Beginning April 26, 2004, the service will be available at most Union Bank branches in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties. The Union Bank branches located inside grocery stores in the same counties will offer MoneyGram shortly thereafter. The service will be available in all of Union Bank's branches in California by the end of the summer.

"Remittances from the United States to Mexico and other Latin American countries totaled more than $34 billion in 2002," said Richard C. Hartnack, vice chairman and head of community banking and investment services at Union Bank. "That figure continues to rise, indicating that there is growing demand for this type of financial service. The MoneyGram service provides customers an affordable, reliable and convenient way to send money."

MoneyGram's services are available in more than 160 countries with more than 60,000 locations in all seven continents. MoneyGram is available in every state in Mexico with more than 5,800 "receive" outlets including Bancomer, Banorte, Wal-Mart, Gigante and Soriana. There are more than 3,200 MoneyGram outlets in Central and South America.

"We've seen exponential growth in remittances over the last two years from Los Angeles to Mexico and Central America; 50 percent and 55 percent, respectively," said Phil Milne, chief executive officer of Travelers Express Company, Inc. "By joining an established and respected bank such as Union Bank of California, we hope to capitalize on this rapidly growing sector of the financial services industry."