Travelex is a foreign exchange company founded by Lloyd Dorfman and headquartered in London. Its main businesses are international payments, bureaux de change, and issuing prepaid credit cards for use by travellers as well as global remittances.[1] It is the world's largest foreign exchange bureau.
History
Travelex was founded by Dorfman, and opened its first branch in central London in 1976.[1]
On 8 November 2000, it bought Thomas Cook's worldwide foreign exchange business for £440m, which significantly expanded its international operations.[2]
In February 2005, buy-out firm Apax Partners bought a majority stake in the company, but Dorfman retained 30% and continued to run the business.[3] Ian Meakins was CEO from 2006 to 2009, before becoming CEO of Ferguson plc (then known as Wolseley plc) .[4]
In early 2010 Travelex disclosed significant losses due to the interest payments on its large debts. It had pulled back from a stock market flotation the year before and said that it was "considering a range of potential financing structures".[5] Later that year it sold its card programme management division to MasterCard for £290 million to help reduce its debts
Travelex sponsored the National Theatre's discounted ticket scheme between 2003 and 2018.[7] In 2010 Lloyd Dorfman gave the theatre £10m, its biggest ever donation. Following redevelopment in 2013, the Cottesloe theatre was renamed the Dorfman theatre.
On 5 July 2011 Travelex sold its Global Business Payments division to Western Union for £606 million.[8]
By 2012, Travelex had a total workforce in excess of 6,500.[citation needed]. By March 2014, Travelex had operations in 27 countries and more than 1,500 stores.[9]
In 2014, Apax Partners sold its majority stake of 51% to UAE-based Indian businessman B. R. Shetty valuing the company at approx £1bn. Shetty also owns UAE Exchange, a UAE-based money transfer business that operates in 32 countries. Shetty, who also owns London-listed NMC Health, was supported in the acquisition by Abu Dhabi-based investment vehicle Centurion.[10] This sale was completed in January 2015.[11] Today Travelex and UAE Exchange form part of Shetty's Finablr.
Cyberattack and ransom demands
On 31 December 2019 Travelex hastily took its UK and international websites and mobile apps offline following a reported cyberattack, [12] an action affecting a number of large third parties to whom Travelex provide a whitelabelled service.[13]
On 7 January 2020 it was revealed that the entire company was being held to ransom by hackers. The hackers demanded payment in exchange for either restoration of IT systems or the preservation of customer data. It was understood that a deadline of 7 days payment was set by the cyber criminals.[14] The company was criticised by security researcher Kevin Beaumont who said, "The public response from Travelex has been shockingly bad."[15]
The criminals had demanded $3 million (£2.3 million) in ransom from Travelex after infecting its network with Sodinokibi ransomware. They claimed to have copied more than 5GB of users' personal data. Travelex had previously been warned that it was running vulnerable Pulse Secure virtual private networking (VPN) servers
History
Travelex was founded by Dorfman, and opened its first branch in central London in 1976.[1]
On 8 November 2000, it bought Thomas Cook's worldwide foreign exchange business for £440m, which significantly expanded its international operations.[2]
In February 2005, buy-out firm Apax Partners bought a majority stake in the company, but Dorfman retained 30% and continued to run the business.[3] Ian Meakins was CEO from 2006 to 2009, before becoming CEO of Ferguson plc (then known as Wolseley plc) .[4]
In early 2010 Travelex disclosed significant losses due to the interest payments on its large debts. It had pulled back from a stock market flotation the year before and said that it was "considering a range of potential financing structures".[5] Later that year it sold its card programme management division to MasterCard for £290 million to help reduce its debts
Travelex sponsored the National Theatre's discounted ticket scheme between 2003 and 2018.[7] In 2010 Lloyd Dorfman gave the theatre £10m, its biggest ever donation. Following redevelopment in 2013, the Cottesloe theatre was renamed the Dorfman theatre.
On 5 July 2011 Travelex sold its Global Business Payments division to Western Union for £606 million.[8]
By 2012, Travelex had a total workforce in excess of 6,500.[citation needed]. By March 2014, Travelex had operations in 27 countries and more than 1,500 stores.[9]
In 2014, Apax Partners sold its majority stake of 51% to UAE-based Indian businessman B. R. Shetty valuing the company at approx £1bn. Shetty also owns UAE Exchange, a UAE-based money transfer business that operates in 32 countries. Shetty, who also owns London-listed NMC Health, was supported in the acquisition by Abu Dhabi-based investment vehicle Centurion.[10] This sale was completed in January 2015.[11] Today Travelex and UAE Exchange form part of Shetty's Finablr.
Cyberattack and ransom demands
On 31 December 2019 Travelex hastily took its UK and international websites and mobile apps offline following a reported cyberattack, [12] an action affecting a number of large third parties to whom Travelex provide a whitelabelled service.[13]
On 7 January 2020 it was revealed that the entire company was being held to ransom by hackers. The hackers demanded payment in exchange for either restoration of IT systems or the preservation of customer data. It was understood that a deadline of 7 days payment was set by the cyber criminals.[14] The company was criticised by security researcher Kevin Beaumont who said, "The public response from Travelex has been shockingly bad."[15]
The criminals had demanded $3 million (£2.3 million) in ransom from Travelex after infecting its network with Sodinokibi ransomware. They claimed to have copied more than 5GB of users' personal data. Travelex had previously been warned that it was running vulnerable Pulse Secure virtual private networking (VPN) servers
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