What are ECB reference rates?

Every working day, around 16:00 CET, the European Central Bank (ECB) publishes euro foreign exchange reference rates: what one euro is worth in a set list of currencies, such as the US dollar, British pound, Japanese yen, and Swiss franc. The ECB publishes them for information purposes only. They're one rate per currency per day, without the margin banks and exchange offices add.

Tool description

This tool converts an amount of money between the euro and every currency the ECB publishes reference rates for, and between any two of those currencies. Every ECB currency converter here works the same way, from the general ECB Currency Converter to the ones for a single pair, such as the ECB USD to EUR Converter or the ECB GBP to JPY Converter: it starts on the currencies in its name, and the From and To menus switch to any other currency the ECB covers. You see the converted amount, the exchange rate it was converted at, and the day that rate was published. A chart shows how the rate moved over the last week, month, or year, or since January 1999.

How to use

  1. Enter the amount to convert.
  2. Pick the currency you have in the From menu and the one you want in the To menu. Both menus can be searched by currency code or name.
  3. Read the converted amount and the exchange rate, and copy either with one click.
  4. Click "Swap currencies" to convert the other way.
  5. Choose Week, Month, Year, or All time to see the rate history in the chart.

How it works

The rates come from Frankfurter (frankfurter.dev), a free, open-source API that serves the ECB reference rates. The ECB publishes rates against the euro only, so the rate between two other currencies is worked out from their euro rates: the US dollar to Japanese yen rate is the euro rate of the yen divided by the euro rate of the dollar. The rates are worked out at full precision, so a small rate such as Indonesian rupiah to US dollars keeps its significant digits.

Converted amounts are shown with two decimals, and amounts under 0.1 with two significant digits, so a tiny amount doesn't show as 0.00. Exchange rates are shown with five significant digits, and those of 1,000 or more are rounded to two decimals. The ECB publishes no rates on weekends and some holidays, so conversions then use the rate of the last working day, which the "Rate published" field shows. The All time range starts on 4 January 1999, or on the first day the ECB published a rate for both currencies.

FAQ

How often are the rates updated? Once every working day, around 16:00 CET. Until the next publication, conversions use the latest rate.

Why is my bank's rate different? Banks set their own buying and selling rates, which include their margin and follow the market during the day. The ECB reference rate is a single benchmark rate for the whole day.

Why can't I find a currency? The ECB publishes reference rates for a set list of currencies, and the converters cover exactly that list. A currency the ECB doesn't publish a rate for can't be converted here.