CommBank reinstates FX service

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) will relaunch online foreign exchange (FX) cash services through longstanding partner and established forex provider, Travelex, the pair have announced.

The relaunch of Travelex’s white label service will enable CBA’s more than 11 million retail customers to order more than 30 different currencies online, in cash, for collection across its branch network.

Travelex, one of Australia’s biggest providers of foreign exchange, will supply CBA with more than 30 currencies for online order across its branch network.

The bank had previously suspended its online ordering service for FX; however, its customers were still able to trade currency in-branch.

CBA is now the only big four bank to provide a full suite of foreign exchange cash services, with NAB, Westpac and ANZ closing their forex cash services either prior to or during the early months of the Covid pandemic.

Travelex said the reinstation of CBA’s online travel money service “represents a significant milestone in the recovery of Australia’s retail FX industry, following the Covid-19 pandemic”, with a number of Australian banks suspending or removing foreign exchange services altogether.

“Rather than cash dying, it remains the payment method of choice for more than half of Australians travelling abroad – and we are therefore delighted to be reinstating FX cash services for Australia’s largest bank,” said Travelex’s managing director ANZ, Darren Brown.

He added that the relaunch of the service and resumption of its partnership with CBA, which came as the forex sector suffered a significant downturn during the Covid-19 pandemic, “is a testament to the strength of Travelex’s unrivalled distribution network.”

Demand for travel cash “remains extremely strong”, with a survey by the firm showing that more than half (52%) of Australians who travel still take cash as their main overseas payment method, with under-25s using cash more than any other age group (62%).

The UK-headquartered Travelex, founded in 1976, provides foreign exchange products, solutions, and services, including white-label forex services, across more than 20 countries.