BANK OF JAMAICA CEASES EXCHANGE OF NON-US DOLLAR COINS
AT ITS BANKING COUNTER
Bank of Jamaica (the Bank) wishes to advise that effective 1 July 2024, it will no longer exchange coins of the Canadian Dollar (CAD), Great Britain Pound (GBP) and Euro (EUR) at its banking counter.
As a part of its banking services offered to the public, the Bank facilitates the exchange of specified foreign currency banknotes and coins for Jamaica Dollars at its banking counter. The Bank views the exchange of foreign currencies as a public good and based on this, for many years, has been exchanging CAD, GBP and EUR coins for Jamaica Dollars. However, in recent years it has become increasingly challenging to offer this service for non-United States Dollar (USD) foreign coins, primarily due to the unavailability of options for the repatriation of these coins to their respective issuing central banks. As a result, after giving value for these coins at our banking counter, the Bank cannot obtain value in return.
In the absence of repatriation arrangements for these non-USD coins, the Bank has made the decision to cease the acceptance of these foreign coins at its banking counter effective 1 July 2024. The decision to cease accepting non-USD coins is consistent with the practice of central banks in the Caribbean region that are faced with similar difficulties.
Bank of Jamaica regrets any inconvenience caused by this decision and will continue to review the situation and keep the public advised of any further developments in this regard.
Please note however, that the Bank continues to accept and exchange USD, CAD, GBP and EUR banknotes as well as USD coins, for which the counter rates are published on its website at https://boj.org.jm/market/foreign-exchange/counter-rates/.
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