1998 - the number of points of money transfers worldwide reached 50,000. The network of money transfers of Western Union is the world's largest. The Western Union Company - the American company, specialising on granting of services of monetary intermediary. Western Union was founded in 1851. The company is one of leaders in the market of the international remittances. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide. Western Union for more than 130 years provides money transfer services to its customers.