Sir Lloyd Marshall Dorfman CVO CBE (born 25 August 1952) is a British entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded Travelex (today part of Finablr), the world's largest retailer of foreign exchange.
According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2020, Dorfman is worth £720 million.
Early life and education
Dorfman's family were Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe who came to London before The Great War. He was educated at St Paul's. He did not attend university.
Career
In 1976, Dorfman started his own currency exchange business from one small shop based in Southampton Row in central London. The company spread to ports overseas, initially in the Netherlands and Belgium. In 1986, Dorfman won Travelex a landmark contract as the first non-bank foreign exchange provider at the newly opened Heathrow Terminal 4. The company expanded into airports worldwide, opening in the USA in 1989 shortly followed by Australia in 1990.
The £440m acquisition of Thomas Cook's Global & Financial Services business in March 2001 made Travelex the world's largest non-bank foreign exchange business. Dorfman began to develop the presence of the company in Asia, starting with Japan and spreading to India in 2003 and China in 2004.
Travelex sold its card programme management business to MasterCard for £290 million in 2011, and then its Global Business Payments to Western Union for £606 million. In 2014, an agreement was reached to sell Travelex to shareholders in Abu Dhabi; Dorfman however still retains a 5% shareholding.
Travelex pioneered sponsorship deals including Travelex Cheap Ticket Season at the National Theatre, as well as sponsoring the winning World Cup teams for Australian Cricket in 2003 and England Rugby the same year.