Settlement Assets and Obligations

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2024

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

8. Settlement Assets and Obligations

Settlement assets represent funds received or to be received from agents and others for unsettled money transfers, money orders, and consumer payments. The Company records corresponding settlement obligations relating to amounts payable under money transfers, money orders, and consumer payment service arrangements.

Settlement assets and obligations consisted of the following (in millions):


	June 30, 2024			December 31, 2023
Settlement assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	434.7		$	496.0
Receivables from agents and others		1,788.6			1,748.3
Less: Allowance for credit losses		(11.7	)		(15.4	)
Receivables from agents and others, net		1,776.9			1,732.9
Investment securities		1,436.8			1,458.2
Less: Allowance for credit losses		(0.1	)		(0.1	)
Investment securities, net		1,436.7			1,458.1
Total settlement assets	$	3,648.3		$	3,687.0
Settlement obligations:
Money transfer, money order, and payment service payables	$	2,758.9		$	2,764.5
Payables to agents		889.4			922.5
Total settlement obligations	$	3,648.3		$	3,687.0

Allowance for Credit Losses

Receivables from agents and others primarily represent funds collected by such agents, but in transit to the Company. Cash received by Western Union agents generally becomes available to the Company within one week after initial receipt by the agent. Western Union has a large and diverse agent base, thereby reducing the credit risk of the Company from any one agent. The Company performs ongoing credit evaluations of its agents’ financial condition and credit worthiness.

The Company establishes and monitors an allowance for credit losses related to receivables from agents and others. The Company has estimated the allowance based on its historical collections experience, adjusted for current conditions and forecasts of future economic conditions based on information known as of June 30, 2024.

The following tables summarize the activity in the allowance for credit losses on receivables from agents and others, and Business Solutions customers (in millions):


	Agents and
	Others
Allowance for credit losses as of January 1, 2024	$	15.4
Current period provision for expected credit losses (a)		—
Write-offs charged against the allowance		(5.2	)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off		2.3
Impacts of foreign currency exchange rates and other		(0.6	)
Allowance for credit losses as of March 31, 2024		11.9
Current period provision for expected credit losses (a)		3.0
Write-offs charged against the allowance		(8.4	)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off		3.3
Impacts of foreign currency exchange rates and other		1.9
Allowance for credit losses as of June 30, 2024	$	11.7


	Agents and			Business Solutions
	Others			Customers
Allowance for credit losses as of January 1, 2023	$	11.4		$	1.6
Current period provision for expected credit losses (a)		(0.4	)		0.4
Write-offs charged against the allowance		(4.2	)		(0.7	)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off		1.8			—
Impacts of foreign currency exchange rates and other		0.1			0.7
Allowance for credit losses as of March 31, 2023		8.7			2.0
Current period provision for expected credit losses (a)		5.3			1.0
Write-offs charged against the allowance		(4.1	)		(2.4	)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off		1.4			—
Impacts of foreign currency exchange rates and other		0.4			(0.6	)
Allowance for credit losses as of June 30, 2023	$	11.7		$	—

(a)

Provision does not include losses from chargebacks or fraud associated with transactions initiated through the Company’s digital channels, as these losses are not credit-related. The Company recognized losses that were not credit-related of $14.8 million and $12.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and June 30, 2024, respectively, and $9.1 million and $6.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and June 30, 2023, respectively.

In addition, from time to time, the Company makes advances to its agents and disbursement partners. The Company often owes settlement funds payable to these agents that offset these advances. These amounts advanced to agents and disbursement partners are included within Other assets in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. As of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, amounts advanced to agents and disbursement partners were $216.0 million and $188.5 million, respectively, and the related allowances for credit losses were immaterial.

Investment Securities

Investment securities included in Settlement assets in the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets consist primarily of highly-rated state and municipal debt securities, including fixed-rate term notes and variable-rate demand notes. Variable-rate demand note securities can be put (sold at par) typically on a daily basis with settlement periods ranging from the same day to one week but have varying maturities through 2052. These securities may be used by the Company for short-term liquidity needs and held for short periods of time. Investment securities are exposed to market risk due to changes in interest rates and credit risk. The Company is required to hold highly-rated, investment grade securities and such investments are restricted to satisfy outstanding settlement obligations in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements.

The Company’s investment securities are classified as available-for-sale and recorded at fair value. Western Union regularly monitors credit risk and attempts to mitigate its exposure by investing in highly-rated securities and through investment diversification.

Unrealized gains on available-for-sale securities are excluded from earnings and presented as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of related deferred taxes. Available-for-sale securities with a fair value below the amortized cost basis are evaluated on an individual basis to determine whether the impairment is due to credit-related factors or noncredit-related factors. Factors that could indicate a credit loss exists include but are not limited to: (i) negative earnings performance, (ii) credit rating downgrades, or (iii) adverse changes in the regulatory or economic environment of the asset. Any impairment that is not credit-related is excluded from earnings and presented as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of related deferred taxes, unless the Company intends to sell the impaired security, or it is more likely than not that the Company will be required to sell the security before recovering its amortized cost basis. Credit-related impairments are recognized immediately as an adjustment to earnings, regardless of whether the Company has the ability or intent to hold the security to maturity, and are limited to the difference between fair value and the amortized cost basis.

The components of investment securities are as follows (in millions):


					Gross		Gross			Net
	Amortized		Fair		Unrealized		Unrealized			Unrealized
June 30, 2024	Cost		Value		Gains		Losses			Gains/(Losses)
Settlement assets:
Cash and cash equivalents:
Money market funds	$	11.4	$	11.4	$	—	$	—		$	—
Available-for-sale securities:
State and municipal debt securities (a)		1,079.3		1,035.0		3.1		(47.4	)		(44.3	)
Asset-backed securities		260.4		261.7		1.4		(0.1	)		1.3
Corporate debt securities		87.0		83.4		0.5		(4.1	)		(3.6	)
State and municipal variable-rate demand notes		47.7		47.7		—		—			—
United States government agency mortgage-backed securities		9.4		9.0		—		(0.4	)		(0.4	)
Total available-for-sale securities		1,483.8		1,436.8		5.0		(52.0	)		(47.0	)
Total investment securities	$	1,495.2	$	1,448.2	$	5.0	$	(52.0	)	$	(47.0	)


					Gross		Gross			Net
	Amortized		Fair		Unrealized		Unrealized			Unrealized
December 31, 2023	Cost		Value		Gains		Losses			Gains/(Losses)
Settlement assets:
Cash and cash equivalents:
Money market funds	$	11.8	$	11.8	$	—	$	—		$	—
Available-for-sale securities:
State and municipal debt securities (a)		1,049.3		1,011.4		8.7		(46.6	)		(37.9	)
Asset-backed securities		194.5		195.7		1.2		—			1.2
Corporate debt securities		155.2		152.2		1.5		(4.5	)		(3.0	)
State and municipal variable-rate demand notes		86.8		86.8		—		—			—
United States government agency mortgage-backed securities		12.6		12.1		—		(0.5	)		(0.5	)
Total available-for-sale securities		1,498.4		1,458.2		11.4		(51.6	)		(40.2	)
Total investment securities	$	1,510.2	$	1,470.0	$	11.4	$	(51.6	)	$	(40.2	)

(a)

The majority of these securities are fixed-rate instruments.

The following summarizes investment securities that were in an unrealized loss position as of June 30, 2024, by the length of time the securities were in a continuous loss position (in millions, except number of securities):


Less Than One Year	Number of Securities		Fair Value		Unrealized Losses
State and municipal debt securities		126	$	248.1	$	(2.2	)
Asset-backed securities		12		25.0		(0.1	)


One Year or Greater	Number of Securities		Fair Value		Unrealized Losses
State and municipal debt securities		255	$	544.3	$	(45.2	)
Corporate debt securities		13		49.4		(4.1	)
United States government agency mortgage-backed securities		10		8.6		(0.4	)

The Company's provision for credit losses on its investment securities during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and the related allowance for credit losses as of June 30, 2024 were immaterial, as the unrealized losses were driven by a rise in U.S. Treasury interest rates. As of June 30, 2024, the Company did not intend to sell its securities in an unrealized loss position and did not expect it would be required to sell these securities prior to recovering their amortized cost basis.

The following summarizes the contractual maturities of available-for-sale securities within Settlement assets as of June 30, 2024 (in millions):


	Fair Value
Due within 1 year	$	102.6
Due after 1 year through 5 years		536.8
Due after 5 years through 10 years		526.4
Due after 10 years		271.0
Total	$	1,436.8

Actual maturities may differ from contractual maturities because issuers may have the right to call or prepay the obligations or the Company may have the right to put the obligation prior to its contractual maturity, as with variable-rate demand notes. Variable-rate demand notes, having a fair value of $47.7 million, are included in the “Due after 10 years” category in the table above.