{"id":928,"date":"2026-04-24T15:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/?p=928"},"modified":"2026-04-24T15:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:52:16","slug":"western-unions-core-business-struggles-but-digital-initiatives-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/?p=928","title":{"rendered":"Western Union\u2019s Core Business Struggles, but Digital Initiatives Grow"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Western Union\u2019s Core Business Struggles, but Digital Initiatives Grow<\/h1>\n

<\/i>Jim Daly<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/i>April 24, 2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/i>Digital Currency<\/a>,\u00a0E-Commerce<\/a>,\u00a0Person-to-Person Payments<\/a>,\u00a0Transaction Processing<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Money-transfer provider The Western Union Co. is facing what it calls \u201cheadwinds\u201d in its Americas consumer retail business, but the company is looking for growth in its new stablecoin and other digital operations.<\/p>\n

Total first-quarter revenue of $983 million was flat compared with a year earlier, Denver-based\u00a0Western Union<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0reported Friday. But consumer money-transfer revenue, which accounted for 87% of revenues in 2025, fell 3% in the first quarter to $845.4 million.<\/p>\n

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Consumer\u00a0money-transfer transactions<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0totaled 71.1 million in the first quarter, barely changed from 70.8 million a year earlier. North American regional money-transfer revenues fell 11% and transactions decreased 5%, according to Western Union\u2019s earnings report. \u201cFirst-quarter results reflect the continued challenges in our Americas retail business as well as a few discrete items affecting the quarter,\u201d company president and chief executive Devin McGranahan said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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The drop mostly affected agent-based transactions. Branded digital money-transfer transactions jumped 21% year over year, according to the earnings report. Digital transfers now represent 32% of consumer-money transfer revenue and 42% of transactions.<\/p>\n

In a conference call with stock analysts, McGranahan hinted that the federal government\u2019s immigration crackdown played a role in the money-transfer softness. \u201cOur retail business in The Americas continued to face headwinds in the quarter associated with the current geopolitical environment, though we believe we are now seeing improvement from the steep declines that we saw in 2025,\u201d he said, according to a call transcript from The Motley Fool.<\/p>\n

Results were brighter for Western Union\u2019s smaller but faster-growing Consumer Services segment, which includes bill payments, money orders, travel-money services, check acceptance and other services, including digital wallets. Revenues rose 24% in 2025\u2019s first quarter to $137.3 million in the wake of an acquisition and better results in bill payments.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the company is ramping up its digital-currency initiative that\u2019s built on a stablecoin it calls USDPT, which is backed by the U.S. dollar. Western Union expects to bring USDPT to market this quarter. In addition, the company has seven partners lined up for its Digital Asset Network (DAN), which will give cryptocurrency wallets worldwide access to Western Union\u2019s global network for funds-in and funds-out in a single application programming interface.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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