Frequently asked questions

kursikembimit.al is an Albanian platform that brings together the exchange rates of the Bank of Albania, commercial banks and financial institutions in Albania in one place.

Instead of visiting each bank’s website separately, you can see at a glance:

• the Bank of Albania’s official rate of the day;
• buy and sell rates for every bank and exchange office we track;
• the best rate for each currency on the Best rate page;
• a currency converter, rate history with charts going back to 2020, monthly statistics and email alerts.

Rates are checked automatically every 30 minutes from the institutions’ official websites. The site is available in Albanian and English and is developed by Magus Group Albania.

Yes. Rates, the converter, history, statistics and the bank comparison are free and don’t require an account or sign-up.

We only ask for an email address if you choose to receive rate change alerts, and you then confirm it through a verification link.

For automated integrations in apps or business systems we offer an API with an access key; see the question about connecting through the API.

Our system checks the official websites of the banks and the Bank of Albania automatically every 30 minutes, throughout the day.

How often a rate actually changes depends on the institution:

• The Bank of Albania publishes its official rate once every business day.
• Commercial banks and exchange offices usually set their rates in the morning and may change them during the day as the market moves.
• At weekends and on public holidays many institutions don’t publish new rates, so the last valid rate is shown.

Each rate shows the date and time of its latest update ("Updated"). You can also check each source on the data status page.

The Bank of Albania’s (BoA) official rate is a reference rate, while commercial bank rates are the actual prices at which banks buy and sell currency with customers.

• The official rate is a single value per currency. It is used as a reference for accounting, financial statements, tax and customs declarations and contracts. You can’t exchange cash at this rate at a counter.
• A commercial bank rate has two values, buy and sell, set by the bank itself. The difference between them includes the bank’s margin.

The official rate usually sits between the banks’ buy and sell rates. For a real transaction, compare bank rates on the home page or on Best rate.

The buy rate is the price at which the bank buys foreign currency from you; the sell rate is the price at which the bank sells foreign currency to you. Both are quoted in lek (ALL) per unit of currency.

• Buy: applies when you have euros, dollars and so on and want lek. Example: at a buy rate of 97.50, 100 EUR gets you 9,750 lek.
• Sell: applies when you have lek and want to buy currency. Example: at a sell rate of 99.00, 100 EUR costs you 9,900 lek.

The gap between the two rates is the spread, the bank’s margin. The smaller it is, the better the exchange is for you. In the converter you can choose "Buy" or "Sell" to see the exact amount.

You can find the best rate of the day for each currency on the Best rate page, which updates automatically whenever rates change.

For each currency (EUR, USD, GBP, CHF and others) it shows:

• The highest buy rate: the bank that gives you the most lek when you sell currency.
• The lowest sell rate: the bank where you pay the least lek when you buy currency.

The InfoEuro reference rate isn’t included in this comparison because it isn’t a real exchange point. Before going to the bank, check the update time: banks may change rates during the day or apply different rates for large amounts, cash or transfers.

The main currencies are the euro (EUR), US dollar (USD), British pound (GBP), Swiss franc (CHF), Canadian dollar (CAD) and Australian dollar (AUD), all against the Albanian lek (ALL).

Not every institution publishes a rate for every currency: the euro and dollar are offered by almost all banks, while CAD and AUD only by some. Each bank’s card shows only the currencies it publishes.

When an institution also publishes other currencies, such as the Japanese yen (JPY) or gold (XAU), we add them automatically. In History you can pick any currency to see how it has moved.

We track the Bank of Albania’s official rate, the InfoEuro reference rate and the buy/sell rates of the main commercial banks and exchange offices in Albania.

• Official and reference rates: Bank of Albania, InfoEuro (European Commission).
• Commercial banks: Banka Kombëtare Tregtare (BKT), Raiffeisen Bank Albania, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania, OTP Bank Albania, Banka Credins, Fibank Albania, United Bank of Albania, Tirana Bank.
• Exchange offices / financial institutions: AK Invest, Iliria 98.

The full, current list with each institution’s rates is on the Banks page. If a source temporarily can’t be updated, its last known rate is shown with its date. If you’d like us to add a bank or exchange office, write to us.

InfoEuro is the official monthly euro exchange rate published by the European Commission for the European Union’s accounting. It is quoted as how many units of a currency 1 euro is worth (for example EUR/ALL, EUR/USD).

It is mainly used by:

• EU-funded projects and organisations, for reporting expenses;
• companies and accountants with contracts or grants tied to European funds;
• anyone who needs a stable European reference rate for the whole month.

InfoEuro isn’t a rate you can exchange money at, so it isn’t part of Best rate. You’ll find it at the top of the home page, next to the Bank of Albania rates.

Use the quick converter on the left of every page or the full Converter page: choose a bank, a currency and the rate type, then enter the amount.

1. Bank: the Bank of Albania’s official rate is used by default; pick a commercial bank to see the real amount you’ll receive or pay.
2. Currency: EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, CAD or AUD.
3. Buy or Sell: "Buy" when you sell currency to the bank, "Sell" when you buy currency from it.
4. Amount: the result in lek is calculated instantly, together with the rate used.

The full converter page also works in reverse (lek to currency) and compares the amount across all banks, so you can see where you get the better deal.

On the History page, choose a bank, a currency and a period to see the chart and daily rate table, then download them as a CSV file.

• Preset periods: last 7 days, last 30 days, this month, this year, or a custom range from one date to another.
• How far back: for the Bank of Albania and several banks, data starts in April 2020; for institutions added later, from the date we started tracking them.
• CSV export: the "Export" button shows what the file contains before downloading (bank, currency, period, number of records and columns). The file opens directly in Excel or Google Sheets.

For monthly analysis of the official rate (average, minimum, maximum, volatility) see Statistics.

Yes. On the Alerts page you can sign up for free email alerts, without creating an account.

Choose one of two types:

• Any change: get an email when the rate changes for the currencies you pick (for example EUR and USD).
• Threshold: get an email only when a currency’s buy or sell rate goes above or below a value you set, for all banks or a specific one.

After signing up you’ll receive a confirmation email; alerts start only once you click the verification link. Every email includes a link to unsubscribe instantly.

The Statistics page shows the official rate’s monthly trend, while the Status page shows when each source was last updated.

• Statistics: for the last 12 months and each currency, the monthly average, lowest rate, highest rate and volatility as a percentage, based on the Bank of Albania’s official rate. It helps you see whether the euro or dollar has strengthened or weakened.
• Status: for each bank, the time of the last successful update and whether its data is current or stale.

Yes. We offer a REST API in JSON format with the latest rates, history, conversion and the list of banks. Access uses a personal API key.

How to get a key: write to us from the Contact page with your company or project name, what you’ll use the data for and roughly how many requests you expect. Once approved, we send you the key and the terms of use.

Main endpoints:

• GET /api/rates: latest rates from all banks;
• GET /api/rates/{currency}: rates for one currency, for example /api/rates/EUR;
• GET /api/rates/{currency}/history: a currency’s history;
• GET /api/convert?from=EUR&to=ALL&amount=100: conversion, with an optional bank;
• GET /api/banks and GET /api/banks/{slug}: banks and each bank’s rates.

Authentication: send your key in the X-API-Key header, for example curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://kursikembimit.al/api/rates/EUR. Each key has an hourly request limit, set according to your needs.

Full technical documentation is in the API documentation. For simpler needs, such as showing rates on a website, you can also use the widget or feeds.

The quickest way is our free widget, added with one line of HTML and updated automatically.

• Widget: add <iframe src="https://kursikembimit.al/embed/rates" width="100%" height="360" loading="lazy" style="border:0"></iframe>. It shows the best buy and sell rates for the main currencies, with a link back to the source.
• RSS: /feed.xml, for feed readers or automations.
• JSON Feed: /feed.json, for developers who want a structured daily summary.

If you need complete data, history or high request volumes, use the API with a key.

Rates are collected automatically from the institutions’ own official websites and are accurate at the time of update, but they are for information only: the final rate is the one the bank applies at the moment of your transaction.

Why differences can occur:

• the bank may have changed its rate after our last check (see the "Updated" time);
• many banks apply different rates for cash, transfers, cards or large amounts;
• occasionally a bank’s website is unavailable, and its last known rate is shown.

For significant amounts, confirm the rate with the bank before the transaction. kursikembimit.al is not a financial institution and doesn’t give investment advice. If you notice an incorrect rate, let us know and we’ll check it right away.

You don’t need to provide any personal data to view rates. We only collect what you give us yourself, plus anonymous usage statistics.

• Email alerts: we store your email address and alert preferences (currencies, threshold, bank). You can unsubscribe at any time from the link in every email.
• Contact form: your name, email and message are used only to reply to you.
• Site statistics: we use analytics tools to understand, in aggregate, how the site is used (for example the most visited pages).
• Functional cookies: for example your light or dark mode choice.

We don’t sell or share your data for marketing. For privacy questions, write to us from the Contact page.

Yes, you can quote the rates in articles, analysis, social media or answers, as long as you link to kursikembimit.al as the source.

• Quoting and referencing: allowed and welcome, including by search engines and AI assistants.
• Continuous display on your site: use the widget or feeds.
• Automated data collection: bulk or automated copying of pages (scraping) isn’t allowed and is blocked by our protection systems. For automated access, use the API.

For commercial use or large-scale republishing, contact us about terms.