Syrian Refugees: Western Union's Most Loyal Customers

Refugees, immigrants expatriates. For some politicians, they're scapegoats. For Western Union, they're customers

- Drake Bennett And Lauren Etter

Early in the summer of 2014, executives at Western Union offices around the globe began to notice something strange. The world’s largest money transfer company, Western Union Co. processes 31 transactions a second, and the money moves in distinct regional and seasonal patterns, like ocean currents or highway traffic. When disruptions occur or new patterns emerge, a knowledgeable observer can spot history unfolding in real time: The volume of transfers reflects the ebb and flow of nations’ economic growth and the vacillations of commodity markets. Natural disasters show up as sudden influxes of cash.

That summer more people than usual were sending money from Canada, Northern Europe, and the US to Greece, Jordan, and Turkey. “We know every receiver and every sender’s name,” says Hikmet Ersek, the company’s chief executive officer and president. “You’d see all these names like Ismael or Muhammed or Mehmet.” On conference calls, amid discussions of financial results and social media marketing strategy, executives puzzled over the anomaly.

Around that time, Constantine Varvias started getting desperate calls at his office in Athens. Varvias runs more than 1,000 Western Union money transfer counters as an agent for the company, and government officials and aid organisations in the Greek islands were asking where to find them—and whether he could open some more. People were stumbling onto beaches from open boats, asking in Arabic where they could receive their money.