{{Short description|UK foreign exchange company}} {{Infobox company | name = ChangeGroup | logo = ChangeGroup Logo.png | type = Private | founded = 1992 | hq_location = London, United Kingdom | key_people = Sacha Zackariya, CEO | num_employees = 600{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} | industry = Foreign Exchange | parent = Prosegur Cash, S.A. | website = {{url|uk.changegroup.com}} }}
'''ChangeGroup''' is a private firm headquarted in the United Kingdom specializing in currency exchange and other financial services. The company has more than 120 branches in airports, seaports and city centres globally, as well as an online currency exchange service. In 2014 it rolled out dynamic currency conversion (DCC) enabled and foreign currency dispensing ATMs.
==History==
ChangeGroup was started by Zackariya-Marikar with Bette Zackariya and Sacha Zackariya in 1992 from a bureau in London Regent Street. Sacha Zackariya, Zackariya-Marikar's son, later took over as CEO.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://corp.changegroup.com/about-us/board-of-directors|title=Board of Directors|website=ChangeGroup|access-date=2026-05-25}} </ref> The company was originally funded by private equity from 3i Plc, but their stake was bought out in 2005.
In 2002, the company acquired the Estonian Monex network from Hansa Bank.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}
The Group was given the Queens Award for Enterprise in 2006.<ref name = "company website">{{cite web|url=https://corp.changegroup.com/about-us/our-company|title = Our Company|website = ChangeGroup}}</ref> The profit for the year, after taxation, amounted to £1,988,000 (2016: restated £1,347,000).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/02715181/filing-history|title=audited The Change Group International Plc, Annual Report Statements, Y/E 2017|last=Thornton|first=Grant|date=2018|website=Companies House}}</ref>
In 2022, the Change Group was acquired by the Spanish cash services company Prosegur Cash SA <ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-09 |title=Prosegur Cash compra la británica ChangeGroup |url=https://www.expansion.com/empresas/2022/10/10/63432cb5468aebb8668b457e.html |access-date=2024-12-16 |website= |language=es}}</ref>
In April 2023, Kogan Page published a book “Leading Travel and Tourism Retail”, written by Sacha Alexander Zackariya about his experiences as CEO of ChangeGroup, with interviews from 40 travel and tourism leaders including prime ministers and CEOs of WTTC, Gatwick Airport, LVMH, Harrods and CHANEL.<ref name = "ceo book"> {{cite book |last=Zackariya |first=Sacha |date=2023-04-03 |title=Leading Travel and Tourism Retail: How Businesses Can Sustainably Capture New Profits in Shopping Tourism |publisher=Kogan Page |location=London |isbn=9781398609501 |page=}}</ref>
Today, the Change Group serves approximately 5 million customers annually across Europe, the USA, and Australia, with employees of more than 80 nationalities.<ref name ="company website"></ref> The company has concluded over 18 M&A transactions over the last 25 years.<ref name = "ceo book"> </ref>
==Reviews== A report by the ''Sunday Times'' found that ChangeGroup offered the best online exchange rates on euros in a particular week of July 2011.<ref>{{cite news |last=Charles |first=James |date=10 July 2011 |title=Save £600 before you go on holiday |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/advice/save-pound600-before-you-go-on-holiday-fqw6tkbt08r |work=Sunday Times}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:ChangeGroup}} Category:Private equity portfolio companies Category:Foreign exchange companies Category:Companies based in the London Borough of Camden Category:Financial services companies established in 1992 Category:Financial services companies of the United Kingdom Category:British companies established in 1992 Category:Foreign exchange market Category:Multinational companies