MoneyGram
Public | |
Traded as | NASDAQ: MGI |
Industry | Financial Services |
Founded | 1940 |
Headquarters | Dallas, Texas |
Key people |
Pam Patsley Chairman and CEO |
Products |
Money transfers Money orders Official check Bill payment services |
Slogan | Bringing You Closer |
Website | MoneyGram.com |
MoneyGram International Inc. is a money transfer company based in the United States with headquarters in Dallas, Texas.[1] It has an operation center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota and regional and local offices around the world. MoneyGram is a public company and listed under the ticker symbol MGI.[2] MoneyGram businesses are divided into two categories: Global Funds Transfers and Financial Paper Products.[3] The company works with individuals and businesses through a network of agents and financial institution customers.
MoneyGram is the second largest provider of money transfers in the world.[4][5][6] The company operates in more than 200 countries with a global network of about 347,000 agent offices.[3]
History
MoneyGram International was a result of two businesses merging, Minneapolis-based Travelers Express and Denver-based Integrated Payment Systems Inc. MoneyGram was initially established as a subsidiary of Integrated Payment Systems and then became independent company before it was acquired by Travelers in 1998.[7][8] In 2004, Travelers Express became what is known today as MoneyGram International.
Travelers Express (1940-1997)
Minneapolis-based Travelers Express Co. Inc. was founded in 1940.[4] Travelers Express, a subsidiary of Viad Corporation, became the nation's largest provider of money orders before initiating a company reorganization plan in 1993.[9] By the late 1990s, MoneyGram Payment Systems had served customers at over 22,000 locations in 100 countries.[10][11]
MoneyGram Payment Systems (1988-1997)
MoneyGram was formed in 1988 as a subsidiary of Integrated Payment Systems Inc.[10][12][13] Integrated Payment Systems was a subsidiary of First Data Corporation, which was itself a subsidiary of American Express.[7] In 1992, First Data was spun off from American Express and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.[7][11] First Data Corporation later merged with First Financial, the owners of rival Western Union.[7] In order to approve the merger, the Federal Trade Commission forced First Data to sell Integrated Payment Systems.[12]
In 1996, Integrated Payment Systems, the nation's second largest non-bank consumer money transfer business, became its own publicly traded company and was renamed MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc.[11][12] In 1997, James F. Calvano, former president of Western Union, became MoneyGram Payment Systems CEO.[10]
MoneyGram International Ltd. was established in 1997 by MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc. a year after the company had gone public.[10] At the time when MoneyGram International was established, MoneyGram Payment Systems owned 51 percent of the company, while the other 49 percent was owned by the Thomas Cook Group.[14][15]
MoneyGram International (1998-present)
In April 1998, Viad acquired MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc.[8][16] for $287 million.[11] MoneyGram was then folded into Viad's Travelers Express in Minneapolis.[11]
In 2003, Travelers Express gained full ownership of the MoneyGram network, including MoneyGram International.[10] Later that year, Viad spun off Travelers Express as an independent company.[17] In January 2004 and Travelers Express was renamed to MoneyGram International Inc.[17][18] In June 2004, Viad sold MoneyGram and it became a publicly traded, individual entity.
By 2006, MoneyGram International had expanded internationally to include over 96,000 agents in regions such as the Asian-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Central America.[10] The company had also introduced additional services such as bill payment and online money transfers.
During the financial crisis, MoneyGram's shares fell 96 percent from 2007 to 2009.[19] It lost more than $1.6 billion from investments in securities backed by risky mortgages in 2008, and the losses led the company to sell a majority stake to Thomas H. Lee Partners and Goldman Sachs in exchange for a cash infusion.[20] During the drop, U.S. Bancorp shifted its money transfer services to Western Union.[21] The company began to see profitability again in 2009.[21]
Amid MoneyGram's turnaround, Pamela Patsley became the executive chairman of the company in January 2009 and was later named CEO in September of that year.[22][23] In November 2010, MoneyGram officially relocated its global headquarters to the city of Dallas, Texas.[19][23] The company continues to maintain global operations and information technology centers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[19]
In 2015, the company's agent network in Africa reached 25,000 locations, including an agreement with the Mauritius Post Office.[24][25]
Products
Global Funds Transfers
- MoneyGram Money Transfer
- MoneyGram Bill Payments Services - allowing consumers to make urgent payments or pay routine bills to certain creditors.
Financial Paper Products
- Money Orders - MoneyGram is the second largest money order supplier.[5][6][26]
- Official Checks - MoneyGram offers official check outsourcing services which are available to financial institutions in the United States. Official Checks are used by consumers where a payee requires a check drawn on a bank and by financial institutions to pay their own obligations.
Controversy
In November 2012, MoneyGram International admitted to anti-money laundering and wire fraud violations.[27] MoneyGram services were used by unrelated parties involved in mass marketing and consumer phishing scams that defrauded thousands of victims in the United States.[28] As a part of the settlement, MoneyGram created a $100 million victim compensation fund.[29] MoneyGram also retained a corporate monitor who will report regularly to the United States Department of Justice for a five-year trial period. If MoneyGram fulfills its obligations under the settlement, prosecutors will seek dismissal of the charges of aiding and abetting wire fraud.[29] MoneyGram also terminated any agents complicit in the 2009 scams and invested more than $84 million in improvements to the company's consumer anti-fraud systems and consumer awareness education.[28] In February 2015, MoneyGram assisted a local Houston reporter in shutting down a fraud scam after discovering a scheme that utilized an account with the company.[30]
Philanthropy
MoneyGram launched the MoneyGram Foundation in 2013, which focuses on distributing grants internationally to support education.[31] The MoneyGram Foundation distributed grants in 19 countries in its first year of operations.[31] The Foundation gets the bulk of its funding from MoneyGram International, and builds on MoneyGram's previous Global Giving Program.[32]
Through MoneyGram, Global Giving made a donation of $100,000 to World Vision International for education and school supplies, and another donation of $30,000 for the Girls Exploring Math and Science program in Dallas.[28]
MoneyGram participated in relief aid following the 2010 Haiti earthquake by reducing their fees to only $1 for any transactions to Haiti along with a $10,000 grant to Pan American Development Foundation and American Red Cross.[33][34] In 2012, MoneyGram contributed to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts by pledging to donate $1 per transaction up to $200,000 to the American Red Cross.[35]
The foundation has also contributed to other relief efforts following events such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.[36] The company has also participated in the One Laptop per Child initiative[37] and Habitat for Humanity through the MoneyGram Foundation.[38]
Alternative providers
- Ria Financial Services
- Transfast
- Western Union
- CurrencyFair
References
- ↑ Steve Brown (24 September 2010). "MoneyGram chooses downtown Dallas for new headquarters". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ↑ "Moneygram International, Inc.". NASDAQ. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- 1 2 "About MoneyGram". MoneyGram. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
- 1 2 "MoneyGram remittance costs are just 5%". Bizcommunity.com. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
- 1 2 Tara Lachapelle; Brooke Sutherland; Matthew Monks (21 June 2013). "MoneyGram Seen Cashing In at Decade-High Price: Real M&A". Bloomberg. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- 1 2 "MoneyGram claims bank status in tax dispute with U.S. IRS". Reuters. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 Dash, Eric (27 January 2006). "Western Union, Growing Faster Than Its Parent, Is to Be Spun Off". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
- 1 2 "Viad raises offer to buy MoneyGram". The Denver Post.
- ↑ Vrana, Debora (14 August 1993). "Travelers Express to Reorganize, Close Anaheim Office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Greenland, Paul R. (2008). Tina Grant, ed. "MoneyGram International, Inc.". International Directory of Company Histories 94 (Detroit: St. James Press). pp. 315–318.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Steven Lipin (6 April 1998). "Viad of Phoenix Agrees to Acquire Payments Firm for $287 Million". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
- 1 2 3 "FIRST DATA SPINNING OFF MONEYGRAM UNIT.". The Record. January 17, 1996.
- ↑ "Form 8-K". Securities & Exchange Commission. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ↑ "MONEYGRAM, THOMAS COOK FORM JOINT VENTURE FOR". Bloomberg. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ↑ "Form 10-K". Securities & Exchange Commission. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ↑ Vandeveire, Mary (29 May 1998). "Viad buys MoneyGram for $219 M". The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun.
- 1 2 Tom Smith (22 March 2007). "35. MoneyGram International Inc.". Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ "Viad completes MoneyGram spinoff". Phoenix Business Journal. 1 July 2004. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- 1 2 3 Jennifer Bjorhus (12 May 2014). "MoneyGram closing Brooklyn Center offices; 28 to lose jobs June 30". Star Tribune. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ Tara Lachapelle; Brooke Sutherland; Matthew Monks (21 June 2013). "MoneyGram Seen Cashing In at Decade-High Price: Real M&A". Bloomberg. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- 1 2 Chris Serres (31 March 2009). "MoneyGram paid ex-CEO $13.1 million". Star Tribune. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ Shashana Pearson-Hormillosa (30 November 2012). "MoneyGram CEO Pamela Patsley works to build new company legacy". Dallas Business Journal. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- 1 2 Karen Nielsen (November 2011). "MoneyGram's Turnaround Artist". D Magazine. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ Marc Mcilhone (18 February 2015). "MoneyGram Reaches 25,000 Locations Across Africa". African Brains. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- ↑ Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh (19 February 2015). "Africa: Moneygram Reaches 25,000 Locations in Africa". All Africa. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- ↑ Jennifer Bjorhus (12 May 2014). "MoneyGram closing Brooklyn Center offices; 28 to lose jobs June 30". Star Tribune. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ↑ "Moneygram International Inc. Admits Anti-Money Laundering and Wire Fraud Violations, Forfeits $100 Million in Deferred Prosecution." justice.gov. November 9, 2012. Retrieved on March 21, 2013.
- 1 2 3 Shashana Pearson-Hormillosa (30 November 2014). "MoneyGram CEO Pamela Patsley works to build new company legacy". Dallas Business Journal. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- 1 2 "Federal judge OKs MoneyGram fraud deal, $100M fund." ap.org. November 28, 2012. Retrieved on March 21, 2013.
- ↑ Ted Oberg (11 February 2015). "Ted Oberg gets a 'too good to be true' phone call". ABC13 News. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- 1 2 "MoneyGram Foundation". MoneyGram. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ↑ "MoneyGram Foundation awards six more grants."
- ↑ Sam Black (14 January 2010). "MoneyGram reduces fees to send money to Haiti". Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ↑ "MoneyGram International reduces fees to Haiti". The Seattle Times. 14 January 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
- ↑ Hanah Cho (6 November 2012). "MoneyGram pledges donations to Red Cross for transactions sent to affected Sandy areas". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ↑ Hanah Cho (14 November 2013). "MoneyGram donates $50,000 to support victims of Typhoon Haiyan". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ↑ "MoneyGram, OLPC donate 250 tablets to students in SA". Telecompaper. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ↑ Kenneth Chan (2 March 2005). "MoneyGram Makes $1 Million Commitment with Habitat for Humanity". The Christian Post. Retrieved 11 December 2014.