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MoneyGram International, Inc. is an American cross-border
P2P P2P may refer to: * Pay to play, where money is exchanged for services * Peer-to-peer, a distributed application architecture in computing or networking ** List of P2P protocols * Phenylacetone, an organic compound commonly known as P2P * Poin ...
payments and money transfer company based in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
with headquarters in
Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
. It has an operations center in
St. Louis Park, Minnesota St. Louis Park is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 50,010 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a first-ring suburb immediately west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Min ...
and regional and local offices around the world. MoneyGram businesses are divided into two categories: Global Funds Transfers and Financial Paper Products. The company provides its service to individuals and businesses through a network of agents and
financial institution Financial institutions, sometimes called banking institutions, are business entities that provide services as intermediaries for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial insti ...
s. In 2014, MoneyGram was the second largest provider of money transfers in the world. The company operates in more than 200 countries and territories with a global network of about 347,000 agent offices.


History

MoneyGram International formed as a result of two businesses merging,
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
-based Travelers Express and
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
-based Integrated Payment Systems Inc. MoneyGram was first established as a subsidiary of Integrated Payment Systems and afterwards became an independent company before it was acquired by Travelers in 1998. In 2004, Travelers Express became what is known today as MoneyGram International.


Travelers Express (1940–1997)

The Minneapolis-based Travelers Express Co. Inc. was founded in 1940. In 1965, Travelers Express was acquired by The Greyhound Corporation (now known as
Viad Corp Viad Corp provides experiential leisure travel and face-to-face events in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United Arab Emirates via two divsions: GES and Pursuit. Pursuit (formed in 2017) includes travel attractio ...
) and became the nation's largest provider of money orders before initiating a company reorganization plan in 1993.


MoneyGram Systems (1988–1997)

MoneyGram was formed in 1988 as a subsidiary of Integrated Payment Systems Inc. Integrated Payment Systems was a subsidiary of
First Data Corporation First Data Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company's STAR Network provided nationwide domestic debit acceptance at more than 2 million retail POS, ATM, and Online outlets for nea ...
, which was itself a subsidiary of
American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
. In 1992, First Data was spun off from American Express and publicly traded on the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
. First Data Corporation later merged with First Financial, the owners of rival
Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
. In order to approve the merger, the
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
forced First Data to sell Integrated Payment Systems. Thomas Cook Global Foreign Exchange, under the stewardship of John Bavister, launched a re-engineered money transfer service in 1994. Branded as MoneyGram, the venture saw the partnering of the global travel giant with First Data Corp. In 1996, Integrated Payment Systems, the nation's second largest non-bank consumer money transfer business, became its own publicly traded company and was renamed MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc. In 1997, James F. Calvano, former president of Western Union, became MoneyGram Payment Systems CEO. By the late 1990s, MoneyGram Payment Systems had served customers at over 22,000 locations in 100 countries. MoneyGram International Ltd. was established in 1997 by MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc. and Thomas Cook, a year after the company had gone public. At the time when MoneyGram International was established, MoneyGram Payment Systems owned 51 percent of the company, while the other 49 percent was owned by the
Thomas Cook Group Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — an ...
.


MoneyGram International (1998–present)

In April 1998, Viad Corp acquired MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc. for $287 million. MoneyGram was then folded into Viad's Travelers Express in
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
. In November 2000, the MoneyGram brand and business was sold to Travelex as part of its acquisition of Thomas Cook Financial Services for £400m. In 2003, Travelers Express gained full ownership of the MoneyGram network, including MoneyGram International. Later that year, Viad spun off Travelers Express as an independent company. In January 2004 Travelers Express was renamed to MoneyGram International Inc. In June 2004, Viad sold MoneyGram and it became a publicly traded, individual entity. By 2006, MoneyGram International had expanded internationally to include over 96,000 agents in regions such as the Asian-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Central America. The company had also introduced additional services such as bill payment and online money transfers. During the
financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
, MoneyGram's shares fell 96 percent from 2007 to 2009. It lost more than $1.6 billion from investments in securities backed by risky mortgages in 2008, and the losses led the company to sell a majority stake to
Thomas H. Lee Partners Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. is an American private equity firm based in Boston investing in middle market growth companies across financial technology and services, healthcare and technology & business solutions. History Founded in 1974 by ...
and
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
in exchange for a cash infusion. During the drop, U.S. Bancorp shifted its money transfer services to
Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
. The company became profitable again in 2009. Amid MoneyGram's turnaround, Pamela Patsley became the executive chairwoman of the company in January 2009 and was later named CEO in September of that year. In November 2010, MoneyGram officially relocated its global headquarters to the city of
Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
. The company continues to maintain global operations and information technology centers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2013, MoneyGram began considering a sale. In 2014, MoneyGram lost a relationship with Wal-Mart Stores and then began restructuring to cut costs. From their peak in 2013 until late 2015, shares fell about 70%. MoneyGram closed a call center in Lakewood, Colorado resulting in over 500 layoffs. Furthermore, MoneyGram closed its 376-person
Brooklyn Center Brooklyn Center is a first-ring suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. In 1911, the area became a village formed from parts of Brooklyn Township and Crystal Lake Township. I ...
operation in 2015. MoneyGram has moved numerous positions to Warsaw, Poland from its Colorado and Minnesota locations for cut costs further. In 2015, the company's agent network in Africa reached 25,000 locations, including an agreement with the
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
Post Office. Between late October 2016 and January 2017, MoneyGram's shares doubled in value. On January 26, 2017,
Ant Financial Services Group Ant Group ()'','' formerly known as Ant Financial, is an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group. The group owns the world's largest mobile (digital) payment platform Alipay, which serves over 1.3 billion users and 80 millio ...
announced a deal to acquire MoneyGram International for $880 million; the deal subsequently collapsed after it was rejected by the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS, commonly pronounced "Cifius" ) is an inter-agency committee of the United States government that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. compani ...
. On June 17th 2019, MoneyGram announced they were partnering with
Ripple Ripple may refer to: Science and technology * Capillary wave, commonly known as ripple, a wave traveling along the phase boundary of a fluid ** Ripple, more generally a disturbance, for example of spacetime in gravitational waves * Ripple (electri ...
to utilize the digital asset XRP for cross-border remittance. In July 2020, Digital Financial Services LLC and MoneyGram have collaborated to provide overseas remittance services in the UAE. Through this partnership, eWallet consumers will enable real-time foreign money transfers to friends and families in more than 200 countries and territories around the world through an vast network of mobile wallet providers, bank account deposit facilities and more than 350,000 walk-in locations. In February 2022, MoneyGram agreed to be acquired for $1 billion in cash by
Madison Dearborn Partners Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP) is an American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts of privately held or publicly traded companies, or divisions of larger companies; recapitalizations of family-owned or closely held companies; ba ...
, a private equity firm.


Products


Money transfers

* MoneyGram Money Transfer * MoneyGram Bill Payments Services - allowing consumers to make urgent payments or pay routine bills to certain creditors. * MoneyGram
As a service As a service (AAS) is a business model in which something is being presented to a customer, either internal or external, as a service. As-a-Service offerings provide endpoints for customers/consumers to interface with which are usually API A ...
– enables enterprise customers to leverage the company’s core capabilities as productized service offerings to meet their various business needs and add services and scale.


Financial paper

* Money Orders - MoneyGram is the second largest
money order A money order is a directive to pay a pre-specified amount of money from prepaid funds, making it a more trusted method of payment than a cheque. History The money order system was established by a private firm in Great Britain in 1792 and was ...
supplier. * Official Checks - MoneyGram offers official check outsourcing services which are available to financial institutions in the United States. Official Checks are used by consumers where a payee requires a check drawn on a
bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...
and by financial institutions to pay their own obligations.


Cryptocurrency

* Cryptocurrency Cash Network – Through a relationship with
Coinme Coinme is a cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company offers technology for bitcoin ATMs and kiosks, which allow users to convert cryptocurrency into cash. The company launched one of the first licensed bitcoin AT ...
, consumers can purchase or exchange
bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...
for U.S. dollars at select MoneyGram retail locations.


Legal cases

In November 2012, MoneyGram International admitted to
anti-money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...
and wire fraud violations. MoneyGram services were used by unrelated parties involved in mass marketing and consumer
phishing Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...
scams that defrauded thousands of victims in the United States. As a part of the settlement, MoneyGram created a $100 million victim compensation fund. MoneyGram also retained a corporate monitor who will report regularly to the
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
for a five-year trial period. If MoneyGram fulfills its obligations under the settlement, prosecutors will seek dismissal of the charges of aiding and abetting wire fraud.Federal judge OKs MoneyGram fraud deal, $100M fund
" ''
ap.org The Associated Press (AP) is an American Nonprofit organization, non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to ...
''. November 28, 2012. Retrieved on March 21, 2013.
MoneyGram also terminated any agents complicit in the 2009 scams and invested more than $84 million in improvements to the company's consumer anti-fraud systems and consumer awareness education. In February 2015, MoneyGram assisted a Houston reporter in shutting down a fraud scam after discovering a scheme that utilized an account with the company. In February 2016, MoneyGram agreed it would pay $13 million to end a probe stemming from customer complaints that scam artists duped them into wiring funds via the money transfer service. The settlement, with attorneys general in 49 states and Washington, D.C., includes $9 million for a nationwide fund that will facilitate the return of money to some MoneyGram customers and $4 million to cover states' costs and fees, according to numerous announcements by state attorneys general. In April 2022, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a complaint against MoneyGram for its repeated violations of the law, ignoring customer complaints and government warnings. The complaint states that MoneyGram has repeatedly "stranded" recipients waiting for their money, gave senders inaccurate information about when transfers would be completed and failed to address customer complaints in accordance with the 2013 rule. The lawsuit is CFPB’s fifth remittance-related case since 2019, which seeks unspecified refunds, restitution, and civil damages. The case is Consumer Financial Protection Bureau et al v MoneyGram International Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-03256.


Philanthropy & marketing

MoneyGram launched the MoneyGram Foundation in 2013, which focuses on distributing grants internationally to support education. The MoneyGram Foundation distributed grants in 19 countries in its first year of operations. The Foundation gets the bulk of its funding from MoneyGram International, and builds on MoneyGram's previous Global Giving Program. Through MoneyGram, Global Giving made a donation of $100,000 to
World Vision International World Vision International is an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid, development, and advocacy organization. It prefers to present itself as interdenominational and also employs staff from non-evangelical Christian denominations. It was ...
for education and school supplies, and another donation of $30,000 for the Girls Exploring Math and Science program in Dallas. MoneyGram participated in relief aid following the
2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...
by reducing their fees to only $1 for any transactions to
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
along with a $10,000 grant to Pan American Development Foundation and American Red Cross. In 2012, MoneyGram contributed to
Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
relief efforts by pledging to donate $1 per transaction up to $200,000 to the American Red Cross. The foundation has also contributed to other relief efforts following events such as
Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. On making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the ...
in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
. The company has also participated in the One Laptop per Child initiative and
Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...
through the MoneyGram Foundation. On October 20th 2022, MoneyGram announced a multi-year title sponsorship deal with
Haas F1 Team Haas Formula LLC, competing as Haas F1 Team, is an American-licensed Formula One racing team established by NASCAR Cup Series team co-owner Gene Haas in April 2014. The team originally intended to make its debut at the start of the season b ...
(with the team renamed as ''MoneyGram Haas F1 Team'') for the 2023 Formula One season onwards.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moneygram Companies listed on the Nasdaq Payment systems Online remittance providers American companies established in 1940 Financial services companies established in 1940 Financial services companies of the United States Companies based in Dallas Foreign exchange companies Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 1992 initial public offerings