The growth in Wales' ethnic Bangladeshi population has led to the creation of a groundbreaking financial services enterprise.

Newly-established Instant Exchange has become the first company outside London to be approved by a Bangladeshi bank to handle cash transfers between the UK and the South Asian nation.

Working in a partnership with HSBC Bank, the Cardiff-based firm set up by brothers Dilaboor Hussain and Kamal Ali, has launched a fast-track transfer service via Bangladesh's International Finance Investment and Commerce Bank Ltd. They plan to open a branch in Newport later this month.

They expect to achieve a turnover of £3.5m in their first year and to claim a growing share of the £20m sent by Britain's Bangladeshi community to their home country each year.

Instant Exchange, currently employing five people, is the latest business services firm to be established by entrepreneurs from Wales' ethnic minority communities. Jane Hutt, Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Business and Ethnic Minorities, praised the increasing contribution of ethnic minority business people to the economy of Wales.

She said: "Entrepreneurs from ethnic backgrounds have created more than 1,400 jobs in the 400 plus new businesses that have been helped by the Assembly Government-backed Ethnic Business Support Programme."

Wales' First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, who attended part of the event, also warmly welcomed the contribution that ethnic businesses and the Ethnic Business Support Programme are making to the Welsh economy.

Saleem Kidwai, chief executive of EBSP, said: "Recent national research showed that ethnic minority entrepreneurs tend to be more highly qualified than the average business people and, as a result, they are setting up more high value added businesses that will ultimately create better quality jobs in Wales. "Instant Exchange has identified a niche market which provides a huge opportunity. We expect to see others following suit," he said.

Instant Exchange specialises in helping people of Bangladeshi background to send money home to their families at preferential rates.

They can send money via the firm's centre in Cardiff or through its agents in Newport, Swansea and Bristol. Recipients are informed by IFIC as soon as the money arrives at the far end.

In future the company will provide the service to the Bangladeshi community based in Wales and the West of England, an estimated 20,000 people. In the next two to three years Instant Exchange expects to grow further with additional agents in Swindon and Birmingham.

Ataul Haq, Managing Director of the IFIC Bank, said: "The Bangladeshi economy relies heavily upon money that is transferred into the country from people living abroad to help it make payments to reduce the budget deficit. "There are thousands of Bangladeshi people living and working in Wales and the West of England. The total money exchange market into Bangladesh last year amounted to £1.33bn. Instant Exchange is perfectly placed to take a share of the UK market."

The company received a range of business support and advice from EBSP, a programme established five years ago to encourage and assist ethnic minority entrepreneurs during the early phases prior to the launch of their operations.