The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Fexco take 10% of UK market
FEXCO have announced the acquisition of the UK’s original and longest established specialist retail foreign exchange operator, Changelink.
Founded in 1978, Changelink was the first non bank foreign exchange provider in the UK.
The takeover of Changelink is the Killorglin based financial services firm’s seventh acquisition in the UK since 2012.
During that period FEXCO has grown its share of the UK market from zero to close to 10 per cent employing over 400 people and serving the Travel Money requirement of over three million customers to a value of almost €2 billion through its UK and Ireland wide network of 110 branches.
“We are very pleased to have bought a business with the track record of Changelink, which was the UK’s first non-bank provider of retail foreign exchange services,” said Managing Director of Fexco’s Retail Foreign Exchange Division Joe Redmond.
“This acquisition is indicative of our strong belief that cash will continue to play an important part in British travellers’ foreign exchange needs, and we continue to look for further acquisition to grow our UK business,” Mr Redmond said.
“As bank charges associated with using debit and credit cards increase, and fraud levels rise, customers are increasingly seeing benefits in the convenience, reliability, security, anonymity and value that foreign cash provides,” said Mr Redmond.
“This explains why our transactions and revenues are growing exponentially every year, and why there are more banknotes in circulation today than ever before,” Mr Redmond said.
“The assertion that everyone is migrating to cards or mobile-based payments is not being demonstrated in our customers’ behaviour,” he said.
Fexco said it remains on the lookout for appropriate value based acquisitions and the company plans to expand its highly successful UK retail and online model into new international markets.