The presence of Western Union Gold Card at the client greatly simplifies the process of further processing of money transfers of and reduces the operation time for the sending of money, as the "Gold Card" is a carrier of the personal information about the client. In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. In 1995, First Financial Management was acquired by First Data Corp. (the deal amounted to $ 7 billion), and Western Union Financial Services became a subsidiary of First Data. Before transition to remittances Western Union company rendered services on sphere of cable communication. In 1849, Selden and Sibley, the founders of the future Western Union, created the New York State Printing Telegraph Company. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide.