, meanwhile, as a smaller player in the industry with less money to spend on keeping up with the competition, has performed even worse. Moody's recently downgraded its credit profile and cited the difficult operating environment.
Part of the answer is the incremental competition causing pricing pressure. Western Union has done well in building its digital business and bringing customers to WU.com for digital transfers, but they make a lot less money on that business than the traditional cash transfers. The competition is forcing Western Union to cannibalize its own highest margin transactions.
It has introduced a "borderless" account allowing customers to move money between 40 different currencies. Traditional banks like France's Groupe BPCE and digital banks like Britain's Monzo are incorporating the TransferWise money transfer function into their own applications. "A few big banks that have come to the conclusion that their wire transfer service was never is a good experience for the customers," Käärmann said.