Each year, an estimated US$159 billion is sent across borders by billions of immigrants and travellers around the globe.

Where does most of that money come from? Where is most of that money headed? Which countries have large ethnic communities? Where do new immigrants commonly choose to settle down?

While these are good questions for sociologists writing their theses, Western Union, however, believes it has all the answers.

For the world's leading money transfer services provider, one of its foremost tasks is to understand its markets.

The company monitors the flow of funds in and out of every corner of the world, so it can tailor its services to their customers' special needs.

"It's absolutely a tremendous task," said Christina Gold, president of Western Union Financial Services, in an exclusive interview with China Business Weekly early this month.

Operating in more than 225,000 locations in 200-plus countries and regions, Western Union provides remittance services to local and foreign people in each outlet.

Different from the traditional telegraph remittance services, which often take three to five days, Western Union aims to ensure people transfer money quickly, easily and reliably worldwide within minutes.

Because customers can use identity cards rather than open a bank account to transfer money via Western Union, many of them are immigrants. One challenge for the company is finding the right ethnic community in which to open an outlet.

Obviously, it is not easy.

Gold says her company has three marketing and research teams in Hong Kong, Vienna of Austria and the United States that collect and analyse all of the company's data to support the company's strategy.

These teams monitor the data in real time so the company's executives can make strategic decisions efficiently.

China, for instance, received most of its foreign money, via Western Union, from the United States, Italy and France last year. That indicates a large number of Chinese immigrants sent money back home from those three countries.

To better service overseas Chinese, Western Union has set up 191 outlets in the United States, 11 outlets in Italy and nine outlets in France. The outlets provide Chinese-language services.

"We hire people who speak the language just to make our customers feel comfortable at our outlets," says Gold.

As the global community changes, so does Western Union.

"People never stand still. People move. And we have to keep up," says Gold.

In the Middle East, for example, overseas Chinese used to account for only a small proportion of the local population. However, with increasing migration of Chinese workers in recent years, the need among Chinese immigrants for money transfer services has increased rapidly.

Another example is Mexico. Until recently, consumers in Mexico could only receive Western Union money transfers from their loved ones living around the world. However, as Mexico's economic conditions continued to improve, Western Union recognized the need Mexican consumers had to send transactions as well.

Late last year, Western Union launched its outbound service from Mexico, which has grown significantly.

Satisfying customers' needs, and retaining clients, is clearly out of commercial interest, but the strong aim to make a caring company is also reflected from Gold's personal experience.

Gold moved to Canada from the Netherlands when she was six, and she felt it was extremely difficult entering a new culture without knowing the language.

At school, she was embarrassed when the teacher asked the class to do certain things and she could not follow.

"Once she told me to go to the front of the room and underline the vowels on the chalkboard. I did not know what underline meant, so I just stood there, mortified. I have never forgotten that experience," she was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

"When I meet people from other countries in the course of business, I remember how awful that moment was. I remember the importance of making sure you are understood because you can cause tremendous pain and make people feel small."

Gold says her company is focusing on adding locations in ethnic neighbourhoods to serve the growing population of immigrants around the world.

In China, with the flourishing economy and increasing exchanges with other countries, Western Union is finding transactions in the Chinese market shoot up 70-80 per cent each year.

The company opened its new office in Beijing in June. The company is committed to fortifying its partnership with China Post and the Agricultural Bank of China.

"We take pride in teaming with some of the most well-respected businesses in every country we serve. Banks and postal organizations continue to make up the majority of our international network, and they also remain the focus of our international expansion plans," Gold says.

Since Western Union entered China in 1995, its co-operation with China Post and Agricultural Bank of China has helped the company extend its network to 21,000 outlets in China. Last year, the company's distribution network in China increased 76 per cent.

But the money transfer market is very competitive, says Gold, who was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of America's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" for 2003.

Apart from its traditional competitors, such as MoneyGram and Travelex, Western Union needs to build up its brand as a reliable service provider.

Many Chinese people still think of traditional telegraph-transfer services when they need to send a remittance.

Time is money, but how much should it cost?

People are calculating whether it is worthwhile to choose Western Unions' quicker, but more expensive, services.

Despite the eye-catching features of convenience and security, most residents still feel it is too hard to spend on Western Union's timely and reliable services.

Chinese send an estimated US$10 billion in and out of the country annually. That has spawned a huge market.

Western Union and its competitors have slashed service charges significantly to attract customers, and many of the firms are studying the market to provide more suitable services.

But foreign firms and traditional telegraph services are not creating the fiercest competition for Western Union.

That competition, she said, is from underground money transfer service providers.

It is estimated, in addition to roughly US$10 billion worth of inbound remittances into China that are on record every year, there may be US$9-11 billion transmitted through underground services.

Western Union's officials say great efforts have been exerted to crack down on illegal services, but these efforts are being hampered because the providers charge such little fees.

But Western Union believes, with tailored services and its brand of reliability, the company will always outperform underground services.

(China Daily 06/20/2005 page4)