American Express, which has a long-standing agency arrangement with Australia Post for the sale for foreign currency, travellers cheques and travel cards, is now putting its own staff into Australia Post outlets to operate standalone Amex service counters.The first of the new Amex kiosks opened in the Brisbane GPO yesterday and the company plans to open 200 kiosks over the next two years.Travel money services are booming as increasing numbers of Australians holiday overseas, on the back of the strong dollar. Financial institutions have reported increases of as much as 40 per cent in the sale of travel cards over the past year.Last year, Amex launched its Global Travel Card, a rival to the Travelex Cash Passport and other similar cards offered by banks. Its card is distinctive for having no expiry date and no inactivity fee.One of the changes that will result from Amex's move to have its own staff operate the sales counters in post offices is that customers will get "instant fulfilment". Under the current agency arrangement, customers order their travel money products and come back a few days later to pick them up. Now they will get their currency, cheques or card without any delay."Customers feel inconvenienced if they have to come back to pick up their travel money," said Nick Dinopoulos, the head of foreign exchange services at American Express.There is no commission when any of Amex's products are purchased through post offices and that will continue under the new arrangement.Australia Post is aiming to market its stores as one-stop travel shops. In addition to the Amex deal, it announced the launch of a travel insurance product and the introduction of dedicated Harvey World Travel outlets in its stores.