Hikmet Ersek

Hikmet Ersek is Chief Executive Officer and Director of The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU).

During Ersek's tenure as CEO, which began in 2010, Western Union has diversified its business model into a digital global payments company, growing its retail money-transfer business to more than 550,000 worldwide locations, over 100,000 ATMs and kiosks, and connecting billions of bank accounts and mobile wallets worldwide.

During this time, the company's market capitalization has decreased by over 25%[1] while the NASDAQ Composite has increased by nearly 200%.[2] Also during his direction, The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) stock price has decreased by over 5% while the Vanguard Financials Index has increased by over 120%.

Ersek has maintained a base salary of $1 million for the last three years ending 2017,[3] but his full pay for 2017 was $9,726,400. This is a 13% increase in pay from fiscal year 2016.

In 2018, Ersek experienced a 6% decrease in full pay to $9,175,300.[4] In 2018, Ersek spent $128,570 on personal travel expenses using the company's private jet.

Ersek began his career in financial services in 1986 at Europay / MasterCard in Austria. In 1996, he joined GE Capital, and also represented the GE Corporation as a National Executive in Austria and Slovenia before he joined The Western Union Company.

The Western Union Company has been fined hundreds of millions of dollars under Ersek's leadership.

In 2017, Western Union admitted to anti-money laundering and consumer fraud violations and agreed to pay $586 million in a settlement with the Department of Justice.[5] Among other charges, the Justice Department showed that Western Union was complicit in creating an ecosystem where criminals were able to engage in consumer fraud and human trafficking.

In 2018, Western Union was fined $60 million by the New York State Department of Financial Services[6]. The press release accompanying the fine stated that, "Western Union executives put profits ahead of the company’s responsibilities to detect and prevent money laundering and fraud, by choosing to maintain relationships with and failing to discipline obviously suspect, but highly profitable, agents."

On May 29, 2019, Western Union announced the departure of a company executive, Odilon Almeida, who served as executive vice president and president of Global Money Transfer.[7] In 2012, Stewart Stockdale, who had the same position as Almeida, left the company in a similar situation. This marked the second time, in less than a decade that an executive at Western Union left with Ersek alone at the helm.

Eresk was born in Istanbul, Turkey to a mother from Austria and a father from Turkey. His parents met in Paris and then settled in Istanbul. Ersek attended TED Ankara College in Ankara until, at 19, he moved to Austria to attend the Vienna University of Economics and Business.[8] where he graduated with a Master's (Magister) degree in Economics and Business Administration. He speaks English, German and Turkish fluently. He also had a short career as a professional basketball player.[9] Ersek currently lives in the Denver Metro Area, where Western Union is based.

He is married to Dr. Nayantara Ghosh Ersek, a management consultant and trainer. He has one son who is a current basketball player for the University of Colorado Boulder.