(6 March 2006 – Australia) American Express has launched a new service that alerts businesses by SMS or email of exchange rates for nominated currencies.AmEx said businesses could selected the currency, amount, date range and the desired exchange rate they would like monitored through its International Payment system and be alerted by email or SMS.
“Rate Alerts will allow our customers to focus on their core business rather than trying to put aside the time to keep an eye on exchange rate movements themselves,” American Express head of Foreign Exchange International Payments Stuart Walker said.
“A detrimental movement in exchange rates between the time of the supply agreement and trading itself can and does leave some businesses exposed, often for thousands of dollars. This new system will do the work for businesses to help ensure the purchase is made at the best possible time for the business’s bottom line,” he said.
AmEx said customers could also limit their exposure to detrimental market movements by purchasing Forward Contracts online, which allows them to view online the remaining balances of open forwards and drawdowns.