Travelex Cash Passport Foreign Currency Prepaid Card

"Foreign currency prepaid cards make sense for financial institutions and other currency sales outlets. More than 10 million trips are made to the UK and Europe by Americans every year and 84% of them are prepared to buy pre-trip foreign currency from a bank," said Christopher Russell, Travelex's Executive Vice President of Outsourcing, Americas. "Travelex has 700 locations worldwide and provides an unbeatable level of global support for Cash Passport and for all our offerings."

A recent study, conducted by YouGov plc on behalf of Travelex, shows that demand for this new product is already established with 43% of recent travelers likely to use a Cash Passport in the future. For respondents the security of PIN and signature protection (37%) and convenience of ATM withdrawals (32%) were the most important features. When considering foreign exchange purchases most US respondents, 37%, were looking for a competitive exchange rate that the new Euro and British Pound cards provide alongside the ability to lock-in those rates.

In the same study, 66% of US respondents did not exchange their currency before they left for their last destination, compared to 29% from Australia and 15% from the United Kingdom samplings, indicating huge demand development potential in the US market.

Travelex is the largest distributor of prepaid travel cards in the world. The Travelex Cash Passport will be available at local banks, travel agencies and Travelex retail locations in North America in the second quarter of 2008. Cash Passport will be available in Pound Sterling or Euros and the card is re-loadable up to 24 times.

Cash Passport can be used to withdraw money from ATMs or be used to directly purchase goods and services anywhere MasterCard is accepted around the world. The card also comes with certain protections that should the card be lost or stolen the balance is protected and can be replaced either with emergency cash or loaded onto a new currency card.