We started by supplying other currency exchanges
It is where the notes behind our counter come from, and why we can usually get you the note sizes you ask for.
Other currency exchanges are our customers too
Currency Wise started as a wholesale bulk-currency business, supplying financial institutions, other currency exchange services and businesses that move large amounts of cash. Notes by the bundle rather than the handful. That side of the business still runs, and it is what the counter upstairs is stocked out of.
Supplying at that scale means buying in volume, counting and checking every note that passes through, and moving cash securely between sites. It also means holding a wider spread of denominations than a single retail counter would normally carry, because a wholesale client ordering US dollars cares a great deal whether they arrive as hundreds or as twenties.
The counter upstairs runs off the same stock
The retail counter came later. It is the store on Level 2, and it is open to anyone who walks up to it during trading hours - no appointment, no booking. Most people are either buying cash before a trip or bringing back what they did not spend.
Both sides run off the same stock and the same people. So when you come up for one of the 22 currencies we deal in, you are buying from a business that also fills orders for other exchanges. That is why we can usually offer you a choice of note sizes, and why the person serving you can tell you which ones are worth carrying where you are going.
