The Reserve Bank of Fiji is warning members of the public to only conduct foreign exchange transactions with licensed dealers, as dealing with unauthorised operators could expose them to fraud, loss of money and a lack of legal protection.
This comes after the Reserve Bank of Fiji received information that some businesses, hotels and individuals are engaging in foreign exchange activities without the required licence.
It says that while hotels and retail businesses are allowed to accept foreign currency from tourists as payment for goods or services, they cannot provide money-changing services to other customers unless they are licensed to do so.
The RBF stresses that any change given to customers must be in Fijian dollars, while foreign currency received must be deposited with a commercial bank or sold to a licensed restricted foreign exchange dealer within 30 days.
It adds six commercial banks are currently authorised to conduct foreign exchange business in Fiji including ANZ Bank, Bank of Baroda, BSP Financial Group (Fiji) Pte Limited, BRED Bank (Fiji) Limited, HFC Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation.
It says there are also eight licensed restricted foreign exchange dealers including City Forex (Fiji) Pty Limited, Singapore Exchange, FEXCO (Fiji) Limited, Lotus Foreign Exchange Limited, MH Money Express Limited Fiji, Real Forex Proprietary (Fiji) Limited, GCC Exchange Limited and Vision Fintech Services Pte Limited.
The RBF says enforcement action will be taken against unauthorised operators in accordance with the Exchange Control Act 1950.
People who suspect unlicensed foreign exchange activities or other unauthorised financial services are being encouraged to report them through the RBF’s Confidential Disclosures portal.
