Most countries tell exchange offices what their rate board must show and where. This guide collects the rules we could find, with links to the texts, so you can check your board against them.
A currency exchange office’s rate board is not just marketing. In most of Europe it is how the office meets its duty to tell customers the price before they hand over their money, and regulators fine boards that mislead. A Polish exchange chain was fined PLN 1.24 million in 2018 partly because its boards put the buy and sell columns the wrong way round, so customers misread the rates (UOKiK decisions, summarised by beinsured.pl).
This guide was checked in October 2026. Rules change and this is not legal advice: confirm the rules for your licence with your regulator or a lawyer.
The rules most countries share
Across the countries below, the same requirements come back:
- Buy and sell rates for every currency, side by side, with equal prominence. A buy rate on its own is not enough in the UK.
- From the office’s point of view, buy first. “We buy” is what the customer gets for their foreign money; “We sell” is what they pay for it. The Czech National Bank describes boards this way (CNB).
- The commission and how it is worked out, shown with the rates.
- Visible before the customer commits: at the entrance, in the window, or as soon as they come in.
- No “0% commission” when the margin is built into the rate. UK guidance and French consumer law both treat this as misleading.
Country by country
| Country | What the board must show | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | Minimum buy rates (and, for offices that also sell, maximum sell rates) for amounts up to €3,000, with the commissions as prominent as the rates (Normas 4ª and 9ª), and a permanent notice board (“tablón de anuncios”) in a prominent place with the rates, commissions, customer service and complaints details, an accredited dispute resolution body and a copy of the Banco de España authorisation. Full guide for Spain | Circular 6/2001 of the Banco de España |
| France | The buy and sell rates of the euro against the main currencies and how fees and commissions are calculated, in characters of the same size, displayed inside, and visible from outside as well when exchange is more than 5% of turnover; any sign suggesting there are no fees when they are built into the rate is forbidden. Full guide for France | Arrêté of 30 December 1998 |
| United Kingdom | Buy and sell rates as a pair, with any commission as clear and prominent as the rates; visible to customers as they approach the premises or as soon as they enter; nothing saying the rates are “not to be relied upon”; a receipt for every exchange. Whether the 1992 regulations survived the 2024 consumer law is unclear, but the 2024 Act asks for much the same. Full guide for the UK | Price Indications (Bureaux de Change) (No. 2) Regulations 1992, government guidance on “0% commission” |
| Czechia | Since 2019 the board may only show the least favourable rate (no “VIP” rates shown bigger), no commission on top, and customers may cancel an exchange within three hours | Czech National Bank |
| Germany | We found no rule written for exchange offices. The general price display law asks for a list of the prices of services in the premises and, where there is one, in the shop window, which is how we read it for a Wechselstube | PAngV § 12 (our reading) |
| Netherlands | Exchange offices need a licence from De Nederlandsche Bank; we found no rule about the board itself | DNB |
| Belgium | Exchange offices register with the FSMA; the rules we found are about money laundering, not the board. General price display law applies | FSMA |
| Italy | Exchange offices register with the OAM, and customers get a written confirmation of the rate and fees; we did not find a rule about the board itself | Decree of 2 April 2015 |
The United States
We found no federal or state rule on what a currency exchange board must show in the US. Stores register with FinCEN as money services businesses, some states (Florida, Texas) license currency exchange, and the FTC Act forbids misleading “no fee” claims. See exchange rate boards for US stores.
Card and ATM conversion is a different rule
The EU’s cross-border payments regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/518) covers currency conversion at card terminals and cash machines: the charge has to be shown as a percentage mark-up over the latest European Central Bank reference rate. It does not govern cash exchanged at a counter, but it matters if your board also shows card rates.
A checklist for your board
- Every currency has a buy and a sell rate, in that order, the same size.
- The units are clear: 100 JPY, not a rate for one yen with five zeros.
- Your commission is on the board, or the board says it is included in the rates.
- Nothing says “0% commission” or “no fees” if your margin is in the rate.
- The board is readable from outside or from the door, in daylight.
- In Spain, the separate notice board carries your authorisation and complaints details; in France, the commission is the same size as the rates.
- The date of the rates is on the board, so nobody argues about yesterday’s rate.
How easyCMS helps
The easyCMS currency board is built around these rules. Every board shows buy and sell side by side with the buy column first, the unit next to the code (100 JPY), a commission line printed as large as the rates, a footer line for your licence number, and the date of the rates. Studio warns you if you type “0% commission” in the footer, and each board can show a different selection of currencies from the same rates table, so the board in the window and the one at the counter never disagree.