California. The principal of US Shen Zhou was indicted in 2010 and in December 2013, pled guilty to one count of structuring international money transfers in violation of United States federal law in U.S. v. Zhi He Wang (SA CR 10-196, C.D. Cal.). Concurrent with the government's service of the subpoena, the government notified the Company that it is a target of an ongoing investigation into structuring and money laundering. Since March 20, 2012, the Company has received additional subpoenas from the USAO seeking additional documents relating to US Shen Zhou, materials relating to certain other former and current agents and other materials relating to the Company's anti-money laundering compliance policies and procedures. The government has interviewed several current and former Western Union employees and has served grand jury subpoenas seeking testimony from several current and former employees. The government's investigation is ongoing and the Company may receive additional requests for information as part of the investigation. The Company continues to cooperate fully with the government. The Company is unable to predict the outcome of the government's investigation, or the possible loss or range of loss, if any, which could be associated with the resolution of any possible criminal charges or civil claims that may be brought against the Company. Should such charges or claims be brought, the Company could face significant fines, damage awards or regulatory consequences which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Company has had discussions with the United States Federal Trade Commission (the "FTC") regarding the Company's consumer protection and anti-fraud programs. On December 12, 2012, the Company received a Civil Investigative Demand ("CID") from the FTC requesting that the Company produce (i) all documents relating to communications with the monitor appointed pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, including information the Company provided to the monitor and any reports prepared by the monitor, and (ii) all documents relating to complaints made to the Company by consumers anywhere in the world relating to fraud-induced money transfers since January 1, 2011. On April 15, 2013, the FTC filed a petition in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York requesting an order to compel production of the requested documents. On June 6, 2013, the Court granted in part and denied in part the FTC's request. On August 14, 2013, the FTC filed a notice of appeal. On August 27, 2013, Western Union filed a notice of cross-appeal. On February 21, 2014, the Company received another CID from the FTC requesting the production of all documents relating to complaints made to the Company by or on behalf of consumers relating to fraud-induced money transfers that were sent from or received in the United States since January 1, 2004, except for documents that were already produced to the FTC in response to the first CID. The Company is unable to predict the outcome of this matter, or provide a range of loss, if any, which could be associated with any possible claims that might be brought against the Company.

On November 25, 2013, the Company was served with a federal grand jury subpoena issued by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (“USAO-MDPA”) seeking documents relating to complaints made to the Company by consumers anywhere in the world relating to fraud-induced money transfers since January 1, 2008. Concurrent with the government's service of the subpoena, the government notified the Company that it is the subject of the investigation. Since November 25, 2013, the Company has received additional subpoenas from the USAO-MDPA seeking documents relating to certain Western Union agents and Western Union’s agent suspension and termination policies. The government's investigation is ongoing and the Company may receive additional requests for information as part of the investigation. The Company is cooperating fully with the government. The Company is unable to predict the outcome of the government's investigation, or the possible loss or range of loss, if any, which could be associated with the resolution of any possible criminal charges or civil claims that may be brought against the Company. Should such charges or claims be brought, the Company could face significant fines, damage awards or regulatory consequences which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.

We regularly receive subpoenas and other requests for documents and information from governmental authorities (federal, state, local, and foreign) concerning our current or former agents, customers or other third parties. We cooperate with such subpoenas and requests in the ordinary course of our business. However, it is possible that, during the course of any investigation or review by such governmental authorities, allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing could arise regarding Western Union, its employees, or agents, which could lead to investigations or enforcement actions against us.

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The Dodd-Frank Act, as well as the regulations required by that Act and the actions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and similar legislation and regulations enacted by other government authorities, could adversely affect us and the scope of our activities, and could adversely affect our operations, results of operations and financial condition.

The Dodd-Frank Act, which became law in the United States on July 21, 2010, calls for significant structural reforms and new substantive regulation across the financial services industry. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Act created the CFPB, whose purpose is to issue and enforce consumer protection initiatives governing financial products and services, including money transfer services. The CFPB has created additional regulatory oversight for us. The CFPB's regulations implementing the remittance provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act have affected our business in a variety of areas. These include: a requirement to provide consumers sending funds internationally from the United States enhanced pre-transaction written disclosures, including the disclosure of third-party fees and taxes, an obligation to resolve various errors, including certain errors that may be outside our control, and an obligation to cancel transactions that have not been completed at a consumer's request. In addition, these regulations impose responsibility on us for any related compliance failures of our agents. These requirements have changed the way we operate our business and along with other potential changes under CFPB regulations could adversely affect our operations and financial results and change the way we operate our business. The Dodd-Frank Act and actions by the CFPB could also have a significant impact on us by, for example, requiring us to limit or change our business practices, limiting our ability to pursue business opportunities, requiring us to invest valuable management time and resources in compliance efforts, imposing additional costs on us, requiring us to meet more stringent capital, liquidity and leverage ratio requirements, impacting the value of our assets, delaying our ability to respond to marketplace changes, requiring us to alter our products and services in a manner that would make our products less attractive to consumers and impair our ability to offer them profitably, or requiring us to make other changes that could adversely affect our business.

We may also be subject to examination by the CFPB, which in January 2014 initiated a rulemaking process to define "larger participants of a market for other consumer financial products or services" to include companies, such as Western Union, that make at least one million aggregate annual international money transfers. Companies that are included in a final rule will be subject to direct supervision by the CFPB, which may involve providing reports to the CFPB and being examined by the CFPB. The scope, frequency, and details of these reports and examinations are still being developed by the CFPB. In addition, the CFPB has broad authority to enforce consumer financial laws. In July 2011, many consumer financial protection functions formerly assigned to the federal banking agency and other agencies were transferred to the CFPB. The CFPB has a large staff and budget, which is not subject to Congressional appropriation, and has broad authority with respect to our money transfer service and related business. It is authorized to collect fines and provide consumer restitution in the event of violations, engage in consumer financial education, track consumer complaints, request data and promote the availability of financial services to underserved consumers and communities. In April 2013, the CFPB expanded the coverage of its consumer complaints portal to permit the submission of complaints regarding money transfer issues. In addition, the CFPB may adopt other regulations governing consumer financial services, including regulations defining unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices, and new model disclosures. The CFPB's authority to change regulations adopted in the past by other regulators, or to rescind or ignore past regulatory guidance, could increase our compliance costs and litigation exposure. Our litigation exposure may also be increased by the CFPB's authority to limit or ban pre-dispute arbitration clauses. In December 2013, the CFPB released the preliminary results of its arbitration study, which is widely viewed as the first step in an effort to restrict the use of such clauses in consumer financial contracts.

The effect of the Dodd-Frank Act and the CFPB on our business and operations has been and will continue to be significant and the application of the Dodd-Frank Act's implementing regulations to our business may differ from the application to certain of our competitors, including banks. Some of the Dodd-Frank Act's implementing regulations have not been issued and the function and scope of the CFPB, the reactions of our competitors and the responses of consumers and other marketplace participants are uncertain. Further, and in addition to our own compliance costs, implementation of requirements under Dodd-Frank could impact our business relationships with financial institution customers who outsource processing of consumer transactions to our Business Solutions segment. These financial institutions may determine that the compliance costs associated with providing consumer services are too burdensome and consequently may limit or discontinue offering such services.

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Rules adopted under the Dodd-Frank Act by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as by member states of the European Union pursuant to EMIR, have subjected our foreign exchange hedging transactions, including certain intercompany hedging transactions, certain of the corporate interest rate hedging transactions that we may enter into in the future, and certain of the foreign exchange derivative contracts we offer as part of our Business Solutions segment, to reporting, recordkeeping, and other requirements. Additionally, certain of the corporate interest rate hedging transactions that we may enter into in the future are subject to centralized clearing and margin requirements and certain of our other transactions may become so in the future. Our implementation of these requirements has resulted in additional costs to our business and our failure to implement them correctly could result in fines and other sanctions, as well as necessitate a temporary or permanent cessation to some or all of our hedging activities, and possibly limit the types of derivative contracts we may offer as part of our Business Solutions segment. Any such fines, sanctions or limitations on our business could adversely affect our operations and financial results. Further, we may become subject to additional and potentially costly regulatory and supervisory requirements if we exceed derivative transaction thresholds set forth in Dodd-Frank and EMIR, including subjecting our foreign exchange derivative transactions to centralized clearing and margin requirements under EMIR. Governments outside of the United States and the European Union are also considering or have begun to implement regulations similar to those described above and these will result in greater costs to us as well.

Western Union has been the subject of class-action litigation, and remains the subject of other litigation.

Western Union has been the subject of class-action litigation in the United States, alleging that its foreign exchange rate disclosures failed to adequately inform consumers about the revenue that Western Union and its agents derive from international remittances. These suits were all settled in or before 2004, without an admission of liability, and we have made changes in our advertising and consumer forms. Future litigation may require that we modify our disclosures or our practices further. These modifications could be costly to implement, restrict our ability to advertise or promote our services, limit the amount of our foreign exchange income and/or change our consumers' behavior.

In addition, as a company that provides global financial services primarily to consumers, we could be subject to future class-action lawsuits, other litigation or regulatory action alleging violations of consumer protection or other laws. We also are subject to claims asserted by consumers based on individual transactions.

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The Company and one of its subsidiaries are defendants in two purported class action lawsuits: James P. Tennille v. The Western Union Company and Robert P. Smet v. The Western Union Company, both of which are pending in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. The original complaints asserted claims for violation of various consumer protection laws, unjust enrichment, conversion and declaratory relief, based on allegations that the Company waits too long to inform consumers if their money transfers are not redeemed by the recipients and that we use the unredeemed funds to generate income until the funds are escheated to state governments. During the fourth quarter of 2012, the parties executed a settlement agreement, which the Court preliminarily approved on January 3, 2013. On June 25, 2013, the Court entered an order certifying the class and granting final approval to the settlement. Under the approved settlement, a substantial amount of the settlement proceeds, as well as all of the class counsel’s fees, administrative fees and other expenses, would be paid from the class members' unclaimed money transfer funds, which are included within "Settlement obligations" in our consolidated balance sheets. During the final approval hearing, the Court overruled objections to the settlement that had been filed by several class members. In July 2013, two of those class members filed notices of appeal. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has scheduled oral argument for March 18, 2014. The settlement requires Western Union to deposit the class members' unclaimed money transfer funds into a class settlement fund, from which class member claims, administrative fees and class counsel’s fees, as well as other expenses will be paid. On November 6, 2013, the Attorney General of California notified Western Union of the California Controller’s position that Western Union’s deposit of the unclaimed money transfer funds into the class settlement fund pursuant to the settlement “will not satisfy Western Union’s obligations to report and remit funds” under California’s unclaimed property law, and that “Western Union will remain liable to the State of California” for the funds that would have escheated to California in the absence of the settlement. The State of Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. have expressed similar views. There is thus reason to believe that these and potentially other jurisdictions may bring actions against the Company seeking reimbursement for amounts equal to the class counsel’s fees, administrative costs and other expenses that are paid from the class settlement fund. If such actions are brought or claims that may otherwise require Western Union to incur additional escheatment-related liabilities are asserted, Western Union would defend itself vigorously. For more information, see Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 5, "Commitments and Contingencies."

All of the actions described below are in a preliminary stage and the Company is unable to predict the outcome, or the possible loss or range of loss, if any, which could be associated with these actions. The Company and the named individuals intend to vigorously defend themselves in all of these matters.

On December 10, 2013, the City of Taylor Police and Fire Retirement System filed a purported class action complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado against The Western Union Company, its President and Chief Executive Officer, and a former executive officer of the Company, asserting claims under sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5 against all defendants, and under Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act against the individual defendants. Plaintiff alleges that during the alleged class period, February 7, 2012 through October 30, 2012, defendants made false or misleading statements or failed to disclose adverse facts known to them, including: (1) the Company was experiencing difficulties in complying with its increased duties required by the Southwest Border Agreement and that the State of Arizona was dissatisfied with the Company’s efforts; (2) the Company was spending significantly more than forecast on its efforts to satisfy the compliance and monitoring program; (3) the Company had downplayed the impact that changes in its compliance and regulatory environment were having on its operations, including its operations in Mexico and Latin America; (4) the scope of the Monitor’s review was being expanded to include Western Union Business Solutions, which would increase compliance costs; and (5) the Company’s ability to charge a premium for its core money transfer product was under competitive pressure, which would require drastic price reductions to stem market share losses. On January 30, 2014, another shareholder, Norma A. Garavaglia, filed a second purported class action complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado that names the same defendants and contains allegations which are substantially similar to those made in the City of Taylor Police and Fire Retirement System lawsuit.

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On January 13, 2014, Natalie Gordon served the Company with a Verified Shareholder Derivative Complaint and Jury Demand that was filed in District Court, Douglas County, Colorado naming the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, one of its former executive officers, and all of its current directors as individual defendants and the Company as a nominal defendant. The complaint asserts claims for breach of fiduciary duty and gross mismanagement against all individual defendants and unjust enrichment against the President and Chief Executive Officer and the former executive officer based on allegations that between February 12, 2012 to October 30, 2012, the individual defendants made or caused the Company to issue false and misleading statements or failed to make adequate disclosures regarding the effects of the Southwest Border Agreement, including regarding the anticipated costs of compliance with the Southwest Border Agreement, potential effects on business operations, and Company projections. Plaintiff also alleges that the individual defendants caused or allowed the Company to lack requisite internal controls, caused or allowed financial statements to be misstated, and caused the Company to be subject to the costs, expenses and liabilities associated with the City of Taylor Police and Fire Retirement System lawsuit. Plaintiff further alleges that the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer and a former executive officer received excessive compensation based on the allegedly inaccurate financial statements.

On January 19, 2014, Stanley Leiblein filed a shareholder derivative complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado naming the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, one of its former executive officers, and all but one of its current directors as individual defendants and the Company as a nominal defendant. The allegations and claims in this lawsuit are similar to those made in the Gordon lawsuit but relate to a longer period - April 27, 2010 through October 30, 2012. The complaint asserts claims for violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5 against the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer and a former executive officer in connection with the Company’s repurchase of its stock at an alleged cost of $1.557 billion; for violations of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act and waste of corporate assets against the director defendants in connection with the Company’s stock repurchases; for breaches of fiduciary duty against all of the individual defendants; for unjust enrichment against all of the individual defendants relating to their receipt of compensation; and for misappropriation of information and insider trading against a former executive officer of the Company. The claims are based on allegations that the individual defendants made or caused the Company to issue false and misleading statements or failed to make adequate disclosures regarding, among other things, the effects of the Southwest Border Agreement (including regarding the anticipated costs of compliance with the Southwest Border Agreement and potential effects on business operations), Company projections and trends and the adequacy of internal controls.

On February 11, 2014, R. Andre Klein filed a shareholder derivative complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado naming the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, one of its former executive officers, and all but one of its current directors as individual defendants and the Company as a nominal defendant. The allegations and claims in this lawsuit are similar to those made in the Leiblein lawsuit and relate to the same period - April 27, 2010 through October 30, 2012. The complaint asserts claims for violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5 against the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer and a former executive officer in connection with the Company’s repurchase of its stock at an alleged cost of $1.557 billion; for violations of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act against the director defendants in connection with the Company’s stock repurchases; for breaches of fiduciary duty against all of the individual defendants; for unjust enrichment against all of the individual defendants relating to their receipt of compensation; for abuse of control and gross mismanagement against all of the individual defendants; and for misappropriation of information and insider trading against a former executive officer of the Company. The claims are based on allegations that the individual defendants made or caused the Company to issue false and misleading statements or failed to make adequate disclosures regarding, among other things, the effects of the Southwest Border Agreement (including regarding the anticipated costs of compliance with the Southwest Border Agreement and potential effects on business operations), Company projections and trends and the adequacy of internal controls.

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On February 20, 2014, City of Cambridge Retirement System filed a Verified Shareholder Derivative Complaint and Jury Demand in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado naming the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, another current executive officer, two of its former executive officers, and all but one of its current directors as individual defendants and the Company as a nominal defendant. The complaint asserts claims for breach of fiduciary duty against the individual defendants, violation of Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act against the director defendants, violation of Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5 against the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer and a former executive officer and violation of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act against the director defendants and a former executive officer. The claims are based on, among other things, allegations that the director defendants affirmatively declined to stop and prevent the Company’s non-compliance with state and federal anti-money laundering laws and regulations after receiving red flags indicating prolonged willful illegality, reappointed the same directors to the Company’s Audit Committee between 2006 and 2014 and awarded excessive compensation packages to Western Union’s senior executives despite the executives' responsibility for the Company’s non-compliance with state and federal anti-money laundering laws. The complaint also alleges that between 2009 and 2013, the director defendants caused the Company to issue proxy statements that contained materially incomplete and inaccurate disclosures, including that the Company’s financial results depended on the non-compliance with anti-money laundering requirements; the Board was aware of regulatory and criminal enforcement actions and that the directors were not curing violations; the extent to which the Board considered increasing red flags in their determination to re-nominate certain directors to the Audit Committee; and the extent to which the Board considered ongoing regulatory and criminal investigations in awarding compensation to senior executives. The complaint further alleges that the officer defendants caused the Company to willfully ignore the mandatory recording and reporting requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act and similar state laws and authorized and implemented policies and practices they knew or should have known to be inadequate for monitoring and enforcing compliance with those requirements. In addition, the complaint alleges that between April 27, 2010 and October 30, 2012, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer and one of its former executive officers made or participated in the preparation and dissemination of materially false and misleading statements or failed to make adequate disclosures regarding, among other things, the Company’s cooperation with the Southwest Border Monitor and progress in improving its anti-money laundering monitoring program, and that they profited from those statements through insider stock sales at artificially inflated stock prices and caused the Company to suffer damages via the repurchase of its stock.

Additional civil actions or any criminal actions could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Current and proposed regulation addressing consumer privacy and data use and security could increase our costs of operations, which could adversely affect our operations, results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to requirements relating to privacy and data use and security under federal, state and foreign laws. For example, the United States Federal Trade Commission has an on-going program of investigating the privacy practices of companies and has commenced enforcement actions against many, resulting in multi-million dollar settlements and multi-year agreements governing the settling companies' privacy practices. Furthermore, certain industry groups require us to adhere to privacy requirements in addition to federal, state and foreign laws, and certain of our business relationships depend upon our compliance with these requirements. As the number of countries enacting privacy and related laws increases and the scope of these laws and enforcement efforts expand, we will increasingly become subject to new and varying requirements. Failure to comply with existing or future privacy and data use and security laws, regulations, and requirements to which we are subject or could become subject, including by reason of inadvertent disclosure of confidential information, could result in fines, sanctions, penalties or other adverse consequences and loss of consumer confidence, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations, overall business and reputation.

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In addition, in connection with regulatory requirements to assist in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and pursuant to legal obligations and authorizations, Western Union makes information available to certain United States federal and state, as well as certain foreign, government agencies when required by law. In recent years, Western Union has experienced increasing data sharing requests by these agencies, particularly in connection with efforts to prevent terrorist financing or reduce the risk of identity theft. During the same period, there has also been increased public attention to the corporate use and disclosure of personal information, accompanied by legislation and regulations intended to strengthen data protection, information security and consumer privacy. These regulatory goals - the prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and identity theft and the protection of the individual's right to privacy - may conflict, and the law in these areas is not consistent or settled. While we believe that Western Union is compliant with its regulatory responsibilities, the legal, political and business environments in these areas are rapidly changing, and subsequent legislation, regulation, litigation, court rulings or other events could expose Western Union to increased program costs, liability and reputational damage.

We are subject to unclaimed property laws, and differences between the amounts we have accrued for unclaimed property and amounts that are claimed by a state or foreign jurisdiction could have a significant impact on our results of operations and cash flows.

We are subject to unclaimed property laws in the United States and abroad which require us to turn over to certain government authorities the property of others held by us that has been unclaimed for a specified period of time, such as unpaid money transfers. We have an ongoing program to comply with those laws. In addition, we are subject to audits with regard to our escheatment practices. Any difference between the amounts we have accrued for unclaimed property and amounts that are claimed by a state or foreign jurisdiction could have a significant impact on our results of operations and cash flows. See "Unclaimed Property Regulations" for further discussion.

Our consolidated balance sheet may not contain sufficient amounts or types of regulatory capital to meet the changing requirements of our various regulators worldwide, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our regulators expect us to possess sufficient financial soundness and strength to adequately support our regulated subsidiaries. We have substantial indebtedness as of December 31, 2013, which could make it more difficult to meet these requirements if such requirements are increased. In addition, although we are not a bank holding company for purposes of United States law or the law of any other jurisdiction, as a global provider of payments services and in light of the changing regulatory environment in various jurisdictions, we could become subject to new capital requirements introduced or imposed by our regulators that could require us to issue securities that would qualify as Tier 1 regulatory capital under the Basel Committee accords or retain earnings over a period of time. Also, our regulators specify the amount and composition of settlement assets that certain of our subsidiaries must hold in order to satisfy our outstanding settlement obligations. These regulators could further restrict the type of instruments that qualify as settlement assets or these regulators could require our regulated subsidiaries to maintain higher levels of settlement assets. For example, we have seen increased scrutiny from government regulators regarding the sufficiency of our capitalization and the appropriateness of our investments held in order to comply with state and other licensing requirements. Any change or increase in these regulatory requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Risks Relating to the Spin-Off

We were incorporated in Delaware as a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Data on February 17, 2006. On September 29, 2006, First Data distributed 100% of its money transfer and consumer payments businesses and its interest in a Western Union money transfer agent, as well as related assets, including real estate, through a tax-free distribution to First Data shareholders (the "Spin-off") through this previously owned subsidiary.

If the Spin-off does not qualify as a tax-free transaction, First Data and its stockholders could be subject to material amounts of taxes and, in certain circumstances, we could be required to indemnify First Data for material taxes pursuant to indemnification obligations under the tax allocation agreement.

First Data received a private letter ruling from the IRS to the effect that the Spin-off (including certain related transactions) qualifies as a tax-free transaction to First Data, us and First Data stockholders for United States federal income tax purposes under sections 355, 368 and related provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, assuming, among other things, the accuracy of the representations made by First Data to the IRS in the private letter ruling request. If the factual assumptions or representations made in the private letter ruling request were determined to be untrue or incomplete, then First Data and ourselves would not be able to rely on the ruling.

The Spin-off was conditioned upon First Data's receipt of an opinion of Sidley Austin LLP, counsel to First Data, to the effect that, with respect to requirements on which the IRS did not rule, those requirements would be satisfied. The opinion was based on, among other things, certain assumptions and representations as to factual matters made by First Data and us which, if untrue or incomplete, would jeopardize the conclusions reached by counsel in its opinion. The opinion is not binding on the IRS or the courts, and the IRS or the courts may not agree with the opinion.

If, notwithstanding receipt of the private letter ruling and opinion of tax counsel, the Spin-off were determined to be a taxable transaction, each holder of First Data common stock who received shares of our common stock in connection with the Spin-off would generally be treated as receiving a taxable distribution in an amount equal to the fair value of our common stock received. First Data would recognize taxable gain equal to the excess of the fair value of the consideration received by First Data in the contribution over First Data's tax basis in the assets contributed to us in the contribution. If First Data were unable to pay any taxes for which it is responsible under the tax allocation agreement, the IRS might seek to collect such taxes from Western Union.

Even if the Spin-off otherwise qualified as a tax-free distribution under section 355 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Spin-off may result in significant United States federal income tax liabilities to First Data if 50% or more of First Data's stock or our stock (in each case, by vote or value) is treated as having been acquired, directly or indirectly, by one or more persons as part of a plan (or series of related transactions) that includes the Spin-off. For purposes of this test, any acquisitions, or any understanding, arrangement or substantial negotiations regarding an acquisition, within two years before or after the Spin-off are subject to special scrutiny.

With respect to taxes and other liabilities that could be imposed as a result of a final determination that is inconsistent with the anticipated tax consequences of the Spin-off (as set forth in the private letter ruling and relevant tax opinion) ("Spin-off Related Taxes"), we, one of our affiliates or any person that, after the Spin-off, is an affiliate thereof, will be liable to First Data for any such Spin-off Related Taxes attributable solely to actions taken by or with respect to us. In addition, we will also be liable for 50% of any Spin-off Related Taxes (i) that would not have been imposed but for the existence of both an action by us and an action by First Data or (ii) where we and First Data each take actions that, standing alone, would have resulted in the imposition of such Spin-off Related Taxes. We may be similarly liable if we breach certain representations or covenants set forth in the tax allocation agreement. If we are required to indemnify First Data for taxes incurred as a result of the Spin-off being taxable to First Data, it likely would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Not applicable.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Properties and Facilities

As of December 31, 2013, we have offices in over 50 countries, which includes five owned facilities and approximately 20 United States and over 400 international leased properties. Our owned facilities include our corporate headquarters located in Englewood, Colorado.

Our owned and leased facilities are used for operational, sales and administrative purposes in support of our Consumer-to-Consumer, Consumer-to-Business, and Business Solutions segments and are all currently being utilized. In certain locations, our offices include customer service centers, where our employees answer operational questions from agents and customers. Our office in Dublin, Ireland serves as our international headquarters.

We believe that our facilities are suitable and adequate for our current business; however, we periodically review our facility requirements and may acquire new facilities and update existing facilities to meet the needs of our business or consolidate and dispose of or sublet facilities which are no longer required.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

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All of the actions described above are in a preliminary stage and the Company is unable to predict the outcome, or the possible loss or range of loss, if any, which could be associated with these actions. The Company and the named individuals intend to vigorously defend themselves in all of these matters.

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The Company has had discussions with the United States Federal Trade Commission (the "FTC") regarding the Company's consumer protection and anti-fraud programs. On December 12, 2012, the Company received a Civil Investigative Demand ("CID") from the FTC requesting that the Company produce (i) all documents relating to communications with the monitor appointed pursuant to the agreement and settlement the Company entered into with the State of Arizona on February 11, 2010, including information the Company provided to the monitor and any reports prepared by the monitor, and (ii) all documents relating to complaints made to the Company by consumers anywhere in the world relating to fraud-induced money transfers since January 1, 2011. On April 15, 2013, the FTC filed a petition in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York requesting an order to compel production of the requested documents. On June 6, 2013, the Court granted in part and denied in part the FTC's request. On August 14, 2013, the FTC filed a notice of appeal. On August 27, 2013, Western Union filed a notice of cross-appeal. On February 21, 2014, the Company received another CID from the FTC requesting the production of all documents relating to complaints made to the Company by or on behalf of consumers relating to fraud-induced money transfers that were sent from or received in the United States since January 1, 2004, except for documents that were already produced to the FTC in response to the first CID. The Company is unable to predict the outcome of this matter, or provide a range of loss, if any, which could be associated with any possible claims that might be brought against the Company.

In 2011, 2012 and 2013, Western Union received Civil Investigative Demands from certain state attorneys general who have initiated an investigation into the adequacy of the Company's consumer protection efforts over the last several years. The Civil Investigative Demands seek information and documents relating to money transfers sent from the United States to certain countries, consumer fraud complaints that the Company has received and the Company's procedures to help identify and prevent fraudulent transfers. Due to the stage of the investigation, the Company is unable to predict the outcome of the investigation, or the possible loss or range of loss, if any, which could be associated with any possible civil claims that might be brought by one or more of the states. Should such claims be brought, the Company could face significant fines, damage awards, or regulatory consequences, or compulsory changes in our business practices, that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the Company is a party to a variety of other legal proceedings that arise in the normal course of our business. While the results of these legal proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty, management believes that the final outcome of these proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on the Company's results of operations or financial condition.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

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PART II


ITEM 5.	MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "WU." There were 4,238 stockholders of record as of February 18, 2014. This figure does not include an estimate of the indeterminate number of beneficial holders whose shares may be held of record by brokerage firms and clearing agencies. The following table presents the high and low prices of the common stock on the New York Stock Exchange as well as dividends declared per share during the calendar quarter indicated.



	Common Stock				Dividends
	Market Price				Declared
	High		Low		per Share
2013
First Quarter	$	15.05	$	13.23	$	0.125
Second Quarter	17.23		14.24		0.125
Third Quarter	19.11		16.63		0.125
Fourth Quarter	19.50		15.51		0.125
2012
First Quarter	$	19.82	$	16.99	$	0.10
Second Quarter	18.68		15.79		0.10
Third Quarter	19.14		16.32		0.10
Fourth Quarter	18.60		11.93		0.125

The following table sets forth stock repurchases for each of the three months of the quarter ended December 31, 2013:



	Total Number of Shares Purchased*	Average Price Paid per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs**	Remaining Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (In millions)
October 1 - 31	675	$	18.78	—	$	59.2
November 1 - 30	2,451,107	16.82		2,444,035	$	18.1
December 1 - 31	1,088,613	16.72		1,080,422	$	—
Total	3,540,395	$	16.79	3,524,457

____________



*	These amounts represent both shares authorized by the Board of Directors for repurchase under a publicly announced plan, as described below, as well as shares withheld from employees to cover tax withholding obligations on restricted stock units that have vested.
**	On February 11, 2014, the Board of Directors authorized $500 million of common stock repurchases through June 30, 2015. Management has historically and may continue to establish prearranged written plans pursuant to Rule 10b5-1. A Rule 10b5-1 plan permits us to repurchase shares at times when we may otherwise be unable to do so, provided the plan is adopted when we are not aware of material non-public information.

Refer to Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 16, "Stock Compensation Plans" for information related to our equity compensation plans.

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Dividend Policy and Share Repurchases

During 2013, the Board of Directors declared quarterly cash dividends of $0.125 per common share payable on December 31, 2013, September 30, 2013, June 28, 2013 and March 29, 2013. During 2012, the Board of Directors declared quarterly cash dividends of $0.125 per common share payable on December 31, 2012, and $0.10 per common share payable on October 8, 2012, June 29, 2012 and March 30, 2012. The declaration or authorization and amount of future dividends or share repurchases will be determined by the Board of Directors and will depend on our financial condition, earnings, available U.S. cash, capital requirements, regulatory constraints, industry practice and any other factors that the Board of Directors believes are relevant. As a holding company with no material assets other than the capital stock of our subsidiaries, our ability to pay dividends or repurchase shares in future periods will be dependent primarily on our receiving dividends from our operating subsidiaries. Several of our operating subsidiaries are subject to financial services regulations and their ability to pay dividends may be restricted.

On February 21, 2014, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share payable on March 31, 2014.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The financial information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K is presented on a consolidated basis and includes the accounts of the Company and our majority-owned subsidiaries. Our selected historical financial data are not necessarily indicative of our future financial condition, future results of operations or future cash flows.

You should read the information set forth below in conjunction with our historical consolidated financial statements and the notes to those statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.



	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions, except per share data)	2013			2012			2011			2010			2009
Statements of Income Data:
Revenues (a)	$	5,542.0		$	5,664.8		$	5,491.4		$	5,192.7		$	5,083.6
Operating expenses (b) (c)	4,434.6			4,334.8			4,106.4			3,892.6			3,800.9
Operating income (a) (b) (c)	1,107.4			1,330.0			1,385.0			1,300.1			1,282.7
Interest income (d)	9.4			5.5			5.2			2.8			9.4
Interest expense (e)	(195.6		)	(179.6		)	(181.9		)	(169.9		)	(157.9		)
Other income/(expense), net, excluding interest income and interest expense (f)	5.7			12.9			66.3			12.2			(2.7		)
Income before income taxes (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)	926.9			1,168.8			1,274.6			1,145.2			1,131.5
Net income (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g)	798.4			1,025.9			1,165.4			909.9			848.8
Depreciation and amortization	262.8			246.1			192.6			175.9			154.2
Cash Flow Data:
Net cash provided by operating activities (h)	1,088.6			1,185.3			1,174.9			994.4			1,218.1
Capital expenditures (i)	(241.3		)	(268.2		)	(162.5		)	(113.7		)	(98.9		)
Common stock repurchased (j)	(399.7		)	(766.5		)	(803.9		)	(581.4		)	(400.2		)
Earnings Per Share Data:
Basic (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (j)	$	1.43		$	1.70		$	1.85		$	1.37		$	1.21
Diluted (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (j)	$	1.43		$	1.69		$	1.84		$	1.36		$	1.21
Cash dividends to stockholders per common share (k)	$	0.50		$	0.425		$	0.31		$	0.25		$	0.06
Key Indicators (unaudited):
Consumer-to-Consumer transactions (l)	242.34			230.98			225.79			213.74			196.11



	As of December 31,
(in millions)	2013		2012		2011		2010		2009
Balance Sheet Data:
Settlement assets	$	3,270.4	$	3,114.6	$	3,091.2	$	2,635.2	$	2,389.1
Total assets	10,121.3		9,465.7		9,069.9		7,929.2		7,353.4
Settlement obligations	3,270.4		3,114.6		3,091.2		2,635.2		2,389.1
Total borrowings	4,213.0		4,029.2		3,583.2		3,289.9		3,048.5
Total liabilities	9,016.6		8,525.1		8,175.1		7,346.5		6,999.9
Total stockholders’ equity	1,104.7		940.6		894.8		582.7		353.5

____________

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(a)	Revenue for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 included $238.5 million and $35.2 million, respectively, of revenue related to Travelex Global Business Payments ("TGBP"), which was acquired in November 2011. Revenue for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 included $111.0 million and $30.8 million, respectively, of revenue related to the Custom House Ltd. ("Custom House") acquisition in September 2009. TGBP and Custom House have subsequently been rebranded to "Western Union Business Solutions."

(b)	Operating expenses for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 included $46.8 million and $59.5 million of restructuring and related expenses, respectively, associated with a restructuring plan designed to reduce overall headcount and migrate positions from various facilities, primarily within the United States and Europe, to regional operating centers.

(c)	Operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2009 included an accrual of $71.0 million resulting from an agreement and settlement, which resolved all outstanding legal issues and claims with the State of Arizona and required us to fund a multi-state not-for-profit organization promoting safety and security along the United States and Mexico border, in which California, Texas and New Mexico have participated with Arizona. The settlement agreement was signed on February 11, 2010.

(d)	Interest income consists of interest earned on cash balances not required to satisfy settlement obligations and in connection with loans previously made to certain existing agents.

(e)	Interest expense primarily relates to our outstanding borrowings.

(f)	In 2011, we recognized gains of $20.5 million and $29.4 million, in connection with the remeasurement of our former equity interests in Finint, S.r.l. and Angelo Costa, S.r.l., respectively, to fair value. These equity interests were remeasured in conjunction with our purchases of the remaining interests in these entities that we previously did not hold. Additionally, in 2011, we recognized a $20.8 million net gain on foreign currency forward contracts entered into in order to reduce the economic variability related to the cash amounts used to fund acquisitions of businesses with purchase prices denominated in foreign currencies, primarily for the TGBP acquisition. In 2009, given the increased uncertainty, at that time, surrounding the numerous third-party legal claims associated with our receivable from the Reserve International Liquidity Fund, Ltd., we reserved $12.0 million representing the estimated impact of a pro-rata distribution. In 2010, we recorded a recovery of this reserve of $6.3 million due to the final settlement of this receivable.

(g)	In December 2011, we reached an agreement with the United States Internal Revenue Service ("IRS Agreement") resolving substantially all of the issues related to the restructuring of our international operations in 2003. As a result of the IRS Agreement, we recognized a tax benefit of $204.7 million related to the adjustment of reserves associated with this matter.

(h)	Net cash provided by operating activities during the year ended December 2012 was impacted by tax payments of $92.4 million made as a result of the IRS Agreement. Net cash provided by operating activities decreased during the year ended December 31, 2010, primarily due to a $250 million tax deposit made relating to United States federal tax liabilities, including those arising from our 2003 international restructuring, which were previously accrued in our consolidated financial statements. Also impacting net cash provided by operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2010 were cash payments of $71.0 million related to the agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and other states.

(i)	Capital expenditures include capitalization of contract costs, capitalization of purchased and developed software and purchases of property and equipment.

(j)	On February 11, 2014, the Board of Directors authorized $500 million of common stock repurchases through June 30, 2015. During the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009, we repurchased 25.7 million, 51.0 million, 40.3 million, 35.6 million and 24.8 million shares, respectively.

(k)	During 2013, the Board of Directors declared quarterly cash dividends of $0.125 per common share. During 2012, the Board of Directors declared quarterly cash dividends of $0.125 per common share in the fourth quarter and $0.10 per common share in each of the first three quarters. During 2011, the Board of Directors declared quarterly cash dividends of $0.08 per common share in each of the last three quarters and $0.07 per common share in the first quarter. During 2010, the Board of Directors declared quarterly cash dividends of $0.07 per common share in the fourth quarter and $0.06 per common share in each of the first three quarters. During the fourth quarter of 2009, the Board of Directors declared an annual cash dividend of $0.06 per common share.

(l)	Consumer-to-Consumer transactions include Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded Consumer-to-Consumer money transfer services worldwide.

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ITEM 7.	MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes to those statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Certain statements contained in the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections about our industry, business and future financial results. Our actual results could differ materially from the results contemplated by these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in other sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See "Risk Factors" and "Forward-looking Statements."

Overview

We are a leading provider of money movement and payment services, operating in three business segments:

•

Consumer-to-Consumer - The Consumer-to-Consumer operating segment facilitates money transfers between two consumers, primarily through a network of third-party agents. Our multi-currency, real-time money transfer service is viewed by us as one interconnected global network where a money transfer can be sent from one location to another, around the world. Our money transfer services are available for international cross-border transfers - that is, the transfer of funds from one country to another - and, in certain countries, intra-country transfers - that is, money transfers from one location to another in the same country. This segment also includes money transfer transactions that can be initiated through websites and account based money transfers.

•

Consumer-to-Business - The Consumer-to-Business operating segment facilitates bill payments from consumers to businesses and other organizations, including utilities, auto finance companies, mortgage servicers, financial service providers, government agencies and other businesses. The significant majority of the segment's revenue was generated in the United States during all periods presented, with the remainder primarily generated in Argentina.

•

Business Solutions - The Business Solutions operating segment facilitates payment and foreign exchange solutions, primarily cross-border, cross-currency transactions, for small and medium size enterprises and other organizations and individuals. The majority of the segment's business relates to exchanges of currency at the spot rate, which enables customers to make cross-currency payments. In addition, in certain countries, we write foreign currency forward and option contracts for customers to facilitate future payments. Travelex Global Business Payments ("TGBP"), which was acquired in November 2011, is included in this segment.

All businesses that have not been classified in the above segments are reported as "Other" and primarily include our money order, prepaid and other businesses and services, in addition to costs for the review and closing of acquisitions.

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Our key strategic priorities are focused on:

•

Strengthening consumer money transfer - We continue to implement key actions in our consumer money transfer business, including: expanding digital money transfer channels; optimizing the performance of the distribution network; strengthening our customer relationships; and enhancing our compliance capabilities. We also plan to continue connecting the cash and digital worlds for our consumers. Digital and electronic account based money transfer channels delivered strong growth in 2013 and generated new customer acquisitions. We plan to accelerate usage in 2014 through added capabilities, enhanced value propositions and expanded reach. Money transfer services through electronic channels, which include online, account based, and mobile money transfer, combined were approximately 5% of consolidated revenue for the year ended December 31, 2013.


•	Driving growth in Western Union Business Solutions - In Western Union Business Solutions, we are working to drive new customer acquisition and growth opportunities with existing customers through increased sales effectiveness and tailored product solutions for specific market segments. Business Solutions represented 7% of our consolidated revenue for the year ended December 31, 2013.


•	Generating and deploying cash flow for shareholders - We currently expect to generate significant cash flow and anticipate continuing to return capital to our shareholders in 2014 through both dividends and share repurchases, subject to U.S. cash availability, targeted investment grade credit ratings, and other factors.

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Results of Operations

The following discussion of our consolidated results of operations and segment results refers to the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the same period in 2012 and the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. The results of operations should be read in conjunction with the discussion of our segment results of operations, which provide more detailed discussions concerning certain components of the Consolidated Statements of Income. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions between our segments have been eliminated.

The following table sets forth our consolidated results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011.



										% Change
	Year Ended December 31,									2013		2012
(in millions, except per share amounts)	2013			2012			2011			vs. 2012		vs. 2011
Revenues:
Transaction fees	$	4,065.8		$	4,210.0		$	4,220.2		(3	)%	0	%
Foreign exchange revenues	1,348.0			1,332.7			1,151.2			1	%	16	%
Other revenues	128.2			122.1			120.0			5	%	2	%
Total revenues	5,542.0			5,664.8			5,491.4			(2	)%	3	%
Expenses:
Cost of services	3,235.0			3,194.2			3,102.0			1	%	3	%
Selling, general and administrative	1,199.6			1,140.6			1,004.4			5	%	14	%
Total expenses	4,434.6			4,334.8			4,106.4			2	%	6	%
Operating income	1,107.4			1,330.0			1,385.0			(17	)%	(4	)%
Other income/(expense):
Interest income	9.4			5.5			5.2			71	%	6	%
Interest expense	(195.6		)	(179.6		)	(181.9		)	9	%	(1	)%
Derivative gains/(losses), net	(1.3		)	0.5			14.0			*		(96	)%
Other income, net	7.0			12.4			52.3			(44	)%	(76	)%
Total other expense, net	(180.5		)	(161.2		)	(110.4		)	12	%	46	%
Income before income taxes	926.9			1,168.8			1,274.6			(21	)%	(8	)%
Provision for income taxes	128.5			142.9			109.2			(10	)%	31	%
Net income	$	798.4		$	1,025.9		$	1,165.4		(22	)%	(12	)%
Earnings per share:
Basic	$	1.43		$	1.70		$	1.85		(16	)%	(8	)%
Diluted	$	1.43		$	1.69		$	1.84		(15	)%	(8	)%
Weighted-average shares outstanding:
Basic	556.6			604.9			630.6
Diluted	559.7			607.4			634.2

____________



*	Calculation not meaningful

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Revenues overview

Transaction volume is the primary generator of revenue in our businesses. Transaction fees are fees that consumers pay when they send money or make payments. Consumer-to-Consumer transaction fees generally vary according to the principal amount of the money transfer and the locations from and to which the funds are sent and received. Additionally, in certain consumer money transfer and Business Solutions transactions involving different send and receive currencies, we generate foreign exchange revenues based on the difference between the exchange rate set by us to the consumer or business and the rate at which we or our agents are able to acquire the currency. In our Consumer-to-Consumer business, foreign exchange revenue is primarily driven by international Consumer-to-Consumer cross-currency transactions. The majority of transaction fees and foreign exchange revenues were contributed by our Consumer-to-Consumer segment for all periods presented, which is discussed in greater detail in "Segment Discussion."

2013 compared to 2012

Consolidated revenue decreased 2% during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to 2012. This decrease was caused by our Consumer-to-Consumer segment, primarily due to price reductions in key corridors and the impact of compliance related actions in various corridors (see "Enhanced Regulatory Compliance" described below), partially offset by Consumer-to-Consumer transaction growth. The strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies negatively impacted revenue growth by approximately 1% in the year ended December 31, 2013.

Foreign exchange revenues increased for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to 2012 primarily due to growth in our Business Solutions segment and increased amounts of cross-border principal sent in our Consumer-to-Consumer segment, partially offset by price reductions in certain corridors in our Consumer-to-Consumer segment.

Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the United States dollar and other currencies have resulted in a reduction to transaction fees and foreign exchange revenues for the year ended December 31, 2013 of $70.3 million over the previous year, net of foreign currency hedges, that would not have occurred had there been constant currency rates.

2012 compared to 2011

Consolidated revenue increased 3% during the year ended December 31, 2012 due to the acquisition of TGBP, which contributed approximately 4% to consolidated revenue growth for the period, and Consumer-to-Consumer transaction growth of 2%, partially offset by the strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies and slight price reductions. The strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies negatively impacted revenue growth by approximately 2% in the year ended December 31, 2012.

Foreign exchange revenues increased for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to 2011 primarily due to the acquisition of TGBP.

Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the United States dollar and other currencies resulted in a reduction to transaction fees and foreign exchange revenues for the year ended December 31, 2012 of $93.8 million over the previous year, net of foreign currency hedges, that would not have occurred had there been constant currency rates.

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Operating expenses overview

Enhanced Regulatory Compliance

The financial services industry, including money services businesses, continues to be subject to increasingly strict legal and regulatory requirements, and we regularly review our compliance programs. In connection with these reviews, and in light of growing and rapidly evolving regulatory complexity and heightened attention of, and increased dialogue with, governmental and regulatory authorities related to our compliance activities, we have made, and continue to make enhancements to our processes and systems designed to deter and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud and other illicit activity, along with enhancements to improve consumer protection related to the Dodd-Frank Act and other matters. In coming periods we expect these enhancements will continue to result in changes to certain of our business practices and increased costs. Some of these changes have had, and we believe will continue to have, an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Productivity and Cost-Savings Initiatives

In the fourth quarter of 2012 and throughout 2013, we implemented additional initiatives to improve productivity and reduce costs. We incurred $56.9 million and $30.9 million of expenses related to these initiatives for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. We expect these initiatives to result in approximately $45 million of estimated incremental cost savings in 2014.

TGBP integration expenses

During the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, we incurred $19.3 million, $42.8 million and $4.8 million, respectively, of integration expenses related to the acquisition of TGBP. TGBP integration expense consists of severance and other benefits, retention, direct and incremental expense consisting of facility relocation, consolidation and closures; IT systems integration; amortization of a transitional trademark license; and other expenses such as training, travel and professional fees. Integration expense does not include costs related to the completion of the TGBP acquisition.

Cost of services

Cost of services primarily consists of agent commissions, which represented approximately two-thirds of total cost of services for the year ended December 31, 2013 and generally fluctuate as revenues fluctuate.

Cost of services increased for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year due to investments in our strategic initiatives, primarily in information technology, increased variable costs that increase as transactions increase, costs associated with our productivity and cost-savings initiatives, and increased compliance program costs (see "Enhanced Regulatory Compliance" described above), partially offset by reduced agent commissions, which decrease as revenue decreases, the strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies, which resulted in a positive impact on the translation of our expenses, and savings from our productivity and cost-savings initiatives. We currently expect agent commission rates for our walk-in services of our Consumer-to-Consumer segment to increase primarily due to the recent renewal of certain strategic agent agreements.

Cost of services increased for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year primarily due to incremental costs associated with the TGBP acquisition, including depreciation and amortization, investments in our strategic initiatives and compliance program costs, and increased bad debt losses, partially offset by the strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies, which resulted in a positive impact on the translation of our expenses, net commission savings, including the impact from the acquisitions of Finint S.r.l ("Finint") and Angelo Costa S.r.l ("Costa"), and a net decrease in bank fees due to the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act (the "Durbin Legislation").

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Selling, general and administrative

Selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A") increased for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year due to increased compliance program costs, including costs related to our amended settlement agreement with the State of Arizona (see "Enhanced Regulatory Compliance" described above), investments in our strategic initiatives, lower compensation expenses in 2012, and costs associated with our productivity and cost savings initiatives, partially offset by decreased TGBP integration costs, savings from our productivity and cost-savings initiatives, decreased marketing expenses, and the strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies, which resulted in a positive impact on the translation of our expenses.

SG&A increased for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year primarily due to increased expenses resulting from the acquisitions of TGBP, Finint and Costa, including integration costs, investments in our strategic initiatives and compliance program costs, and costs associated with the productivity and cost-savings initiatives implemented in the fourth quarter of 2012, partially offset by the strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies, which resulted in a positive impact on the translation of our expenses, the restructuring costs incurred in 2011, which did not recur in 2012, and decreased compensation expenses.

Total other expense, net

Total other expense, net increased during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year due to increased interest expense related to higher average debt balances outstanding. Additionally, total other expense, net increased due to other gains recognized in 2012 that did not occur in 2013.

Total other expense, net increased during the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year primarily due to the prior year gains of $20.5 million and $29.4 million in connection with the remeasurement of our former equity interests in Finint and Costa, respectively, to fair value, associated with these acquisitions. Additionally, during the prior year we recognized a $20.8 million net gain on foreign currency forward contracts entered into in order to reduce the economic variability related to the cash amounts used to fund acquisitions of businesses with purchase prices denominated in foreign currencies, primarily for the TGBP acquisition.

Income taxes

Our effective tax rates on pre-tax income were 13.9%, 12.2% and 8.6% for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The increase in our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to 2012 is primarily due to the combined effect of various discrete items, partially offset by an increasing proportion of profits that were foreign-derived in 2013, and generally taxed at lower rates than our combined federal and state tax rates in the United States. The increase in our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to 2011 is primarily due to the impact of an agreement with the IRS related to audits of previous years ("IRS Agreement"), which resulted in a tax benefit of $204.7 million related to the adjustment of reserves associated with this matter during 2011, partially offset by benefits from favorable tax settlements in 2012 and higher taxes associated with the Finint and Costa remeasurement gains during 2011.

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We continue to benefit from a significant proportion of profits being foreign-derived, and generally taxed at lower rates than our combined federal and state tax rates in the United States. For the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, 103%, 92% and 67% of our pre-tax income was derived from foreign sources, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2013, our United States results were impacted by investments in our strategic initiatives, price reductions implemented in our Consumer-to-Consumer segment (see the Consumer-to-Consumer "Transaction fees and foreign exchange revenues" discussion below), increased compliance program costs, and higher interest costs. Our foreign pre-tax income is subject to tax in multiple foreign jurisdictions, virtually all of which have statutory income tax rates lower than the United States. While the income tax imposed by any one foreign country is not material to us, our overall effective tax rate could be adversely affected by changes in tax laws, both foreign and domestic. Certain portions of our foreign source income are subject to United States federal and state income tax as earned due to the nature of the income, and dividend repatriations of our foreign source income are generally subject to United States federal and state income tax.

We have established contingency reserves for a variety of material, known tax exposures. As of December 31, 2013, the total amount of tax contingency reserves was $125.5 million, including accrued interest and penalties, net of related items. Our tax reserves reflect our judgment as to the resolution of the issues involved if subject to judicial review or other settlement. While we believe that our reserves are adequate to cover reasonably expected tax risks, there can be no assurance that, in all instances, an issue raised by a tax authority will be resolved at a financial cost that does not exceed our related reserve. With respect to these reserves, our income tax expense would include (i) any changes in tax reserves arising from material changes during the period in facts and circumstances (i.e. new information) surrounding a tax issue and (ii) any difference from our tax position as recorded in the financial statements and the final resolution of a tax issue during the period. Such resolution could materially increase or decrease income tax expense in our consolidated financial statements in future periods and could impact our operating cash flows.

Earnings per share

During the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, basic earnings per share were $1.43, $1.70 and $1.85, respectively, and diluted earnings per share were $1.43, $1.69 and $1.84, respectively. Unvested shares of restricted stock are excluded from basic shares outstanding. Diluted earnings per share reflects the potential dilution that could occur if outstanding stock options at the presented dates are exercised and shares of restricted stock have vested. As of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, there were 21.2 million, 23.3 million and 17.1 million, respectively, of outstanding options to purchase shares of Western Union stock excluded from the diluted earnings per share calculation under the treasury stock method as their effect was anti-dilutive.

Earnings per share decreased for both the year ended December 31, 2013 and 2012 compared to the prior year as a result of the previously described factors impacting net income, offset by lower weighted-average shares outstanding. The lower number of shares outstanding was due to stock repurchases exceeding stock option exercises.

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Segment Discussion

The business segment measurements provided to, and evaluated by, our chief operating decision maker (the "CODM") are computed in accordance with the following principles:


•	The accounting policies of the reportable segments are the same as those described in the summary of significant accounting policies.


•	Corporate and other overhead is allocated to the segments primarily based on a percentage of the segments' revenue compared to total revenue.


•	Costs incurred for the review and closing of acquisitions are included in "Other."

•

We incurred restructuring and related expenses of $46.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2011 which were not allocated to the segments. While these items were identifiable to our segments, they were not included in the measurement of segment operating profit provided to the CODM for purposes of assessing segment performance and decision making with respect to resource allocation. For additional information on restructuring and related activities, refer to "Operating expenses overview."


•	All items not included in operating income are excluded from the segments.

The following table sets forth the components of segment revenues as a percentage of the consolidated totals for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011.



	Year Ended December 31,
	2013		2012		2011
Consumer-to-Consumer	80	%	81	%	84	%
Consumer-to-Business	11	%	11	%	11	%
Business Solutions	7	%	6	%	3	%
Other	2	%	2	%	2	%
	100	%	100	%	100	%

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Consumer-to-Consumer Segment

The following table sets forth our Consumer-to-Consumer segment results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011.



										% Change
	Year Ended December 31,									2013		2012
(dollars and transactions in millions)	2013			2012			2011			vs. 2012		vs. 2011
Revenues:
Transaction fees	$	3,396.1		$	3,545.6		$	3,580.2		(4	)%	(1	)%
Foreign exchange revenues	981.3			988.5			983.1			(1	)%	1	%
Other revenues	56.2			50.2			45.1			12	%	11	%
Total revenues	$	4,433.6		$	4,584.3		$	4,608.4		(3	)%	(1	)%
Operating income	$	1,030.4		$	1,266.9		$	1,316.0		(19	)%	(4	)%
Operating income margin	23		%	28		%	29		%
Key indicator:
Consumer-to-Consumer transactions	242.34			230.98			225.79			5	%	2	%

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The table below sets forth transaction and revenue changes by region compared to the prior year and revenues as a percentage of consolidated revenue by region for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012.



	Year Ended December 31,
	2013	2012
Consumer-to-Consumer transaction growth/(decline) (a):
Europe and CIS	4%	(1)%
North America	0%	(1)%
Middle East and Africa	7%	7%
Asia Pacific ("APAC")	6%	3%
Latin America and the Caribbean ("LACA")	(1)%	1%
westernunion.com	65%	41%

Consumer-to-Consumer revenue growth/(decline) (a):
Europe and CIS	(4)%	(6)%
North America	(9)%	(3)%
Middle East and Africa	0%	3%
APAC	(3)%	3%
LACA	(3)%	3%
westernunion.com	24%	24%

Consumer-to-Consumer revenue as a percentage of consolidated revenue (a):
Europe and CIS	21%	22%
North America	19%	20%
Middle East and Africa	16%	15%
APAC	12%	12%
LACA	9%	9%
westernunion.com	3%	3%

____________



(a)	Significant allocations are made in determining the transaction and revenue changes under the regional view in the above table. The geographic split for transactions and revenue is determined based upon the region where the money transfer is initiated and the region where the money transfer is paid. For transactions originated and paid in different regions, we split the transaction count and revenue between the two regions, with each region receiving 50%. For money transfers initiated and paid in the same region, 100% of the revenue and transactions are attributed to that region. For money transfers initiated through our websites ("westernunion.com"), 100% of the revenue and transactions are attributed to westernunion.com. We view our Consumer-to-Consumer money transfer service as one interconnected global network where a money transfer can be sent from one location to another, around the world, including related transactions that can be initiated through websites and account based money transfers. The segment includes five geographic regions whose functions are limited to generating, managing and maintaining agent relationships and localized marketing activities and also includes westernunion.com. By means of common processes and systems, these regions and westernunion.com create an interconnected network for consumer transactions, thereby constituting one global Consumer-to-Consumer money transfer business and one operating segment.

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Transaction fees and foreign exchange revenues

2013 compared to 2012

For the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year, Consumer-to-Consumer money transfer revenue declined 3% primarily due to price reductions and compliance related actions in various corridors. Transactions increased 5% from 2012, primarily due to price reductions. Our consumers transferred $82 billion and $79 billion in Consumer-to-Consumer principal for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, of which $74 billion and $71 billion related to cross-border principal, respectively, which represented increases of 3% and 4% for Consumer-to-Consumer principal and cross-border principal over the prior year, respectively.

Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2012, we implemented additional fee reductions and actions to adjust foreign exchange spreads that have impacted approximately 25% of our Consumer-to-Consumer business, based on 2012 revenue. We had initiated substantially all of these pricing reductions as of June 30, 2013. Pricing reductions generally reduce margins and adversely affect financial results in the short term, but are done in anticipation that they will result in increased transaction volumes which may lead to increased revenues and operating income in the affected corridors thereafter. These pricing actions totaled approximately 5% of consolidated revenue and 7% of our Consumer-to-Consumer revenue, for the full year 2013.

The regions discussed below were impacted by price reductions in certain key corridors and compliance related actions in various corridors.

For the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year, revenue in our Europe and CIS region decreased 4% on transaction growth of 4%. Revenue was negatively impacted by price reductions, compliance related actions in various countries, including in the United Kingdom and Spain, competitive challenges in Russia, and continued economic softness in Southern Europe, partially offset by revenue growth in Germany.

For the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year, our North America region experienced revenue declines of 9% on flat transactions. Our North America region was impacted by our Mexico business, where revenue declined due to price reductions and compliance related actions resulting from our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and changes to our business model, primarily for our Vigo^® and Orlandi Valuta^SM brands. These changes resulted in the loss of over 7,000 agent locations in the third quarter of 2012. Transactions increased in our Mexico business for the year ended December 31, 2013, primarily due to price reductions, partially offset by the impact of compliance related actions described earlier in this paragraph. Our North America region was also impacted by our United States outbound business, which also experienced a decline in revenue due to price reductions and compliance related actions resulting from our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and changes to our business model, primarily impacting our Vigo brand to Latin America, and other compliance related actions.

For the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year, our Middle East and Africa and APAC regions experienced flat revenue and a revenue decline of 3%, respectively. Both regions experienced transaction growth in the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year. The differential between revenue and transaction changes for both regions was primarily attributable to price reductions.

Our LACA region experienced revenue declines for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year due to compliance related actions resulting from our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and changes to our business model, primarily impacting our Vigo brand, and other compliance related actions. Revenue was also negatively impacted by pricing actions and the strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies in the region, partially offset by geographic and product mix. Transactions decreased for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year, primarily due to the impact of compliance related actions described earlier, partially offset by price reductions. We expect that the United States dollar value of our LACA region's revenue and profits will be negatively impacted by the decline in the value of the Argentine peso after December 31, 2013.

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Revenue generated from transactions initiated at westernunion.com increased for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year due to strong transaction growth, partially offset by price reductions.

Foreign exchange revenues for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year were impacted primarily by price reductions in certain corridors, partially offset by an increase in cross-border principal sent of 4%.

Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the United States dollar and other currencies have resulted in a reduction to transaction fees and foreign exchange revenues for the year ended December 31, 2013 of $29.6 million over the same period in the previous year, net of foreign currency hedges, that would not have occurred had there been constant currency rates.

2012 compared to 2011

For the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year, Consumer-to-Consumer money transfer revenue declined 1%, due to the strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies, which negatively impacted revenue, and slight price reductions, partially offset by transaction growth of 2%. The strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies negatively impacted our revenue growth by approximately 2% for the year ended December 31, 2012.

Revenue in our Europe and CIS region decreased 6% compared to the prior year on a transaction decline of 1%. The strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies and price reductions negatively impacted revenues for the year ended December 31, 2012. The region was also impacted by continued economic softness in Southern Europe and increased competition in Russia.

The North America region experienced a revenue decline of 3% on a transaction decline of 1% for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year. Our Mexico business declined primarily due to changes to our compliance related practices as a result of our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and changes to our business model and price reductions. These compliance changes, primarily related to our Vigo and Orlandi Valuta brands, have resulted in the loss of over 7,000 agent locations in Mexico. Our domestic business (transactions between and within the United States and Canada) experienced an increase in revenues on transaction growth, primarily in lower principal bands which generate lower revenues per transaction. Our United States outbound business experienced revenue and transaction declines, in part due to changes in our compliance related practices as a result of our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and changes to our business model, primarily for our Vigo brand to Latin America, and price reductions.

Revenue in our Middle East and Africa, APAC, and LACA regions increased in the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year in all three regions due to transaction growth, partially offset by slight price reductions. Revenue in our Middle East and Africa and LACA regions was also negatively impacted by the strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies. Revenue in our LACA region was positively impacted by geographic and product mix in the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year, partially offset by a loss in revenue due to changes to our compliance related practices as a result of our agreement and settlement with the State of Arizona and changes to our business model, primarily related to our Vigo brand. The Gulf States, primarily Saudi Arabia, and India displayed revenue growth, but China revenue declined. Revenue generated from transactions initiated at westernunion.com increased for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year due to strong transaction growth.

Foreign exchange revenues were materially consistent for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year.

Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the United States dollar and other currencies resulted in a reduction to transaction fees and foreign exchange revenues for the year ended December 31, 2012 of $77.6 million over the prior year, net of foreign currency hedges, that would not have occurred had there been constant currency rates.

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Operating income

2013 compared to 2012

Consumer-to-Consumer operating income declined 19% during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year primarily due to the investments in our strategic initiatives, the revenue decline described earlier, increased compliance program costs, lower compensation expense in 2012, and expenses associated with our productivity and cost savings initiatives, partially offset by savings from these initiatives and decreased marketing expenses. The changes in operating income margins in the segment are due to the same factors mentioned above.

2012 compared to 2011

Consumer-to-Consumer operating income declined 4% during the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year due to investments in our strategic initiatives, including westernunion.com, increased compliance program costs, expenses related to productivity and cost-savings initiatives, increased bad debt losses, and incremental costs associated with the Finint and Costa acquisitions, partially offset by positive currency impacts, including the effect of foreign currency hedges, restructuring savings, and decreased compensation expenses. The changes in operating income margins in the segment are due to the same factors mentioned above.

Consumer-to-Business Segment

The following table sets forth our Consumer-to-Business segment results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011.



										% Change
	Year Ended December 31,									2013		2012
(dollars in millions)	2013			2012			2011			vs. 2012		vs. 2011
Revenues:
Transaction fees	$	579.1		$	573.6		$	581.8		1	%	(1	)%
Foreign exchange and other revenues	29.4			30.3			34.1			(3	)%	(11	)%
Total revenues	$	608.5		$	603.9		$	615.9		1	%	(2	)%
Operating income	$	121.9		$	137.6		$	146.9		(11	)%	(6	)%
Operating income margin	20		%	23		%	24		%

Revenues

2013 compared to 2012

Consumer-to-Business revenue increased 1% for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year, primarily due to growth in our United States electronic and international walk-in bill payments businesses, which was positively impacted by increased pricing in Argentina. These increases were partially offset by the strengthening of the United States dollar against the Argentine peso, which negatively impacted our Consumer-to-Business revenue growth by approximately 5% for the year ended December 31, 2013, revenue declines in our United States cash-based bill payments business, and the passing through to certain billers of some of our debit card fee savings related to the Durbin Legislation. We expect that the United States dollar value of our Consumer-to-Business segment's revenue and profits will be negatively impacted by the decline in the value of the Argentine peso after December 31, 2013.

2012 compared to 2011

During the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year, Consumer-to-Business revenue decreased 2% due to a decline in our United States bill payments businesses, due in part to the passing through of some of the debit card fee savings related to the Durbin Legislation, partially offset by growth in our international bill payments, primarily in South America. The strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies negatively impacted our Consumer-to-Business revenue growth by approximately 3% for the year ended December 31, 2012.

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Operating income

2013 compared to 2012

Operating income and operating margins decreased for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year primarily due to the items which impacted revenues described earlier. Operating income was also impacted by increased bank fees due to our growing United States electronic business and higher information technology investments, partially offset by costs related to the renegotiation of a sales and distribution agreement that occurred in the prior year.

2012 compared to 2011

During the year ended December 31, 2012, Consumer-to-Business operating income decreased compared to the prior year primarily due to revenue declines in our United States cash-based bill payments business, the renegotiation of a sales and distribution agreement, and expenses related to productivity and cost-savings initiatives, partially offset by a net decrease in debit card and other bank fees due to the Durbin Legislation. The changes in operating income margins in the segment are due to the same factors mentioned above.

Business Solutions

The following table sets forth our Business Solutions segment results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011.



										% Change
	Year Ended December 31,									2013		2012
(dollars in millions)	2013			2012			2011			vs. 2012		vs. 2011
Revenues:
Foreign exchange revenues	$	355.5		$	332.0		$	154.6		7	%	*
Transaction fees and other revenues	37.4			35.4			6.5			6	%	*
Total revenues	$	392.9		$	367.4		$	161.1		7	%	*
Operating loss	$	(27.0	)	$	(54.8	)	$	(9.6	)	*		*
Operating loss margin	(7		)%	(15		)%	(6		)%

____________



*	Calculation not meaningful.

Revenues

2013 compared to 2012

For the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year, Business Solutions revenue grew due to increased spot payments activity and increased customer hedging. We believe the increase in customer hedging activity for the year ended December 31, 2013 was partially driven by the level of certain major currencies against the United States dollar. The strengthening of the United States dollar compared to most other foreign currencies negatively impacted revenue growth by approximately 2%. Additionally, the acquisition of the French assets of TGBP, which was completed in May 2012 after receiving regulatory approval, contributed approximately 1% to the segment's revenue growth for the year ended December 31, 2013.

2012 compared to 2011

During the year ended December 31, 2012, Business Solutions revenue grew compared to the prior year primarily due to our acquisition of TGBP, which contributed a substantial majority of our revenue growth for the year ended December 31, 2012.

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Operating loss

2013 compared to 2012

For the year ended December 31, 2013, the operating loss decreased compared to the prior year due to increased revenue, partially offset by increased strategic investments. Additionally, operating loss for the year ended December 31, 2013 was impacted by decreased integration expenses. The changes in operating loss margins in the segment are due to these same factors.

2012 compared to 2011

For the year ended December 31, 2012, Business Solutions operating loss increased compared to the prior year primarily due to increased expenses resulting from the acquisition of TGBP, including incremental depreciation and amortization expenses and integration expenses.

Other

The following table sets forth Other results for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011.



										% Change
	Year Ended December 31,									2013		2012
(dollars in millions)	2013			2012			2011			vs. 2012		vs. 2011
Revenues	$	107.0		$	109.2		$	106.0		(2	)%	3	%
Operating loss	$	(17.9	)	$	(19.7	)	$	(21.5	)	*		*

____________



*	Calculation not meaningful.

Revenues

2013 compared to 2012

Other revenue decreased for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the prior year primarily due to declines in our prepaid business.

2012 compared to 2011

Other revenue increased for the year ended December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year primarily due to increases in our prepaid business, partially offset by a decrease in investment income in our money order business.

Operating loss

2013 compared to 2012

Operating loss for the year ended December 31, 2013 was materially consistent with the corresponding period in the prior year.

2012 compared to 2011

During the year ended December 31, 2012, the decrease in operating loss was due to costs associated with acquisition activity that occurred in the prior year, partially offset by declines in our money order business, including a decrease in investment income, and expenses related to productivity and cost-savings initiatives.

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Capital Resources and Liquidity

Our primary source of liquidity has been cash generated from our operating activities, primarily from net income and fluctuations in working capital. Our working capital is affected by the timing of interest payments on our outstanding borrowings and timing of income tax payments, among other items. The majority of our interest payments are due in the second and fourth quarters which results in a decrease in the amount of cash provided by operating activities in those quarters and a corresponding increase to the first and third quarters.

Our future cash flows could be impacted by a variety of factors, some of which are out of our control, including changes in economic conditions, especially those impacting migrant populations and changes in income tax laws or the status of income tax audits, including the resolution of outstanding tax matters.

A significant portion of our cash flows from operating activities has been generated from subsidiaries, some of which are regulated entities. Our regulated subsidiaries may transfer all excess cash to the parent company for general corporate use, except for assets subject to legal or regulatory restrictions, including: 1) requirements to maintain cash and other qualifying investment balances, free of any liens or other encumbrances, related to the payment of certain of our money transfer and other payment obligations; and 2) other legal or regulatory restrictions, including statutory or formalized net worth requirements. Assets subject to these other legal or regulatory restrictions totaled approximately $335 million as of December 31, 2013, and include assets outside of the United States subject to restrictions from being transferred outside of the countries where these assets are located.

We believe we have adequate liquidity to meet our business needs through our existing cash balances and our ability to generate cash flows through operations. These business needs include approximately $100 million of remaining tax payments, plus additional accrued interest, we expect to make as a result of the IRS Agreement, which we expect to pay in 2014 and beyond, in addition to dividends and share repurchases. In addition, we have capacity to borrow up to $1.65 billion in the aggregate under our revolving credit facility ("Revolving Credit Facility"), which supports borrowings under our $1.5 billion commercial paper program and expires in January 2017. As of December 31, 2013, we had no outstanding borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility or commercial paper program.

Cash and Investment Securities

As of December 31, 2013, we had cash and cash equivalents of $2.1 billion, of which approximately $1.1 billion was held by our foreign entities. We plan to use our existing cash to fund the repayment of $500.0 million of our 6.500% notes ("2014 Notes") in February 2014. Our ongoing cash management strategies to fund our business needs could cause United States and foreign cash balances to fluctuate.

Repatriating foreign funds to the United States would, in many cases, result in significant tax obligations because most of these funds have been taxed at relatively low foreign tax rates compared to our combined federal and state tax rate in the United States. We have used and expect to continue to use foreign funds to expand and fund our international operations and to acquire businesses internationally. We regularly evaluate, taking tax consequences and other factors into consideration, our United States cash requirements and also the potential uses of cash internationally to determine the appropriate level of dividend repatriations of our foreign source income.

In many cases, we receive funds from money transfers and certain other payment services before we settle the payment of those transactions. These funds, referred to as "Settlement assets" on our Consolidated Balance Sheets, are not used to support our operations. However, we earn income from investing these funds. We maintain a portion of these settlement assets in highly liquid investments, classified as "Cash and cash equivalents" within "Settlement assets," to fund settlement obligations.

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Investment securities, classified within "Settlement assets," were $1.8 billion as of December 31, 2013. Substantially all of these investments are highly-rated state and municipal debt securities, including variable rate demand notes. Most state regulators in the United States require us to maintain specific highly-rated, investment grade securities and such investments are intended to secure relevant outstanding settlement obligations in accordance with applicable regulations. Additionally, as of December 31, 2013, we held non-settlement related investments of $100.2 million in a short-term bond mutual fund.

Investment securities are exposed to market risk due to changes in interest rates and credit risk. We regularly monitor credit risk and attempt to mitigate our exposure by investing in highly-rated securities and diversifying our investment portfolio. As of December 31, 2013, the majority of our investment securities had credit ratings of "AA-" or better from a major credit rating agency. Our investment securities are also actively managed with respect to concentration. As of December 31, 2013, all investments with a single issuer and each individual security were less than 10% of our investment securities portfolio.

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

During the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, cash provided by operating activities was $1,088.6 million, $1,185.3 million and $1,174.9 million, respectively. Cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2013 was impacted by a decrease in consolidated operating income. Cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2012 was impacted by tax payments of $92.4 million made as a result of the IRS Agreement.

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Financing Resources

As of December 31, 2013, we had the following outstanding borrowings (in millions):



Due in less than one year:
6.500% notes (effective rate of 5.7%) due 2014 (a)	$	500.0
Due in greater than one year (a):
Floating rate notes due 2015 (b)	250.0
2.375% notes due 2015 (c)	250.0
5.930% notes due 2016 (c)	1,000.0
2.875% notes (effective rate of 2.0%) due 2017 (a)	500.0
3.650% notes due 2018 (c)	400.0
3.350% notes (effective rate of 3.4%) due 2019 (d)	250.0
5.253% notes due 2020 (c)	324.9
6.200% notes due 2036 (c)	500.0
6.200% notes due 2040 (c)	250.0
Other borrowings	5.7
Total borrowings at par value	4,230.6
Fair value hedge accounting adjustments, net (a)	0.9
Unamortized discount, net	(18.5		)
Total borrowings at carrying value (e)	$	4,213.0

____________



(a)	We utilize interest rate swaps designated as fair value hedges to effectively change the interest rate payments on a portion of our notes from fixed-rate payments to short-term LIBOR-based variable rate payments in order to manage our overall exposure to interest rates. The changes in fair value of these interest rate swaps result in an offsetting hedge accounting adjustment recorded to the carrying value of the related note. These hedge accounting adjustments will be reclassified as reductions to or increases in "Interest expense" in the Consolidated Statements of Income over the life of the related notes, and cause the effective rate of interest to differ from the notes' stated rate.
(b)	On August 22, 2013, we issued $250.0 million of aggregate principal amount of unsecured floating rate notes due August 21, 2015 ("2015 Floating Rate Notes"). Interest is payable quarterly at a per annum rate equal to three-month LIBOR plus 1.0% (1.2% at December 31, 2013) and is reset quarterly. See below for additional detail relating to the debt issuance.
(c)	The difference between the stated interest rate and the effective interest rate is not significant.
(d)	On November 22, 2013, we issued $250.0 million of aggregate principal amount of 3.350% unsecured fixed rate notes due 2019 ("2019 Notes"). The interest rate on the 2019 Notes may be adjusted under certain circumstances as described below.
(e)	As of December 31, 2013, our weighted-average effective rate on total borrowings was approximately 4.6%.

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Commercial Paper Program

Pursuant to our commercial paper program, we may issue unsecured commercial paper notes in an amount not to exceed $1.5 billion outstanding at any time, reduced to the extent of borrowings outstanding on our Revolving Credit Facility in excess of $150 million. Our commercial paper borrowings may have maturities of up to 397 days from date of issuance. Interest rates for borrowings are based on market rates at the time of issuance. We had no commercial paper borrowings outstanding as of December 31, 2013, but did have a maximum balance outstanding of $50 million for one day during the year ended December 31, 2013. During the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, the average commercial paper balance outstanding was $161.3 million and $89.7 million, respectively, and the maximum balance outstanding was $422.8 million and $784.1 million, respectively. Proceeds from our commercial paper borrowings were used for general corporate purposes.

Revolving Credit Facility

On September 23, 2011, we entered into a credit agreement which expires January 2017 providing for unsecured financing facilities in an aggregate amount of $1.65 billion, including a $250.0 million letter of credit sub-facility and a $150.0 million swing line sub-facility.

Interest due under the Revolving Credit Facility is fixed for the term of each borrowing and is payable according to the terms of that borrowing. Generally, interest is calculated using a selected LIBOR rate plus an interest rate margin of 100 basis points. A facility fee of 12.5 basis points is also payable quarterly on the total facility, regardless of usage. Both the interest rate margin and facility fee percentage are based on certain of our credit ratings.

The purpose of our Revolving Credit Facility, which is diversified through a group of 17 participating institutions, is to provide general liquidity and to support our commercial paper program, which we believe enhances our short-term credit rating. The largest commitment from any single financial institution within the total committed balance of $1.65 billion is approximately 12%. As of and during the year ended December 31, 2013, we had no outstanding borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility. If the amount available to borrow under the Revolving Credit Facility decreased, or if the Revolving Credit Facility were eliminated, the cost and availability of borrowing under the commercial paper program may be impacted.

Notes

On November 22, 2013, we issued $250.0 million of aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes due May 22, 2019. Interest with respect to the 2019 Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on May 22 and November 22 of each year, beginning on May 22, 2014, based on the fixed per annum rate of 3.350%. The interest rate payable on the 2019 Notes will be increased if the debt rating assigned to the note is downgraded by an applicable credit rating agency, beginning at a downgrade below investment grade. However, in no event will the interest rate on the 2019 Notes be increased by more than 2.00% above 3.350% per annum. The interest rate payable on the 2019 Notes may also be adjusted downward for debt rating upgrades subsequent to any debt rating downgrades but may not be adjusted below 3.350% per annum. We may redeem the 2019 Notes at any time prior to maturity at the greater of par or a price based on the applicable treasury rate plus 30 basis points.

On August 22, 2013, we issued $250.0 million of aggregate principal amount of unsecured floating rate notes due August 21, 2015. Interest with respect to the 2015 Floating Rate Notes is payable quarterly in arrears on each February 21, May 21, August 21, and November 21, beginning November 21, 2013, at a per annum rate equal to the three-month LIBOR plus 1.0% (reset quarterly).

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On December 10, 2012, we issued $250.0 million and $500.0 million of aggregate principal amounts of unsecured notes due December 10, 2015 ("2015 Fixed Rate Notes") and December 10, 2017 ("2017 Notes"), respectively. Interest with respect to the 2015 Fixed Rate Notes and 2017 Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on June 10 and December 10 of each year, currently based on the per annum rates of 2.375% and 2.875%, respectively. The interest rates payable on the 2015 Fixed Rate Notes and 2017 Notes will be increased if the debt rating assigned to such notes is downgraded by an applicable credit rating agency, beginning at a downgrade below investment grade. However, in no event will the interest rate on either the 2015 Fixed Rate Notes or 2017 Notes be increased by more than 2.00% above 2.375% and 2.875% per annum, respectively. The interest rates on the 2015 Fixed Rate Notes and 2017 Notes may also be adjusted downward for debt rating upgrades subsequent to any debt rating downgrades but may not be adjusted below 2.375% and 2.875% per annum, respectively. We may redeem the 2015 Fixed Rate Notes and 2017 Notes at any time prior to maturity at the greater of par or a price based on the applicable treasury rate plus 35 and 40 basis points, respectively.

On August 22, 2011, we issued $400.0 million of aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes due August 22, 2018 ("2018 Notes"). Interest with respect to the 2018 Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on February 22 and August 22 of each year, based on the fixed per annum rate of 3.650%. We may redeem the 2018 Notes at any time prior to maturity at the greater of par or a price based on the applicable treasury rate plus 35 basis points.

On June 21, 2010, we issued $250.0 million of aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes due June 21, 2040 ("2040 Notes"). Interest with respect to the 2040 Notes is payable semi-annually on June 21 and December 21 each year based on the fixed per annum rate of 6.200%. We may redeem the 2040 Notes at any time prior to maturity at the greater of par or a price based on the applicable treasury rate plus 30 basis points.

On March 30, 2010, we exchanged $303.7 million of aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes due November 17, 2011 ("2011 Notes") for unsecured notes due April 1, 2020 ("2020 Notes"). Interest with respect to the 2020 Notes is payable semi-annually on April 1 and October 1 each year based on the fixed per annum rate of 5.253%. In connection with the exchange, note holders were given a 7% premium ($21.2 million), which approximated market value at the exchange date, as additional principal. As this transaction was accounted for as a debt modification, this premium was not charged to expense. Rather, the premium, along with the offsetting hedge accounting adjustments, will be accreted into "Interest expense” over the life of the notes. We may redeem the 2020 Notes at any time prior to maturity at the greater of par or a price based on the applicable treasury rate plus 15 basis points.

On February 26, 2009, we issued $500.0 million of aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes due February 26, 2014. Interest with respect to the 2014 Notes is payable semi-annually on February 26 and August 26 each year based on the fixed per annum rate of 6.500%. We may redeem the 2014 Notes at any time prior to maturity at the greater of par or a price based on the applicable treasury rate plus 50 basis points. For discussion of our debt service requirements with respect to the 2014 Notes, see the "Debt Service Requirements" discussion below.

On November 17, 2006, we issued $500.0 million of aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes due November 17, 2036 ("2036 Notes"). Interest with respect to the 2036 Notes is payable semi-annually on May 17 and November 17 each year based on the fixed per annum rate of 6.200%. We may r