Travelex CEO Tony D'Souza issued a video apology to customers and announced an initial recovery from a New Year's Eve ransomware attack, saying that the first of its customer-facing systems in the U.K. were back up.

D'Souza thanked customers, partners and staff in the video and confirmed that customer data had been protected. He also outlined steps that the London-based currency exchange and money transfer had taken to mitigate the damage. 

"We have made good progress in our recovery and I'm pleased to say our first customer-facing systems are now successfully live," he said in a written company statement updating the recovery efforts. "We have a clear strategy for the phased restoration of services, prioritizing the UK as this is our single largest market."

He said Travelex had restarted forex order processing electronically in some of its UK stores and UK partner retail locations, and has started VAT refund service at UK airports. 

The automated order placement used by many of Travelex's high street banking partners is once again live, however, the company planned to phase in the restoration of services and start processing about 70 currencies, expanding that number over time. 

Travelex said although it was making progress with its UK International money-transfer service, it would not be restored until the end of January. 

As previously reported the Metropolitan Police had been investigating the breach, which was suspected as a criminal ransomware attack. Company officials said customer data had not been exposed, however they were posting regular updates on recovery efforts. 

Cover image: iStock