What’s the current site to find the exchange rates?

Question: Banco Metropolitano was a great site giving to the cent what the exchange rates were for a particular day. But now it’s been down for 3 months. Are there other sites?

Answer: The website www.banco-metropolitano.com was a convenient place find current exchange rates for the ten international foreign currencies – Pound Sterling, Canadian and American dollar, Swiss Franc, Japanese Yen, Mexican Peso, Euro and Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Krone – which are easily exchanged in Cuba for the Convertible Cuban Peso (CUC). As well, this site listed both buy/sell costs that you would be charged at the bank or CADECA (Casas de Cambio or exchange booths) in Cuba.

However, for the past several months, the above website has been down. This may be related to changing servers and/or upgrading or servicing their computer networks.

But don’t dismay! The information formerly provided through the Banco Metropolitano website is still available, although through a somewhat different route – the Banco Central de Cuba.

Here’s the step-by-step way to get the current exchange information you need:

Go into the Banco Central de Cuba website through the following URL –  www.bc.gov.cu/Espanol/tipo_cambio.asp Don’t be concerned that it’s in Spanish; it doesn’t appear that you can get the Banco Metropolitano exchange rate information through the comparable English-language URL. But, as you’ll see, the Spanish is very easy to decipher.

However, don’t stop on this page, which although it provides official exchange rates, is exclusively for the use of Cuban enterprises when registering operations made in foreign exchange. The indicated rate of exchange is not valid for currency purchase and selling operations for the population at large.

Instead, go to the bottom of the above page, under Enlaces de interés (Interest links) and click on Tipo de cambio Banco Metropolitano (Temporal). This takes you to a page that gives you the Banco Metropolitano daily exchange rates. Here’s how it works:

The first column, Compra (Purchase) is the rate you’re being charged to BUY Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC).

The second column, Venta (Sell), is the rate you’re being charged to SELL Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC).

The asterisk (*) beside the GBP (Pound Sterling) and EUR (Euro) means that you multiply instead of divide.

For the USD, there is an additional 10% surcharge that Cuba charges.

Note: Not all banks or CADECAs handle all ten currencies listed, so sometimes you may have to go to a main branch.