NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) held its Annual Meeting today and
reiterated the company's strategy while emphasizing its commitment to
expanding and evolving the business.
“I believe Western Union has the assets, capability and drive to be a
truly customer-centric organization,” said President and CEO
Hikmet
Ersek
. “I look forward to continuing to advance our business in 2012 and
beyond by expanding our network, adding consumers and increasing loyalty
in core money transfer; expanding business-to-business payments; and
building a world-class digital business.”
Approximately 88 percent of the shares entitled to vote were represented
at the meeting in person or proxy. All voting results are preliminary.
Stockholders voted to re-elect
Roberto G. Mendoza
and
Michael A. Miles
,
Jr., and to elect
Richard A. Goodman
, as members of the board of
directors. The elected directors will serve new three-year terms.
Stockholders also voted to approve: (1) amendments to the company’s
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to eliminate the
classification of the board of directors on a phase-out basis such that
directors would start to be elected to a one-year term beginning with
the directors elected at the company’s 2013 annual meeting of
stockholders; (2) the selection of Ernst & Young LLP as the company’s
independent registered public accounting firm for 2012; (3) on an
advisory basis, the compensation of the company’s named executive
officers, as described in the company’s 2012 proxy statement; and (4)
the material terms of the expanded performance measures available under
the company’s 2006 Long-Term Incentive Plan.
In addition, stockholders voted against the approval of a stockholder
proposal regarding stockholder proxy access and a stockholder proposal
regarding an advisory vote on political contributions.
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 April 24, 2012, the Western Union, Vigo and
Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network
of approximately 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and
territories. In 2011, The Western Union Company completed 226 million
consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $81 billion of
principal between consumers, and 425 million business payments. For more
information, visit www.westernunion.com.
Safe Harbor Compliance Statement for Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains 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 “will,” “should,”
“would” and “could” are intended to identify such forward-looking
statements. Readers of this press release by 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 the Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2011, 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: (i) events related to our business and industry,
such as: 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
downturns and financial market disruptions; political conditions and
related actions in the United States and abroad which may adversely
affect our business and economic conditions as a whole; interruptions of
United States government relations with countries in which we have or
are implementing material agent contracts; 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; changes in immigration laws, interruptions in
immigration patterns and other factors related to migrants; our ability
to adapt 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; mergers,
acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses and technologies
into our Company, and the realization of anticipated financial benefits
from these acquisitions; decisions to downsize, sell or close units, or
to transition operating activities from one location to another or to
third parties, particularly transitions from the United States to other
countries; 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; 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; any material breach of security or
safeguards of or interruptions in any of our systems; our ability to
attract and retain qualified key employees and to manage our workforce
successfully; our ability to maintain our agent network and business
relationships under terms consistent with or more advantageous to us
than those currently in place; adverse rating actions by credit rating
agencies; failure to compete effectively in the money transfer industry
with respect to global and niche or corridor money transfer providers,
banks and other money transfer services providers, including
telecommunications providers, card associations, card-based payment
providers and electronic and Internet providers; 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 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; significantly slower growth or declines in the money
transfer market and other markets in which we operate; changes in
industry standards affecting our business; (ii) events related to our
regulatory and litigation environment, such as: the failure by us, our
agents or their subagents to comply with laws and regulations designed
to detect and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and
other illicit activity; 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;
liabilities resulting from a failure of our agents or subagents to
comply with laws and regulations; increased costs due to regulatory
initiatives and changes in laws, regulations and industry practices and
standards affecting our agents; liabilities and unanticipated
developments resulting from governmental investigations and consent
agreements with, or enforcement actions by, regulators, including those
associated with compliance with, or a failure to comply with the
settlement agreement with the State of Arizona; the impact on our
business of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection
Act, the rules promulgated there-under and the creation of the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau; 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; and (iii) other events, such as: adverse consequences
from our spin-off from First Data Corporation; catastrophic events; and
management's ability to identify and manage these and other risks.
WU-F, WU-G
Source: Western Union