Keeping tabs on currency issues; Wise card, cash use key to avoiding fees; open local accounts.(Executive Travel Report)

Crain's New York Business, October, 2006 by Quittner, Jeremy

Byline: Jeremy Quittner Seth Hishmeh learned an important lesson during his first trip to China a few years ago. The chief operating officer of USAS Technologies, a Manhattan-based IT consulting firm, brought Visa traveler's checks and a Visa corporate credit card. But the company's offices were outside Shanghai, and merchants in the smaller city wouldn't accept either form of payment.

It took 48 hours for USAS to wire money to a local bank, during which time Mr. Hishmeh had to borrow cash from a colleague. The executive, who travels to India and China several times a year, is better-prepared now. "I use credit cards when I'm in the major cities and take cash from a local bank account in smaller towns,'' he says. Gone are the days when people took...

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