Barclays Botswana launches currency conversion machines
Barclays Botswana has partnered with Fexco to launch Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC), a product upgrading their swiping point of sale (POS) machines in order to enable foreign travelers to make payments in their home currency.
Fexco is an Irish-based financial services company focusing on bureau de change and payment card services. It will be responsible for DCC on-time exchange rates, giving customers convenience to know what they spent instead of waiting for bank statement on their return to native countries.
“There is a lot of tourist volume coming into Botswana faced with the dilemma of currency conversion and our new product enables the client to be able to track their expenditure in their local currency.
“The advantage here is that the customer will know in real time the amount that would be charged in the home currency of the card, including the currency conversion charge of three percent,” said Brighton Banda, Barclays Bank of Botswana Retail Director.
According to Barclays, the product is currently not compulsory for merchants. Banda invited retailers to register for the product, adding that only travellers using the VISA and MasterCard, debit and credit cards are enjoying the service for now.
“We hope that we will get a lot of merchants encouraging customers to settle bills in their currency,” said Banda, adding that for merchants every transaction converted to DCC, they would be incentivized with a rebate at rates pre-agreed with the bank.
“As a financial services provider, we always seek ways in which our payments solutions bring the convenience that customers need and expect. Spending in a currency best understood by a customer is meant to ease transactions for international customers so as to make their shopping experience more convenient,” Banda said.
John Lalit D’Souza, Head of Cards Acquiring and Issuance at Barclays Botswana said the product was developed after constant engagement with clients, on how to reduce cost.
He said the bank took nine months to develop the product, adding that the product has been in use in other markets particularly those with high volumes tourism and commerce, such as London and Dubai.
For the bank, DCC helps combat currency fluctuations since settlement is made in US dollar for all transactions by Visa and MasterCard, improves shopping experience for the tourist and reduce cost by 0.5 percent.
