Travelex signs 50 Canadian wholesale customers in year one

Travelex has signed more than 50 wholesale customers in Canada in its first year of trading, building a customer base of foreign exchange operators and money services businesses across three provinces.

The company launched its Canadian wholesale operation in October 2025 and has since added customers in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. In that time, it traded 56 currencies and offered access to about 80 through its wider network.

The expansion gives Travelex a larger foothold in a market where demand has been driven by outbound travel from Canada, including holiday travel and trips by expatriate communities. Stronger inbound travel to Canada during 2026 also created more business in both buying and selling foreign currency.

It has also built relationships with liquidity and currency supply partners, including Bank of America and Scotiabank. Alongside those arrangements, Travelex has used its international supply network to source currencies from markets including the UK, Singapore and the UAE.

Davish Bucktowar, Wholesale Trading Director at Travelex, outlined the company's view of its early progress in the market.

"Welcoming more than 50 customers in our first year demonstrates both the strength of demand and the significant potential of Canada's wholesale foreign exchange market.

"Our success has been built on combining strong local relationships with the scale, expertise and supply capabilities of Travelex's global network. This allows us to give customers access to a broad range of currencies, backed by the service and reliability they expect from a leading wholesale partner," Bucktowar said.

Next phase

Travelex is now introducing TravelNet, a self-service ordering platform for customers in Canada. The system will sit alongside existing dealing channels such as phone and email and is intended to give customers more direct control over foreign currency ordering and pricing.

The rollout reflects a broader push to digitise parts of the wholesale ordering process at a time when financial services firms are under pressure to simplify routine transactions. Travelex is using the platform as it seeks to widen its reach beyond money services businesses.

The company is targeting further expansion among MSBs, credit unions, financial institutions and banknote wholesale customers across Canada. That suggests the next stage of growth will depend not only on travel-related demand, but also on persuading more institutional customers to move part of their foreign banknote ordering onto the platform.

"We are excited to continue growing our MSB customer base while building new relationships with credit unions, financial institutions and banknote wholesale customers across the country.

"TravelNet will be an important part of that growth, giving our partners greater control over their ordering while we continue to invest in our supply chain and expand the services we can offer," Bucktowar said.

Customer response

One early user of the system is Currency Mart. Claire Shen, Manager at Currency Mart Inc., described its effect on day-to-day work.

"TravelNet has made managing our foreign currency requirements significantly easier. The platform is intuitive, convenient and simple to use, allowing our team to place orders quickly and efficiently. Having real-time access to rates and a streamlined ordering process has improved our day-to-day operations and enhanced the overall customer experience. TravelNet has become a valuable tool for our business, and we appreciate the reliability and support provided by the Travelex team," Shen said.

Travelex operates in more than 20 countries across retail foreign exchange, online and mobile services, wholesale banknote distribution and money transfer products. Its Canadian wholesale business remains relatively new, but the first-year figures show it moving quickly to establish local relationships while relying on a wider international supply chain to meet currency demand.

In its first year in Canada, the business traded 56 currencies while giving customers access to around 80 through its global network.