Founded in 1976, Travelex’s mission is to simplify our customers’ access to international money, however and whenever. We have grown to become one of the market leading specialist providers of foreign exchange products, solutions and services, operating across the entire value chain of the foreign exchange industry in more than 20 countries.
1970s | Origins
The Travelex story began in December 1976, when our founder Sir Lloyd Dorfman opened the first ever store in central London.
By 1978, four stores had been established across the city of London. The next stage of our growth was unlocked in 1979 with the beginnings of the deregulation of the financial services industry, which saw non-bank retailers able to openly trade foreign currencies for the first time.
1980s | Aviation and ferry industry breakthroughs
In the early 1980s, we expanded into ferry terminals, launching our first on-board ferry service shortly after. By 1984, our first international store opened at Rotterdam terminal in the Netherlands. In 1986, Heathrow’s Terminal 4 introduced a new departure lounge shopping experience, marking our entry as the first non-bank forex retailer at the airport.
1990s | International growth and investment
In the 1990s, Travelex expanded internationally. Having opened in New York’s JFK airport in 1989, in the 1990s we expanded to 50 terminals across 34 other US airports and acquired the forex business of Mutual of Omaha. 1990 also saw us enter the APAC market, launching stores in Brisbane Airport, Australia.
The late 1990s saw significant investments and acquisitions. In acquiring Transpay from Barclays, we initiated international vault operations and launched Travelex Online in the UK – marking our entry into international payments in a changing digital and financial landscape.
2000s | Thomas Cook expansion
In 2001, our £440m acquisition of Thomas Cook Global Financial Services reshaped our business and provided us with a global network of forex stores, travel money operations, and B2B payments, as well as over a century of forex expertise and heritage.
This marked a new era, accompanied by a rebranding with a new logo and tagline, ‘Worldwide Money’. Our expansion continued with stores in Indian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern markets, as well as the acquisition of Dutch firm GWK, our first APAC ATM, and the launch of Travelex’s National Theatre sponsorship in the UK – radically transforming the scale and identity of our business.
2010s | New fintech focus
With a new decade came a new focus. In 2011, we recycled capital from a disposal, unlocking nearly £900 million to invest into new products and services. Over the decade these included;
- Launching our multicurrency prepaid card,
- The acquisition of Brazil’s Group Confience,
- Launching a wholesale business in China,
- Launching the first international payment card without roaming fees,
- Creating the Travelex Money App,
- Developing a bank-to-bank international payments platform, and,
- Adding international money transfer to Samsung Pay.
By the end of 2010, we had fully embraced our fintech proposition and established ourselves as industry innovators.
2019 - 2020 | Navigating the pandemic
By 2020, the impact of the global health pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge to the travel sector and businesses across the industry had to make difficult decisions to ensure they would thrive in the decades to come.
In response to this and other headwinds, Travelex successfully completed a major restructure of the business in August 2020, to provide a new and robust capital and ownership structure. This laid the foundations for a post-COVID-19 world where the travel industry, and trade, are strongly recovering.
2020s | Post-pandemic growth
Rebuilding from the pandemic, Travelex was at the forefront of digital transformation, and we launched several innovative products and services to adapt to the changing needs of our customers. We introduced the ATM Click & Collect service which allows customers to pre-order foreign cash online and collect it from ATMs located across UK airports. We also integrated Apple Pay and Google Wallet to our Travel Money Card to provide a seamless and secure payment experience for customers.
Alongside our digital advancements, we also expanded our retail presence. We launched ‘on the move stores’ designed to be easily relocated to accommodate airport customer flows. We also added an ATM Kiosk at Heathrow which was the first of its kind and offered customers a fully automated foreign exchange service at one of Europe’s busiest airports. In 2023, we opened our first UK retail store at a rail station in Paddington and made strides internationally by launching the Travelex Money Card in Japan.
With the green shoots of a rebounding global market, Travelex has successfully positioned itself as a key player in serving the full range of international money needs across retail, wholesale, and outsourcing networks.
2024 | Travelex today: our journey continues
Today, Travelex is the only global player with the cash and card proposition. We have built an unrivalled distribution network and we operate across the entire foreign exchange value chain serving customers online, in-store, in-app, at home, by delivery, and click & collect.
Since 1976, we have evolved from a single high-street bureau de change to a globally recognised and widely trusted global travel money business. Making travel money work better for our customers is core to our purpose. Today, we’re proud to operate across six continents and offer a unique omnichannel service where a combination of physical cash and digital & app-based products are making travel money safer, more flexible, and more convenient for all global travellers.
We continue our journey to be the most recognised, respected, and reliable international money business for our customers and partners.