Currency exchange

blunomore

blunomore

Honorary Master
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Messages
26,789
Reaction score
21
Location
Not yet CT ...
There used to be a rule that one can only exchange dollars for rands in SA within a certain period after you have returned from abroad and you needed a plane ticket and passport as proof.

Has that changed?

Thanks :)
 
To buy dollars you need proof that you're going to the US, but you can sell them anytime.
 
As far as I know you still have to change the unused currency that you exchanged as part of your annual travel allowance back to Rands after your trip. When I ordered Euros in June this year, they specifically reminded me of this rule.

FNB's foreign exchange page on their website looks up to date (they've got the new R500 000 annual travel allowance on there) and it mentions 30 days as the cut-off for returning unused foreign currency:
https://www.fnb.co.za/personal/transact/easybanking/travel.html
 
Kaiser said:
To buy dollars you need proof that you're going to the US, but you can sell them anytime.
Click to expand...

Excon actually dictates that you need to repatriate your foreign exchange into local currency within a prescribed amount of time. I however do not remember what this time period is. I will guess it is no more than 90 days. Reason being that companies that sell in dollars have 90 days to repatriate. I can't imagine Excon being more kinder to the ordinary citizen.

If I had to guess I would go with 30 days.

supersunbird said:
Yes, you can sell them anytime. Or how do people who get paid in dollars get their rands?
Click to expand...

If you have a USD salary in South Africa and it is paid into an SA account, you get your salary in ZAR equivalent. Your will agree with your employer on a standard mechanism to determine this ZAR equivalent.
 
Technically, when you buy forex for a trip, they expect you to sell it back to them when you return. No one I know does this and the rule is never enforced.

Whenever I've recieved forex in cash from friends/partners and gone to exchange to Rands, it's never ever been an issue.
 
As long as it is small amounts of currency, yes there should be no concern. So if you are talking say $100 that should be no problem. I would guess though that $10,000 would be an issue.
 
milomak said:
If you have a USD salary in South Africa and it is paid into an SA account, you get your salary in ZAR equivalent. Your will agree with your employer on a standard mechanism to determine this ZAR equivalent.
Click to expand...

No, there is nothing to agree between you and your employer on exchange rates, Banks have their own internal Foreign exchange rate linked to the prime exchange rate.
 
news24 said:
No, there is nothing to agree between you and your employer on exchange rates, Banks have their own internal Foreign exchange rate linked to the prime exchange rate.
Click to expand...

You can leave it up to your bank. Or you can, as many in the financial industry do, choose a set procedure to determine your Rand salary. In that way, the SA based branch/division will deposit a Rand amount you can independently track into your Rand account.

Of course if you do not have the bargaining power to come to such an arrangement then yes you will be at the mercy of your SA bank's consumer exchange rates.
 
news24 said:
No, there is nothing to agree between you and your employer on exchange rates, Banks have their own internal Foreign exchange rate linked to the prime exchange rate.
Click to expand...

Au contraire.

Depends on the internal financial structures within the company. From a company treasury perspective, they will purchase FX for the currencies they have exposure to. Depending on the rate that they get, they set annual FX rates internally, and you are paid at this agreed upon rate for the entire year - standard company practice. You are talking about something a little different here WRT the banks and their FX rates. See either you or the company are taking a knock on the bank handling fees every single month which is stupid - it should be done the other way round to avoid these fees and from general best practice perspective as well - the company is exposing themselves to FX with no hedge and makes it very difficult to balance the books on their side. I assume this is a small company, if not, then it is a large company who have a very small operation in South Africa and just don't really care about it, or their treasury department is stupid, as well as their CFO.

I assume they receive money in Rands from their clients and are not charging in USD as well. Thats a major problem too if it is the case as they have no hedge against FX moving against them, and is a major business risk - you should start questioning these things with them - it might put you in a good light with them to highlight the issue. And if they are charging rands, then they must have internally set rates - business doesnt work without them, hence the treasury function. And if they are charging USD to their SA clients, then they are absolutely bloody stupid - they would get a lot more business charging in rands - just take the current crisis as proof as to why they would want to do that and why a South African company would rather go to your competitors pricing in ZAR.

You can argue that you then also take a risk on exchange rates moving, but that is the risk you take with the bank route as well, and it works both ways, on the upside and downside.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X