According to the announcements of the Foreign exchange specialists from the Travelex they are going to increase their retail business in China at least in two times next year. The company was the first one that get non-bank foreign exchange license last month from the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Travelex is the biggest foreign exchange provider that possesses its foreign-exchange offices in six Chinese airports.
Previously the company was quite limited in its actions. The transactions made by non-Chinese were limited and it was possible deal only with 16 currencies defined by the Central Bank of the country. Furthermore the company was obliged to transfer and sell foreign currency earnings to local banks.
As for the new license, it enables the company to work in the centers of Chinese cities, and with Chinese nationals with the only restriction – the sum of the transaction limited to $50,000.
Due to the Travelex announcement China became quite long-range territory. The company plans to open 2 offices in the city centers of Shenzhen and Kunming. According to the estimates of the Travelex the foreign exchange market of the China is at $9.7 billion.
In 2001 Travelex purchased Thomas Cook’s financial services arm that contributed to the incredible growth of the company customers (up to 29 million customers a year).