In the early forties of the 20th century, Western Union has used the first time a commercial intercity microwave transmission system. In 1920, Western Union has implemented the world's first transmission of images over the ocean. As a result of 2011, net income of Western Union has increased by 28% to $ 1.165 billion, the company reported. Money transfer is a matter of minutes, at any distance. In 2007 the company made 167.7 million transactions on money transfers between individuals and 404.6 million transactions between physical and legal persons. 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.