Sainsbury's Boosts Forex Effort Using Travelex Staff

About 500 of Travelex's staff have been transferred to Sainbury's Travel Money, almost doubling the workforce of the supermarket's bank, which is operated in conjunction with Lloyds Banking Group. The switch follows Sainsbury’s Bank finalising a five-year contract with Travelex, which will see it venture into the travel-money market. The staff will work in Sainsbury's foreign exchange bureaux.   As part of the Travelex deal, Sainsbury’s bank will also experiment with new distribution channels, which will involve trialling ATMs that dispense foreign currencies. The first will be installed in Sainsbury’s Tottenham Court Road in London later this month.   The initiative taken by the retailer follows the decision of Tesco to launch a current-account service. Bank chief executive Peter Griffiths said: “Travel money is a key part of our growth strategy and we’re delighted to be able to offer the convenience of competitively priced travel money in our supermarkets.   “Our unique Nectar offering, that rewards the Sainsbury’s customer, has seen around 85 per cent of our travel money customers receive a special rate as well as Nectar points.   “Our new contract with Travelex will enable us to further enhance our offer for the Sainsbury's customer and we're delighted to be welcoming our 500 new bureaux colleagues to the bank.”