{"id":644870,"date":"2026-08-01T13:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=644870"},"modified":"2026-08-01T13:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T13:55:00","slug":"closed-borders-killing-western-union-earnings-call-transcripts-reveal-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=644870","title":{"rendered":"Closed Borders Killing Western Union, Earnings Call Transcripts Reveal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Closed Borders Killing Western Union, Earnings Call Transcripts Reveal<\/span><\/p>\n

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Western Union CFO Matt Cagwin quietly acknowledged in yesterday\u2019s earnings call<\/u><\/a> that fewer border crossings under the Trump admin are chipping away at the remittance behemoth\u2019s profits:<\/p>\n

\u201cNew migration is the lifeline of our retail business. With borders closed, it is difficult to offset natural attrition<\/strong>\u2026 as consumers return home to their native countries,\u201d <\/strong>Cagwin said.<\/p>\n

WU has long been the dominant vampire skimming absurd fees off international remittances while providing no technological convenience that Venmo hasn\u2019t already surpassed. It\u2019s instead maintained its now-dwindling market share through lobbying, which is why it can charge a 40% for a South Africa-to-Botswana cash transfer:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Western Union charges as high as 40,11% for a ~$84 USD remittance from South Africa to Botswana. Data from the World Bank, Q2 2021.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s decline is continuing a trend<\/u><\/a> since President Trump took office for his second term, during which he\u2019s been markedly more hawkish on immigration, with the United States <\/strong>seeing<\/u><\/strong><\/a> net negative migration last year for the first time in over half a century.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For 2025, it was reported<\/u><\/a> that remittances from the U.S. to Mexico declined almost 5% for the year. Last year\u2019s trend appears to be accelerating.<\/p>\n

On yesterday\u2019s earnings call, Western Union CEO Devin McGranahan said that remittances from \u201cU.S. to Mexico declined a little over 3% on a transaction basis in the quarter [Q2, 2026].\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

WU\u2019s stock was down 15% on the day, following the news. CEO McGranahan also acknowledged that immigration policy was the core driver behind the revenue loss:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, remittances in the Americas have faced meaningful pressure that began in late 2024, driven by the changes in immigration policy\u2026 It just means it will be difficult to get the business back to true growth without a meaningful change in immigration policy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSat, 08\/01\/2026 – 09:55<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Closed Borders Killing Western Union, Earnings Call Transcripts Reveal Western Union CFO Matt Cagwin quietly acknowledged in yesterday\u2019s earnings call that fewer border crossings under the Trump admin are chipping away at the remittance behemoth\u2019s profits: \u201cNew migration is the lifeline of our retail business. With borders closed, it is difficult to offset natural attrition\u2026… Continue reading Closed Borders Killing Western Union, Earnings Call Transcripts Reveal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":644857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-644870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=644870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/644857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=644870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=644870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=644870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}