International Currency Conversion
Exchange Rate Estimation
International currency exchange rates are to be used only as a forecasting tool. Rates change constantly, and are greatly affected by international events. A link to Reuters is provided below for current exchange rates. The exchange rate quotes provided by Reuters are “mid-market” rates which are not available for individuals, but rather are the published rates for currency purchases over $1 million U.S. dollars. Therefore, the exchange rate from Reuters will not match the exchange rate the System obtains through its global payments provider.
International Currency Exchange Rates
There are a few things to consider when working with exchange rates:
- Exchange rates change continuously.
- Rates are greatly affected by world events, more specifically events that may directly affect a specific country, meaning that rates can vary greatly from day-to-day, should unusual events transpire.
- The TTU System negotiates the best possible exchange rate. However, there are fees associated with conducting international business. Our global payments provider builds those fees into the rate of exchange. The rates provided online do not have these costs built in.
- Looking online to obtain a currency conversion is a smart business decision, and helps you estimate your costs. Just remember that the figures are estimates, and will differ at the time of currency conversion.
International Currency Format
U.S. currency is formatted with a decimal point (.) as a separator between dollars and cents. Some countries use a comma (,) instead of a decimal point to indicate the separation. In addition, while the U.S. and a number of other countries use a comma to separate thousands, some countries use a decimal point for this purpose.
For these reasons, it is critically important to recognize the differences in the placement of decimal points and commas in international currency. Failure to do so could result in the loss of significant amounts of money for the System.
To help you identify the formatting for currency, below is a list of countries and their respective currency formats. It is also important to note that most currencies utilize the format of threes and twos for dollars and cents (see the examples below), which means that the decimal or comma should be irrelevant, especially when the cents are shown. This is what you should look for when converting currencies.
Examples:
500 or 500,00 or 500.00 = five hundred dollars and no cents
500,15 or 500.15 = five hundred dollars and fifteen cents
500,150 or 500.150 or 500,150.00 or 500.150,00 = five hundred thousand, one hundred
fifty dollars and no cents
International Currency Format
| Australia | Nepal |
| Botswana | New Zealand |
| British West Indies | Nicaragua |
| Brunei | Nigeria |
| Canada (English-speaking) | Pakistan |
| Dominican Republic | People's Republic of China |
| Guatemala | Philippines |
| Hong Kong | Singapore |
| India | Sri Lanka |
| Ireland | Switzerland (only when the amount is in Swiss francs) |
| Israel | Taiwan |
| Japan | Tanzania |
| Kenya | Thailand |
| Korea (both North and South) | Uganda |
| Lebanon | United Kingdom |
| Malaysia | United States (including insular areas) |
| Malta | Zimbabwe |
| Mexico |
Countries Using a Comma to Separate Dollars & Cents
| Albania | Italy |
| Andorra | Kazakhstan |
| Argentina | Kirghistan |
| Armenia | Latvia |
| Austria | Lebanon |
| Azerbaijan | Lithuania |
| Belarus | Luxembourg (uses both marks officially) |
| Belgium | Macau (in Portuguese text) |
| Bolivia | Macedonia |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Moldova |
| Brazil | Mongolia |
| Bulgaria | Morocco |
| Cameroon | Netherlands |
| Canada (French-speaking) | Norway |
| Chile | Panama |
| Colombia | Paraguay |
| Costa Rica | Peru |
| Croatia | Poland |
| Cuba | Portugal |
| Cyprus | Romania |
| Czech Republic | Russia |
| Denmark | Serbia |
| Dominican Republic | Slovakia |
| Estonia | Slovenia |
| Faroes | South Africa (officially) |
| Finland | Spain |
| France | Sweden |
| Germany | Tunisia |
| Georgia | Turkey |
| Greece | Ukraine |
| Greenland | Uruguay |
| Honduras | Uzbekistan |
| Hungary | Venezuela |
| Iceland | Vietnam |
| Indonesia |