Travelexis to ramp up its presence in China with the travel money services group set to become the first non-Chinese company to receive a foreign exchange licence covering the whole country.
The world’s biggest operator of airport foreign exchange shops, majority owned by private equity group Apax, has been present in China since 2004 when it obtained the first of several regional licences to provide foreign exchange to non-Chinese and then Chinese citizens.
But the award of a national licence will reduce the red tape involved and allow them to open outlets around the country more easily, tapping into its burgeoning forex market as a growing Chinese middle class spends its disposable income on leisure travel.