Western Union, a New York-listed money transfer services provider, has formed a ventures unit for business innovation.
Diane Scott (pictured) is president of Western Union Ventures having previously been head of marketing for the group. David Yates, the company’s executive vice-president of business development and innovation, is leaving in September
However, the ventures unit is to use existing assets from Westernunion.com, prepaid/stored value cards and mobile money transfer rather than immediately looking externally.
In 2006, Western Union spun out from bankcard processing company First Data, which had previously formed a $600m corporate venturing fund, eOneGlobal, in partnership with Iformation Group, for emerging payment technologies.
Last month, Western Union acquired private equity-backed Travelex’s Global Business Payments operations for £606m ($1bn).