LONDON, October 25, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Travelex Global Business Payments, a leading provider of international payments and foreign exchange solutions, today launched a new payment service, GEO for Financial Institutions.

GEO has been developed specifically for Financial Institutions so they can capitalize on the growing customer demand for cross border payments. It offers a scalable, secure and flexible platform that simplifies global payments and increases profitability by enabling the customers of these Financial Institutions unique access to Travelex's powerful global payments network.

Designed to support branch networks and direct online channels, GEO can be used as a complete outsourced payment solution, avoiding the need for banks to invest in costly in-house development. It also eliminates the need to establish their own correspondent banking networks.

This highly flexible solution has been designed to ensure that the technology implementation can be completed within a matter of weeks. The online platform can also be white labelled and offered directly to bank's end customers, or existing online platforms can connect directly to the GEO functionality through our proven real-time web service interface.

GEO offers connectivity through SWIFT as well as access to Travelex's global payments network with domestic clearing in over 40 countries. This includes unique access to emerging payment networks such as 'Faster Payments', where international users of the GEO platform can now conduct near real-time payments to beneficiaries in the UK.

David Sear, Managing Director, Travelex Global Business Payments commented, GEO is the first of its kind, a purpose built cross border payments platform for Financial Institutions. It provides a seamless and intuitive global payments network and is the first to utilise cloud technology. Now, Financial Institutions can take advantage of this global, scalable infrastructure to open up new revenue streams and dramatically improve service levels for their customers.

Travelex has partnered with Rakuten, Japan's leading online marketplace and one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world to provide an international payments platform for its bank customers in Japan. By integrating their online system with Travelex's GEO payment platform which is white labelled, Rakuten has been able to offer its customers all the benefits of the GEO network within their own banking environment.

Mr. Akhito Nohara, Executive Vice President of Rakuten Bank commented, We are delighted to offer our customers the ability to make international payments through our banking platform, utilising Travelex's GEO for Financial Institutions solution. This will provide our customers with more variety of services, an exceptional experience and enable Rakuten to expand its client base into new regions.

Travelex and Rakuten will be showcasing this new service at stand number A319 during Sibos 2010 from 25th October 2010.

About Travelex Global Business Payments

Travelex is a global foreign exchange specialist providing the payment and receipt of domestic and international funds for businesses of all sizes. For more than 30 years, Travelex has provided clients with sophisticated market knowledge, leading edge technologies and practical and innovative solutions tailored to individual requirements.

Every year, Travelex processes payments around the world for over 35,000 businesses to one million beneficiaries.

For more information, visit http://www.travelexbusiness.com/na. In the United States, services are provided by Travelex Global Business Payments, Inc. or Travelex Currency Services, Inc. In Canada, services are provided by Travelex Canada Limited.

Media Contacts Caroline Parker / Rob Arnott FD +44(0)20-7269-7295 / +44(0)20-3077-0404 Caroline.Parker@fd.com / Rob.Arnott@fd.com

SOURCE: Travelex Global Business Payments

CONTACT: Media Contacts: Caroline Parker / Rob Arnott, FD,+44(0)20-7269-7295 / +44(0)20-3077-0404, Caroline.Parker@fd.com /Rob.Arnott@fd.com