LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Western Union’s B2B unit has won the prestigious Payments Innovation of the Year award for their WU^® EDGE™ platform. The award was presented at the 2016 Payments Awards, held yesterday evening at the London Marriot Hotel Grosvenor Square.

The digital platform, Enterprise Digital Global Exchange (EDGE), enables small and medium sized enterprises to trade internationally with confidence and ease. The platform launched earlier this year and now covers 13 key markets (UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic).

“Winning this award is testament to our powerful partnership with small and medium sized businesses across the globe,” said Kerry Agiasotis, President at Western Union Business Solutions.

“WU EDGE is an innovative digital trading platform set to transform enterprises, enabling them to grow and expand their businesses internationally. Thousands of our clients are benefiting from using the WU EDGE platform, which allows them to make real-time connections and payments across the globe as well as allowing them to connect with new international trade partners.”

The Payments Awards recognise cards and payments excellence and innovation – and are organised by FStech and Retail Systems. Winning entries come from those companies, individuals and organisations that have launched and/or implemented the most outstanding payments solutions, initiatives and projects during the past year.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of June 30, 2016, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of over 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over 100,000 ATMs and kiosks, and included the capability to send money to billions of accounts. In 2015, The Western Union Company completed 262 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $82 billion of principal between consumers, and 508 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

About Western Union Business Solutions

Western Union Business Solutions enables companies of all sizes to send and receive international payments and manage global cash flow, creating unique solutions tailored to suit their individual needs. It is a business unit of The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leading non bank provider of cross border payments, which offers Business Solutions services in over 30 countries. Clients are supported by a network of trading offices, strategic banking relationships and a global clearing network and can send cross-border foreign exchange payments in more than 130 currencies.

Services in the UK are provided by Custom House Financial (UK) Limited (which does business under the trade name of Western Union Business Solutions) or Western Union Business Solutions (UK) Limited (collectively referred to as "WUBS" or "Western Union Business Solutions").

About the Payments Awards

Now in their 4th year the Payments Awards recognise cards and payments excellence and innovation. Organised by FStech www.fstech.co.uk and Retail Systems www.retail-systems.com, the Payments Awards are a perspective publishing event www.perspectivepublishing.com.

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View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161021005184/en/

Source: The Western Union Company