Ambassador Hall’s Remarks at the Opening of Western Union Customer Experience Center
May 2, 2017
Distinguished Guests, Madam Chancellor, Madam Vice Minister of Economy, Mr. Mayor, Sarunas, Mr. Alugas (Western Union VP), and David Thompson (Chief Info Officer and Executive VP of Western Union).
Thank you for inviting me today to celebrate the expansion of Western Union into your new Customer Experience Center! This center — that will develop new customer service innovations — represents one of the reasons why Western Union continues to excel and expand: it puts the customer first and invests in improving its services. Your approach represents a best practice in the business world today, no matter where you are.
And so I want to take a moment to talk about how U.S. investment and U.S. companies like Western Union strengthen foreign markets with practices and innovation know-how that goes far beyond the economic “bottom line.” When our businesses make investments, they bring with them the highest standards, including a commitment to corporate and social responsibility. The corporate practices U.S. companies bring to the global workplace go well beyond meeting regulatory standards, providing a safe working environment and job training, and paying fair wages. They include reshaping the modern workplace to promote entrepreneurship, teamwork, mentorship, and improve customer service — benefits that create a long-lasting culture of success. In the case of Western Union, this means that not only is the company providing jobs, it is helping people build careers.
Corporate Social Responsibility – the idea that businesses do more than just build an economic relationship with consumers – is another area in which U.S. firms excel. Western Union takes the idea of corporate responsibility to heart. The Western Union Foundation, through employee and corporate donations, give millions of dollars and euros each year to disaster relief, educational programs, and other community support programs.
Western Union is also a leader in Fighting Financial Crime. At Western Union, they know better than anyone the challenges of providing useful money transfer service while maintaining high standards for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing. After seeing your compliance agents at work, it is obvious that Western Union understands the gravity of protecting our financial system from criminal abuse. The measures you take make all of us safer.
Lanny, John, Chris, and Sarunas – I applaud the good work Western Union is doing in Lithuania and the U.S., and I wish you continued success.
