In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. Payment systems are one of basic elements of infrastructure of e-commerce. The Western Union Company is a leader in global payment services 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. In October 1871 the company Western Union began to provide money transfer services, drawing on its own extensive telegraph network. In the summer of 1990 top managers of the Western Union Company spent day and night in the main office in Englewood (Colorado, USA). They needed to meet the challenge: to save the Western Union from bankruptcy, paying off the debts of the company millions of dollars.