Western Union Money Transfers Come To Walgreens And Duane Reed

Western Union is now allowing customers of Walgreens to transfer money domestically through a new Western Union stage-and-pay kiosk model.  The kiosks will use the the Walgreens Balance Financial platform.

Starting now, customers can send or receive money at almost 8,000 Walgreens and Duane Reade locations in 49 states.  Using a photo touchscreen, customers can serve themselves in a single session or save the transaction and pick it up later.

Western Union’s advanced point of sale model enhances access and experience by simplifying process, granting control and facilitating speedy service end-to-end for customers, as well as retail agents. We are bridging retail experience with digital innovation delivering upon our omni-channel strategy, while making it simple and fast for our customers. We are pleased to be rolling out this breakthrough service model in collaboration with Walgreens,” said Odilon Almeida, President of Western Union, Americas and European Union.

This first rollout will work closely with Walgreens to integrate with mobile to allow for a larger volume of essentially self-service transactions.

“In keeping with our goal to be first choice for health and daily living for everyone in America and beyond, Walgreens will offer Western Union Money Transfer transactions as part of our expanding suite of financial services. Components like money-transfer transactions empower customers by giving them easy access to powerful financial tools,” said Jason Dubinsky, vice president and treasurer of Walgreens.

 


CFTC Appoints Whistleblower Office Director Brian Young to Lead Enforcement

CFTC

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has named the former director of its Whistleblower Office, Brian Young, as its director of enforcement.

The appointment was announced Friday (Feb. 14) by CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham, according to a CFTC press release. Young had been serving in an acting capacity since Jan. 22.

“He is a fearless leader that will build an even more impressive enforcement program that will stay true to the CFTC’s mission to protect the American public from fraudsters and scammers,” Pham said in the release. “I am confident that under Brian’s leadership, the CFTC will expand and scale our resources to help more victims than ever before and ensure the integrity of our markets in the name of justice.”

Young joined the CFTC as director of its Whistleblower Office in 2024, according to the release. During his first year in that role, Young oversaw a team that achieved an all-time high number of annual dispositions of whistleblower award applications.

Prior to joining the agency, Young was with the Department of Justice for nearly 20 years, most recently as acting director of litigation for the Antitrust Division, the release said.

Before that, Young served in various roles in the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, including chief of the Fraud Section’s Litigation Unit, per the release.

While at the Department of Justice, he successfully tried criminal fraud and manipulation cases in the CFTC’s markets, according to the release.

“I want to thank Acting Chairman Pham for her confidence in me and for her commitment to continuing the CFTC’s aggressive efforts to protect our global commodity markets from fraud, manipulation and other abusive practices,” Young said in the release.

The White House said in a Wednesday press release that it sent to the Senate nominations for Brian Quintenz to be chairman of the CFTC and a commissioner of the CFTC for a term expiring April 13, 2029.

Quintenz is a former commissioner of the CFTC and now works for the cryptocurrency unit at venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, PYMNTS reported Wednesday (Feb. 12).

The commission is expected to gain new powers over the cryptocurrency sector.