America was on the verge of civil war and needed a reliable connection between the North and South. On the telegraph market of the USA at this time were operated with six large companies: American Telegraph Company, New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph, Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company, New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company, and the brainchild of Sibley & Co. - The Western Union Telegraph. As a result of 2011, net income of Western Union has increased by 28% to $ 1.165 billion, the company reported. Western Union has several divisions, with products such as person-to-person money transfer, money orders, business payments and commercial services. Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. Most service points of Western Union work in the time convenient for customers throughout the week and throughout the year. Money transfer is a matter of minutes, at any distance. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide.