In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. Payment systems are one of basic elements of infrastructure of e-commerce. You do not need to open a bank account, so you can send or receive money in any of the 170 000 service points of Western Union around the world. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. The Western Union Company uses the most up to date technologies and its unique worldwide computer network that allows to carry out quick money transfers payments in more than 190 countries around the world.