Hays Travel poised to pilot in-house built Foreign Exchange system

Transaction Processing System was developed on the back of staff suggestions to cut costs

Hays Travel is to pilot a bespoke foreign exchange system with a view to rolling it out to its 450 high-street shops and its Independence Group members.

The group has spent the last 12 months developing the new inhouse system, called Transaction Processing System (TPS), after the idea was suggested by staff during the pandemic as a way to cut costs.

Hays has now served notice on its previous foreign exchange technology provider, which had supplied the system used in it shops for the last 18 years.

Chief operating officer Jonathon Woodall-Johnston said: “We’ve not done this because we don’t like the system we had but because we were able to develop our own system, which is a significant saving for us.”

The system will be trialled in April with a view to being rolled out in May and June.

“By the end of June we will aim to have all of our retail estate on it, selling foreign exchange, and there is an opportunity for IG members to use it too. We do all the licensing and provide them with the business tools to do foreign exchange. We see it as another revenue stream,” he added.

The forex move follows Hays’ partnership with Mastercard to launch its own money card in 2020 for customers to purchase at its shops. This is set to be rolled out to IG members by the end of the year. It works with 16 different currencies and holidaymakers can use the card in ATMs abroad and top up funds via an app.