Foreign Currency Exchange Offices to Open in Hotels, Gathering Centers
Public banks expand the operations of opening hard currency exchange offices at the level of agencies and even airports in the cities that attract the largest numbers of foreign tourists, but they also seek to open temporary exchange offices at the level of hotels that receive foreigners on the sidelines of major economic and sporting events, to contain the sums that enter the national market of hard currency and blocking its exit to the black market.
As a model for this, the National Bank of Algeria inaugurated this week temporary exchange offices on the sidelines of the seventeenth session of the Federation of Councils of Organizations of Islamic Cooperation at the level of the Sheraton Hotel in Algiers, and also the Golden Sands Hotel “Les Sables d’Or” in Zeralda, as an act of closeness to the residents of these hotels, especially from the category of invitees who come from foreign countries to enable them to transfer their money without the hassle of moving to the black market.
The exchange offices of the National Bank of Algeria, with the contribution of the BNA in Zeralda 428, will continue from January 26 to February 4 at 7 pm, as the National Bank of Algeria takes advantage of the occasion of this conference and also the investment forum organized by the Algerian Lawyers Organization on January 27, 28 and 29 at the International Conference Center to get close to hotel residents and offer its services.
Before that, the External Bank of Algeria had quickly launched foreign currency exchange offices at airports at the level of the tourist cities that most attract foreigners, similar to Djanet Airport, before the New Year’s Eve celebrations, after opening a direct flight from Djanet and Paris, to attract funds coming from abroad in hard currency and prevent their transfer to the black market.
It is known that the remittances of Algerian immigrants are two billion dollars annually, according to the latest reports, knowing that the banks aim to raise the number of these transfers to 10 billion dollars by opening branches abroad, as well as expanding the number of exchange offices and getting closer to their customers.
This comes in conjunction with the government’s endeavours through the new draft monetary and banking law, whose file is expected to be opened this week in the National People’s Assembly, to license and approve private hard currency exchange offices, in addition to service providers and payment intermediaries. It expands its powers to approve investment banks, digital banks, payment service providers, and independent brokers and authorizes the opening of exchange offices.
The new draft monetary and banking law details the conditions and modalities for establishing exchange offices and sets a list of persons prohibited from activity, who are involved in corruption cases and those with judicial precedents at home and abroad, and people who faced bankruptcy before, as confirmed in Chapter Four of it under the title “Licensing and Approval”, and starting from Article 88 to Article 103 it states that the financial and monetary authorities determine the conditions and criteria for opening banks and exchange offices, whereby the Board must authorize the establishment of any exchange office or payment services provider, based on the results of an investigation, related to the observance of special conditions specified in Article 86 of the same law.
