TRAVELEX LAUNCHES ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION CAMPAIGN FEATURING SPORTS LEGEND JOHN McENROE

Multi-Faceted Campaign Designed to Build Brand Awareness for Foreign Exchange Specialist Travelex in the Americas

New York, NY—August 24, 2005—Travelex, the world’s foreign exchange company, today launched its first U.S.-focused integrated advertising and promotion campaign, featuring renowned tennis champion and Travelex brand ambassador John McEnroe.

The multi-million dollar, multi-year campaign, created by the New York office of global advertising firm M & C Saatchi, will kick off today in conjunction with this year’s U.S. Open Tennis Championship, being held in New York City from August 29 to September 11. Half-page advertisements will run in major publications including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Financial Times. The campaign will ultimately feature a comprehensive mix of print, online, outdoor and direct-mail promotion, with the potential for television and video opportunities. It represents a concerted and far-reaching effort to promote the Travelex brand and its leading service offerings to customers, principally in the commercial foreign exchange sector.

Larry Taylor, CEO of Travelex Americas, said: “We’re thrilled to be launching this advertising campaign featuring John McEnroe in the U.S., underscoring our commitment to actively growing our brand awareness in the Americas. John’s approach to winning on and off the court through hard work, determination and an unwavering commitment to excellence are key traits that embody Travelex’s approach to delivering valuable products and services to our customers. With this campaign, we’re looking forward to telling our unique story through this dynamic partnership.”

Travelex’s relationship with McEnroe is part of Travelex’s ongoing brand ambassador program, which saw vice captain of the Australian Cricket team Adam Gilchrist appointed in 2001 and England rugby international and Great Britain and Ireland Lions tour member Jonny Wilkinson appointed in May of this year. Travelex is also the current overseas sponsor and international touring partner of the champion Australian cricket team.

John McEnroe commented: “Every real champion has a winning strategy for being the best in their field, and Travelex is no exception. While their specialization and commitment to offering the best service sets the company apart, it’s time to showcase that on a larger scale. With this campaign, I’m excited to be a part of the game plan to raise the overall awareness of Travelex and its unique offering.”

Jenifer Willig, Managing Director of M & C Saatchi, said: “When comparing Travelex and John McEnroe we found there were striking similarities. They each started in the mid 70's, are fiercely competitive, and became highly successful on a world stage. The campaign leverages these commonalities to bring the two seemingly disparate parties together and create a natural platform for John to speak on Travelex’s behalf.”

The creative will explore the global tennis icon’s varied personal dimensions, including that of tennis champion, expert commentator, art collector and world traveler. As part of the campaign, Travelex retail locations will feature McEnroe imagery and McEnroe himself will participate in a series of activities, including client hospitality and an exclusive Travelex press event to be held in Manhattan tonight.

The goal of the campaign is to raise Travelex’s profile in the Americas, comprised of the United States, Canada and Latin America, which is a significant growth market for the company. Travelex is particularly focused on broadening its reach in the commercial foreign exchange services arena, which includes international payments and management of foreign exchange risk. Already an established provider of commercial and retail foreign exchange services in the region, Travelex is committing substantial resources in its effort to maximize its presence in the Americas, by investing in additional infrastructure and creating innovative partnerships to better serve existing and new customers.

For further information on tonight’s press event contact Nevin Reilly or Alex Kirkman, Sloane & Company, 212-486-9500.

About Travelex

Travelex is the world’s largest foreign exchange specialist, with offices in 35 countries, nearly 700 retail branches and 16,000 commercial customers. The company’s retail branches are located at key airport, seaport and rail locations, in addition to worldwide tourist and business centers. Nearly 40 percent of the world’s airline passengers, over 1.3 billion people, pass through airports at which Travelex’s business operates. This includes the major gateways at London, New York, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and Sydney. Travelex operates two North American foreign exchange trading floors – located in Toronto and New York City. The company has strategic partnerships with leading global organizations including: American Automobile Association (AAA), British Airways, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank and The Bank of New York. Travelex is the world’s largest non-bank provider of Commercial Foreign Exchange services, one of the world’s leading providers of outsourced travel money and one of the world’s oldest issuers of Travelers Cheques. In North America, Travelex is also a leading provider of travel insurance products and services.

About M & C Saatchi

M & C Saatchi is one of the largest independent communications networks. The agency has 18 offices around the world including global clients Travelex, British Airways and Royal Bank of Scotland out of the New York office. Maurice and brother Charles began Saatchi & Saatchi in 1974 and it soon became one of the largest agencies in the world. In late 1994, the brothers Saatchi split from the agency that bears their name and founded M&C Saatchi a few months later. The agency has set up distinct positioning in the NY and LA markets as an independent established start-up since its launch, handling the work for British Airways, The Financial Times and other prestigious accounts in North America. For more information, go to www.mcsaatchi.com

CONTACTS:
Sloane & Company
212-486-9500
Nevin Reilly, nreilly@sloanepr.com
Alex Kirkman, akirkman@sloanepr.com