Todd Crosland was frustrated.

In trading currencies through foreign exchanges, he was continually irritated that the broker dealing desks through which he had to trade inflated banks' currency quotes for extra profit. He wanted to trade currencies directly, to bypass the dealing desk.

To solve that problem, Crosland founded Interbank FX, an online foreign exchange bank that puts customer satisfaction and success first. Interbank goes directly to its banking partners to obtain foreign exchange quotes, giving its customers timely and fair prices.

In establishing Salt Lake-based Interbank, Crosland was taking on the exchange industry's most profitable tool; many saw the dealing desk as an indispensable part of doing business.

Crosland, however, saw it as an unfair business practice. Operating on the fly, the company has grown since its 2001 founding to include 12,000 customers in more than 135 countries.

Interbank serves its customers well beyond cutting out the dealing desk. Crosland's customers have access to a variety of free tools and resources that can cost thousands of dollars elsewhere, including debit and credit cards, chart pattern recognition software, an online foreign exchange "university" and an online forum.