Traction with digital transactions marked Western Union s latest results on Wall Street while a newly minted agreement with Amazon grabbed its share of attention on the post-release third-quarter earnings call on Thursday Nov 1 and trained a spotlight on the lures of eCommerce done cross-border Generally speaking in terms of consolidated top- and bottom-line results Western Unions revenues of 139 billion were just shy of the 142 billion expected by the Street and its reported earnings of 52 cents a share were 04 better than estimates Looking at the largest business segment known as consumer-to-consumer C2C which is 80 percent of the companys top line revenues were up 2 percent on a constant currency basis outpaced by transaction growth of 4 percent Transaction flow came from geographic regions that included North America Latin America and Europe where cross-border principal currency adjusted at 204 billion was up 7 percent as noted in supplemental materials provided by the company In total across the C2C segment and again as addressed by supplemental materials principal per transaction was 313 currency adjusted gaining 4 percent year on year The company spotlighted transaction and revenue growth in regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean metrics that were up 11 percent and 2 percent and Europe where those metrics were up a respective 8 percent and 3 percent Price reductions in the Middle East meant that revenues were down by 6 percent in the period though transactions ticked up by 2 percent Management noted on the call that transaction growth was positive for the first time in several years Digital Business Gains Ground Western Union said its website revenues continued to grow as a percentage of the C2C segment to a 12 percent contribution where in the second quarter of this year that contribution to total C2C sales was 11 percent Drilling down into that segment digital contribution transactions gained 23 percent while constant currency revenues were up 20 percent The Western Union website is now available in more than 50 currencies and territories said CEO Hikmet Ersek during the call That number shows growth in 45 countries and territories during the second quarter In one callout to growth on account-to-account A2A transfers and digital initiatives the CEO noted the debut this month of high-value digital account transfers In the UK users can now send up to 50 000 64 994 USD internationally via their smartphones from the mobile website or the Western Union mobile app The company said that as many as 70 percent of its digital transactions originate on mobile devices Looking at the Business Solutions segment B2B revenues were at 7 percent of the total company top line gaining 3 percent as measured year on year As has been noted in this space and elsewhere last month Western Union has reportedly been mulling a sale of this unit according to unnamed sources CFO Rajesh K Agrawal said on the conference call that the company would not comment on such speculation stating that there was nothing new to announce though strategic options are always under consideration Within that Business Solutions segment said the CFO among standout verticals has been a boost from the educational sector Other revenues tied to bill payments businesses in the US and Argentina were down 9 percent on an as-reported basis but up 7 percent on a constant currency basis The company estimated that the strengthening of the US dollar against the Argentine peso hit this segment by 16 percentage points in the quarter In reference to the competitive landscape and analyst questions about Walmart which had announced an international money transfer platform earlier this year in partnership with MoneyGram on top of its domestic transfer business Ersek said there has been no significant impact and that his company remains well-positioned in the US and through its digital efforts In terms of the overall landscape on an international stage Agrawal noted that the cross-border growth rates seen for Western Union were up significantly higher than the estimated rates of about 45 percent by the World Bank Perhaps not surprisingly analysts queried management on the strategy and rollout of the partnership announced Wednesday Oct 31 where the firms are offering a new international payments option to Amazon customers As reported by PYMNTS Amazon customers will be able to pay in local currency at Western Union agents for the items they buy online Ersek repeated on Thursdays call that the agreement where he said we are a provider to Amazon we provide the platform allows for consumers to buy globally and pay locally Amazon he said will announce the markets into which the partnership will extend and added in response to analyst questions that the increased penetration will also bring eCommerce to underbanked consumers ________ NEWS IN 90 SECONDS Another exciting way to hear about those who are driving innovation in payments commerce and retail