I was discussing Western Union with someone deeply involved in the money transfer market just recently over coffee. This is someone who works in the middle layer of the transfers between the larger corporates and the transfer houses helping to connect the two systems.
It was interesting to hear him say that Western Union have a reputation forworking in the third world market transferring money to the western market however they are currently buying up brokerage houses in some countries and trying to move into more corporate transfers.
Generally it can be hard to break into the corporate transfer market for an operator like Western Union with the reputation that they currently have.
When they look at buying other brokerage houses it then makes sense to downgrade the services that the transfer house had as some of the services can be consolidated within the wider Western Union group, this does however cause friction and very well may not help the Western Union reputation as they are seen as very aggressive and not looking out for the local market.