Over 200 financial industry and regulatory experts are meeting in Brussels today at the European Business Forum, hosted by Western Union, to discuss how to enable innovation in the payments industry to better meet consumer and business financial service needs in Europe, while meeting regulatory compliance.

The aim of the European Business Forum is to facilitate dialogue between key industry stakeholders on the EU’s regulatory framework, and its scope to sustain and enable innovation in payments. This is the second forum hosted by Western Union. It reflects the company’s commitment as a leader in the payments industry to ensure customer needs are understood, while meeting regulatory compliance.

The European Business Forum will hear key note addresses from Mario Nava, Director for Financial Institutions from the European Commission, and from Western Union’s President and CEO, Hikmet Ersek, along with an expert panel discussion. Attendees are drawn from the European Commission and European Parliament, and regulatory authorities, banks and payment institutions, amongst others, from across Europe.

Hikmet Ersek, in his opening remarks, said, “There has never been a more fascinating or exciting time to be involved in the European payments space. New consumer needs are evolving, innovations, fuelled by digital and mobile technologies, are quickly emerging and new players are constantly arriving on the scene, bringing new business models. In this setting, regulatory and legislative authorities have a difficult balance to strike. New legislation, such as the Payment Services Directive 2, needs to ensure choice and competition, and harmonized regulation across the EU.”

The forum is then followed by a compliance conference attended by Western Union agents and partners from across Europe to focus on best practice in anti-money laundering measures and fraud protection.

Hikmet Ersek, said, “It‘s vital that consumers and businesses are protected when using financial services, especially payments and remittances, and that’s why Western Union is committed to regulation to prevent financial crime. To meet this commitment, we continue to focus on our compliance efforts as a priority for our business.”

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 September 30, 2014, 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. In 2013, The Western Union Company completed 242 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $82 billion of principal between consumers, and 459 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

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