Travelex Partnership

Standard Chartered PLC
28 April 2005



    TO CITY EDITORS

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


               Standard Chartered announces partnership with Travelex

       International bank takes stake in Travelex, plans business cooperation


    Thursday, 28 April 2005, London - Standard Chartered and Travelex Group
    announced today that Standard Chartered will acquire a minority stake in
    Travelex.

    On 25 February 2005, a consortium led by funds advised by Apax Partners
    signed an agreement to acquire a majority shareholding in Travelex, the
    world's largest non-bank foreign exchange specialist. Standard Chartered
    will join this consortium, acquiring six per cent of Travelex. It will be
    represented on the Board of the ultimate holding company.


    Commenting on the transaction, Mervyn Davies, Group Chief Executive of
    Standard Chartered said, 'This is a great business opportunity to support
    the organic growth of our franchise. We have identified a number of
    synergies in products and channels that will enable us to achieve growth in
    our foreign exchange and SME businesses, while expanding the Travelex
    product range in our markets.


    'Working with Travelex is another step in our drive to deliver to our
    customers an unbeatable selection of products and services.'


    Standard Chartered provides a wide range of Consumer and Wholesale Banking
    financial products and services. A leader in its markets of Asia, Africa and
    the Middle East, the Group has identified opportunities to cooperate with
    Travelex on SME and retail foreign exchange products in Asia, and on SME
    business and trade products in the Middle East.


    The cooperation between Standard Chartered and Travelex would pair two
    strong brands with complementary products and services. The companies are
    looking at joint provision of foreign exchange services, and the provision
    of Standard Chartered's banking services to Travelex clients. Both are also
    excited by the possibilities of new distribution networks and the
    opportunities for trade and payments.


    Lloyd Dorfman, Chairman and Chief Executive of Travelex, said: 'We are
    delighted with today's announcement. We are looking to accelerate our
    organic growth and geographical expansion. I believe that there are
    significant opportunities to grow Travelex's business in Asia, Africa, and
    the Middle East. These are regions where Standard Chartered has a strong
    network, and we are very excited to have them partnering us as we explore
    ways to leverage our complementary skills in these markets.'


    Travelex is the world's largest non-bank foreign exchange specialist and is
    a global brand. The Travelex Group has offices in 35 countries and corporate
    relationships in 110 countries, and serves over 29 million customers each
    year.


    Stephen Green and Stephan Wilcke who together led the deal for Apax Partners
    said: 'Standard Chartered as a strategic partner will bring tremendous value
    to this investment in Travelex's highest growth region. Apax Partners' funds
    have a successful track record of investing together with strategic partners
    to benefit our portfolio companies.'


    Apax Partners plan to close the transaction in summer 2005.



    Standard Chartered - leading the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East

    Following the acquisition of Korea First Bank, Standard Chartered now
    employs 38,000 people in 950 locations in more than 50 countries in the Asia
    Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom and
    the Americas. Standard Chartered is one of the world's most international
    banks, with employees representing 80 nationalities.

    Standard Chartered PLC is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the
    Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and is in the top 25 FTSE-100 companies, by
    market capitalisation.

    It serves both Consumer and Wholesale Banking customers. Consumer Banking
    provides credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, deposit taking and wealth
    management services to individuals and small to medium sized enterprises.
    Wholesale Banking provides corporate and institutional clients with services
    in trade finance, cash management, lending, securities services, foreign
    exchange, debt capital markets and corporate finance.


    Standard Chartered is well-established in growth markets and aims to be the
    right partner for its customers. The Bank combines deep local knowledge with
    global capability.

    The Bank is trusted across its network for its standard of governance and
    its commitment to making a difference in the communities in which it
    operates.

    For further information, please visit www.standardchartered.com, or contact


    Standard Chartered, Group Corporate Affairs

    Paul Marriage, Head Corporate Communications

    Tel [phone]     Mobile [phone]

    [e-mail]


    Cindy Tang, Head, Media Relations

    Tel [phone]     Mobile [phone]

    [e-mail]

About Travelex


Travelex is the world's largest foreign exchange specialist with over 700 retail
branches and 16,000 business customers. The Group was founded in 1976 by
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lloyd Dorfman, and now serves over 29
million customers a year. The audited net assets for Travelex Holdings Limited
at 31 December 2004 was GBP85.2 million.

Retail Services
40% of the world's airline passengers now pass through airports at which
Travelex operates including the major gateways at London, New York, Hong Kong,
Frankfurt and Sydney.

Travelex is the world's oldest issuer of Travellers' Cheques and now issues more
Visa and MasterCard branded Travellers' Cheques than any other company. Other
retail services and products range from prepaid cards and money transfer to call
centre services and travel insurance (US only).

Corporate Services
Travelex is the world's largest non-bank provider of commercial foreign
exchange, providing foreign exchange dealing, payments & collection services and
risk solutions to over 16,000 international companies and financial
institutions.

The Group is the leading global provider of outsourced travel money to banks,
travel agencies and other financial institutions.


For further information, please contact


Anthony Wagerman      John Antcliffe

Head of Group Marketing & Communications      Smithfield Group

Tel: [phone]      Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]      Mob: [phone]

[e-mail]      [e-mail]

About Apax Partners


Apax Partners is one of the world's leading private equity investment groups,
operating across Europe, Israel and the United States.  With over 30 years of
direct investing experience, Apax Partners' funds provide long-term equity
financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. It pursues a balanced
equity portfolio strategy, investing in late venture, growth capital and
buy-outs.


Apax Partners' funds invest in companies across its 6 chosen global sectors of
information technology, telecommunications, healthcare, media, financial/
business services, and retail and consumer. Some of Apax Partners' funds other
financial services investments include Global Refund, Azimut, MoneyBox, Picture
Financial and Independer.


For additional information, see: www.apax.com


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange