| Currency Broker | |
The following sites contain current exchange rate quotes. They represent the different parts of the foreign exchange market. Inter bank rates are the exchange rates that banks use when they buy and sell currencies. This is the wholesale market for currencies. Exchange rates quoted in the press are usually inter bank rates. These generally are not available for normal retail customers. Travelers and businesses who require currency services pay retail rates. These are the ones published in the personal and business sections of bank web sites. They are not as generous as wholesale rates and are the prices for currencies offered to the public. Banks like all businesses attempt to buy currency as cheaply as possible and sell it for as much as the market will bear. Inter Bank rates are usually the best prices available.
The Reserve Bank of Australia publishes indicative inter bank exchange rates on its web site. The inter bank market operates 24 hours a day and hence you should pay attention to the date and time at which the RBA publishes this data. Exchanges may change quite a bit within an hour!
The RBA publishes indicative rates. The Foreign exchange market is made up of many different players from all over the world. They barter and strike deals about the prices they will exchange currencies. Thus an indicator rate is just that, it is in the middle of the range of prices aggreed between dealers to exchange Australian Dollars. This means some dealers will get higher prices for AUD and others lower!
Students may wish to compare exchange rates between countries and regions.
The US Federal Reserve's Daily USD Exchange Rates
Key Exchange rates from the Monetary Authority of SingaporeBank of England's interactive database for exchange rates. It is in the statistics section. This database is not easy to use and beginners may wish to avoid it.
Bank for International Settlements comprehensive collection of exchange rates for experts.
IMF SDR rates purely for currency high priests.
These services porvide current quotes for currencies and ar eoften delayed by 20 minutes. Some offer almost real time quotes of exchange rates. Usually these are the most update quotes available.
Yahoo Finance Australia | Yahoo Currency Table Yahoo offers 20 minute delayed currency quotes, charts and a FX news services.
OzFourex This is an Australian Currency site that offers current real time quotes.See Spot rates. Press the refresh button on your browser to update your quotes. OzFourex also offer retail exchange rates for both large and small customers.
FX Street Watch the Market Live!
FX Directory Home | FX Directory Quotes This site offers real time currency quotes. The java applets sometimes are slow and awkward to load. Students should not that this is an US service and hence you must tell the applet to load Australian Dollar exchange rates or convert US dollar exchange rates to Australian Dollar ones.
Reuters Business | Reuters Quotes Reuters offers a US Currency table and a currency converter for 20 minute delayed inter bank quotes.
Bloomberg Australia This site offers delayed inter bank quotes a currency converter and much commentary.
These sites contain retail exchange rate quotes. These quotes are the ones available to most people who wish to swap currencies. The actual pages where banks publish current retail quotes often change, thus a link to bank home pages has been provided as well. Students must take care to use the quotes for personal banking customers and not the inter bank rates that are usually published in the economic research section. Retail quotes are usually found under headings such as Foreign Exchange rates, Currencies, Rates and/or tools and calculators. Sometime currency tables are confusing. Many banks provide online currency calculators that are much easier to use. If you wish use the calculator instead.
Westpac Home | Currency Table Westpac also provides a pdf containing monthly averages and yearly averages if you wish to form an idea of the trend in exchange rates. A calculator is available as well. Westpac's rates are in the today's rates section on the Westpac Home page.
Commonwealth Bank | Currency Table The Commonwealth currency table is found in Personal Banking > Rates and Fees. The Useful tools section also contains a foreign exchange calculator that students may use.
The National | Currency Table Choose Calculators > Foreign Exchange to locate rates from the National. The National provides a foreign exchange calculator and offers a useful glossary of foreign exchange terms for novices.
ANZ Home | Currency Table Choose Individual banking rates and fees to find the currency table. Choose calculators > foreign exchange to find the ANZ FX Calculator.
St George Home | Currency Table The currency table is found in Corporate Finance > Risk Management > Foreign Currencies. St George also offers a FX Calculator in the calculator section of the bank's home page.
The following sites contain currency resources provided by foreign banks. Some of these banks operate in Australia and some do not. Students must take care when using currency tables and calculators at these sites. Usually exchange rates will be quoted in terms of the home currency of the bank. So a Singaporean Bank will quote buy and sell rates for Australian Dollars measured in Singaporean dollars. A UK bank will quote in pounds sterling. Some of these banks have calculators that will give a direct a quote for USD dollars in Australian Dollar terms. Others do not and you will have to work them out!
United Overseas Bank Singapore A currency calculator and currency table are available on the business banking home page.
Bank Of America | Currency Table A currency calculator is available on the same page.
Wells Fargo Home | Currency Table This is a US bank. Choose Wells Fargo Home > Individual Services more > Scroll down until you see Foreign Exchange. This site has a calculator that you can use and a currency table.
UBS Home | Currency Table UBS is a swiss bank. The currency table may be accessed from the Home Page. Students will need to convert all quotes from swiss francs into other currencies.
DBS Singapore | DBS Currency Table To find currencies choose Personal Banking > Rates >Foreign Currency. Quotations are given in Singaporean Dollars.
HSBC Australia Currency table is located on the Bank's Home Page.
Citibank Australia | Currency Table Choose rates and calculators and then scroll down to foreign exchange to find the currency calculator. Citibank also have a useful calculator for students to use.
There are many foreign exchange services available online that cater for the needs of both individuals and businesses. Clearly users of these services need to thoroughly research the integrity and honesty of these companies before using their services. Students must not open accounts without the written permission of their parents.Frequently they offer much better rates than more traditional insitutions.
Oz Fourex This is an Australian online currency service that offers current spot rates and currency conversion services for travellers and others
Oanda.com The original online currency site. Oanda offers converters and table, all accesible from its home page as well as the famous currency game. Oanda contains a historical service that show daily exchange rate averages for the last five years.
This site offers a currency table and converter.
X-rates.com This site contains current, historical and cross currency quotations. A converter is also available on this site.
People who travelled overseas will be aware that at many airports there are currency exchange services for passengers. Some examples of FX exclusively for travellers are listed below. Student should try and find out the rates charged for currency conversions by MasterCard and Visacards. These are not easy to find on the Internet.
American Express | Currency Converter Choose the travel link at the bottom of the home and follow directions to order $10 AUD. You will then need to work out the applicable exchange rate.
Travellex Australia Travellex offers a currency table on its home page.
Finding banks with suitable currency resources available online is not as easy as many people might think. Many larger foreign banks only provide quotes in password protected sections of their websites.
Yahoo provides a global directory of banks. Many of these banks are US provincial banks and they do not offer currency services.
