Foreign exchange specialist Travelex says that it plans to double the size of its retail business in China next year.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last month granted China's first non-bank foreign exchange licence to the British company.

Travelex, the world's largest foreign exchange operator, has bureaux de change at six Chinese airports.

The previous licence was highly restrictive, limiting transactions to non-Chinese, allowing it to deal in only 16 currencies as dictated by the Bank of China, and forcing it to transfer and sell foreign-currency earnings to banks.

Under the new Travelex licence, the company can operate in city centres and deal with Chinese nationals in sums of up to $50,000 (£26,900) per person a year.

Travelex says that China will become “a key territory for strategic growth”. It has two city-centre office openings planned for Shenzhen in southern China and Kunming in the south-west by December.

Travelex estimates China's foreign exchange market, which is dominated by the national banks, at $9.7 billion (£5.5 billion).

In 2001, Travelex bought Thomas Cook's financial services arm which in effect trebled the size of the firm that serves 29 million customers a year.