STOCKHOLM—Sweden’s FOREX Bank, the leading foreign currency exchange firm in Scandinavia, is making preparations for the nation’s possible transition to the euro.
But first, it must shed its history and heritage as a foreign exchange trader.
In Stockholm’s central train station, there was once a barbershop which discovered that a lot of customers wanted to exchange their Swedish money for foreign currency when going abroad. The barbershop doubled as a currency exchange office. In 1965, a man named Rolf Friberg bought the business, and began business as FOREX, the foreign exchange bank.
Due to the Swedes’ propensity for traveling, and helped by the fact that traditional banks in Sweden largely stopped handling currency exchange outside of the euro and U.S. dollar, FOREX thrived. Today, the company handles some 80 currencies and is the Scandinavian leader in the currency exchange market. FOREX has offices in all of the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland), as well as in Iceland and the U.K.
In 2003, the same year that Sweden rejected adopting the euro, FOREX received its license to operate as a bank. When many major banks abandoned physical cash-handling for electronic fund transfer, FOREX Bank moved right in. Many people still prefer to pay their bills over a counter and don’t trust the Internet enough. As such, the company had great potential for growth.
With more than 10 million customers, FOREX now markets its banking services to foreign exchange customers.
“Bank loans take longer to process than currency exchange, and we don’t want people to be waiting too long”, FOREX Chairman Rolf Friberg said in an interview.
The Swedish prime minister has said that Sweden will not change its currency until there is sufficient public support for the euro. If and when this happens, FOREX could lose 40 to 50 percent of its revenues on lost foreign exchange business, and in addition, face tremendous risks in banking due to the current credit market environment.
“With this in mind, we don’t dare to develop the banking further right now, that is, making room for more bank customers,” Friberg said. “Of course, we don’t turn bank customers down. We are considering how to deal with this at the moment, whether we should receive them during specific hours, or how to tackle this problem.”
“FOREX is well established as a place for currency exchange, and most people are satisfied with this”, he added, indicating that the banking business has not really taken off yet.
Apart from their customer-centered business strategy, FOREX Bank has also made a point of hiring a diverse employee base. In the company today, there are employees originating from 51 different nations, with 30 different languages represented. Friberg believes that it is crucial to have staff that can communicate with people from different cultures, as Sweden has a lot of immigrants.
Friberg, in addition to his position as Chairman, is also the Swedish consul in Côte d'Ivoire.
“I’ve come to not really see much difference between Sweden and the rest of the world. We are all citizens of the world, I feel.”
But first, it must shed its history and heritage as a foreign exchange trader.
In Stockholm’s central train station, there was once a barbershop which discovered that a lot of customers wanted to exchange their Swedish money for foreign currency when going abroad. The barbershop doubled as a currency exchange office. In 1965, a man named Rolf Friberg bought the business, and began business as FOREX, the foreign exchange bank.
Due to the Swedes’ propensity for traveling, and helped by the fact that traditional banks in Sweden largely stopped handling currency exchange outside of the euro and U.S. dollar, FOREX thrived. Today, the company handles some 80 currencies and is the Scandinavian leader in the currency exchange market. FOREX has offices in all of the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland), as well as in Iceland and the U.K.
In 2003, the same year that Sweden rejected adopting the euro, FOREX received its license to operate as a bank. When many major banks abandoned physical cash-handling for electronic fund transfer, FOREX Bank moved right in. Many people still prefer to pay their bills over a counter and don’t trust the Internet enough. As such, the company had great potential for growth.
With more than 10 million customers, FOREX now markets its banking services to foreign exchange customers.
“Bank loans take longer to process than currency exchange, and we don’t want people to be waiting too long”, FOREX Chairman Rolf Friberg said in an interview.
The Swedish prime minister has said that Sweden will not change its currency until there is sufficient public support for the euro. If and when this happens, FOREX could lose 40 to 50 percent of its revenues on lost foreign exchange business, and in addition, face tremendous risks in banking due to the current credit market environment.
“With this in mind, we don’t dare to develop the banking further right now, that is, making room for more bank customers,” Friberg said. “Of course, we don’t turn bank customers down. We are considering how to deal with this at the moment, whether we should receive them during specific hours, or how to tackle this problem.”
“FOREX is well established as a place for currency exchange, and most people are satisfied with this”, he added, indicating that the banking business has not really taken off yet.
Apart from their customer-centered business strategy, FOREX Bank has also made a point of hiring a diverse employee base. In the company today, there are employees originating from 51 different nations, with 30 different languages represented. Friberg believes that it is crucial to have staff that can communicate with people from different cultures, as Sweden has a lot of immigrants.
Friberg, in addition to his position as Chairman, is also the Swedish consul in Côte d'Ivoire.
“I’ve come to not really see much difference between Sweden and the rest of the world. We are all citizens of the world, I feel.”
