Separation of the companies had two objectives: first, to give Western Union the opportunity to develop more intensively, and secondly, to help First Data to return to its original activity (in 1992 the company separated from the payment system of American Express as an independent financial services company). Thanks to cooperation with Western Union the Associated Press at the end of the XIX century took almost monopolistic position in the U.S. market news. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. The first offices of company were located in the Reynolds Arcade building in Rochester, New York. The sign above the main entrance to the building - Western Union for more than 130 years provides money transfer services to its customers.