Licensed exchange companies in Pakistan

For most of Pakistan’s history, foreign currency changed hands through money changers who operated under a licence issued for the individual rather than the business. That regime ended in 2002, when the State Bank of Pakistan used its powers under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947 to create a new category of licensed institution: the exchange company. Money changers were given a window to incorporate, meet a minimum capital requirement and apply for a company licence, or leave the business.

The framework that emerged had two tiers. A full-scope exchange company could deal in foreign currency notes, handle inward home remittances and sell foreign exchange for a defined list of purposes. A smaller “B” category licence, added later, was limited to buying and selling foreign currency notes from a single-branch operation. Both were required to record the identity of every customer, issue a receipt for every transaction and report to the State Bank.

The sector was restructured again in 2023. The State Bank raised the minimum capital requirement for a full-scope company to Rs 500 million, required banks with significant foreign exchange business to establish wholly-owned exchange company subsidiaries, and told B-category licensees to consolidate into full-scope companies or wind down. That is why the directory below reads the way it does: alongside the long-standing independent dealers sit exchange companies carrying the names of the country’s commercial banks.

What the licence obliges a company to do

• Record the CNIC or passport of every customer, and issue a printed receipt.
• Display buying and selling rates openly at each counter.
• Operate only from premises the State Bank has approved for that branch.
• Apply anti-money-laundering checks, and report transactions above the prescribed threshold.

How to check a company before you deal with it

The State Bank publishes the register of licensed exchange companies and their authorised branches. A counter operating from an address that is not on the register is not an authorised branch, whatever the signage says. Every branch listed on FindMyExchange is checked against that register before it appears, and the profile pages below carry the licence number the company trades under.