00:00You're kind of looking down the face of, I guess, a crypto world. And I am curious as to how, if at all, that affects you.
00:07I mean, it's great to be here. Thank you for having us. Indeed, we're 175 years old and we've been innovating across that 175 years.
00:16And stable coins is just yet one more opportunity to innovate. There are three real opportunities for us.
00:23Any time you can move money faster across borders is going to be good for Western Union and good for Western Union's customers.
00:31Second, last I checked, you couldn't spend stable coin if you wanted to buy a Coca-Cola.
00:36So converting stable coin into fiat currencies, particularly in harder to convert currencies around the world, is an opportunity for us.
00:45And then for many of our customers around the world, a stable coin presents a store of value that's tough to achieve in their country.
00:52So offering stable coin as a store of value to our customers is going to be an opportunity.
00:58So we see stable coin really as an opportunity, not as a threat.
01:02What's the rollout looking like for Western Union on that front?
01:06Well, we're already innovating in several places in the world on moving money and settling.
01:12So both in South America and in Africa, we are innovating our settlement processes to move money quicker and to more easily convert into local currency in partnerships with some of the infrastructure companies you've had on this show.
01:26So we are also exploring other partnerships with people who want on ramps and off ramps in different parts of the world on how we could enable Western Union's funds in and funds out to enable people to purchase and sell stable coins.
01:41Finally, we're investigating how we might offer stable coin products in our digital wallets to our customers around the world.
01:48Again, in partnerships with many of the companies that you've talked to over the course of the last couple of weeks.
01:54What's the balance between this push into that space and not just with regards to crypto, but overall, the more digital strategy that I know you and your team at Western Union have been working on for some time.
02:05The balance between that and what we see in the traditional retail side of the business.
02:10And so we have about a billion dollar revenue digital business is growing, obviously, at faster rates than our traditional retail business.
02:19We also think of our retail business, not just as cash.
02:23So retail is a value proposition where you can have in-person service.
02:28People will fund with bank products, cards, credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts.
02:35And particularly with the passage of the big, beautiful bill, more and more people will be funding transactions in retail with bank products.
02:44The same is true on the payout side.
02:46Our payout to account, payout to digital wallet business around the world is growing north of 30 percent in almost all geographies.
02:54So we see the value proposition more about funding and paying out regardless of whether the person wants to do it from their app or they want to do it in a retail location.
03:05I'm curious, Devin, as to how business has been going in light of some of the issues, at least here in the United States, with regards to the immigration crackdown.
03:15The idea that you had a lot of folks here in the U.S., whether they were here legally or illegally, who would work here, send money back, often using services like Western Union to get that money back to their families.
03:26Have you seen a significant decline in that activity?
03:30You said the key words, which is work here and send money back.
03:36Most of my customers are employed, have been employed.
03:41They've already covered their basic living expenses and are, in fact, sending money home to loved ones in communities that they're from.
03:49They've been in these communities for many, many years.
03:51Many times they own small businesses and they employ other people.
03:55We've seen our business slow a bit, but the majority of our customers have been here in the United States for many, many years, are productively part of the economy and, in fact, are sending money home.
04:06The other thing to remember is our business is 60 percent outside of the U.S., 40 percent inside of the U.S.
04:12And the dynamics outside of the U.S. have been more positive over the last couple of quarters than they have been inside the U.S.
04:19Is that where future expansion comes?
04:21Is that primarily an international story for Western Union?
04:24Sure.
04:24The Middle East is a big expansion for us.
04:27As you know, lots and lots of investment happening in the Middle East.
04:30Many people coming into those countries to help build out infrastructure.
04:34Asia is a big expansion for us, as well as Africa.
04:38Our European business has been particularly strong the last couple of quarters.
04:43And so we see opportunities outside of the Americas as powering the company for the next couple of quarters.
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