In the UK, a bureau de change’s rate board is covered by regulations written for bureaux in 1992, and now also by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. Checked against legislation.gov.uk and gov.uk in October 2026; this is not legal advice, so confirm what applies to you with your local trading standards service or a lawyer.
What your board must show
Buy and sell as a pair
Both rates for every currency, or a clear note that it is to order only.
Seen from the door
Visible as customers approach, or as soon as they come in.
Commission as big as the rates
Commission, fixed fees and minimum charges as prominent as the rates, or on a panel next to the board.
Clear conditions
Units (per £1, or 100 JPY), denominations, minimum amounts, online-only or card-only rates.
No misleading claims
No “0% commission” if your margin is in the rate, no unproven “best rates”, no “rates not guaranteed”, no currencies you do not deal in.
A receipt every time
Date, amounts, rate, charges, your name and address.
What the rules say
The Price Indications (Bureaux de Change) (No. 2) Regulations 1992 (“1992 regs”) apply to businesses offering to buy or sell foreign currency for sterling to consumers. Showing rates is not compulsory, but any rate you show must follow them.
- With each rate: the denominations it does or does not apply to, any commission not in the rate, any conditions. 1992 regs, reg. 4(1)(a)
- A pair: a buy rate needs its sell rate, and the other way round; say if a currency is to order only. Reg. 4(1)(b)
- Where: “clearly and prominently”, as customers approach or as soon as they enter. Reg. 5(1)
- Clear: unambiguous, each rate easy to tie to its currency. Reg. 5(2)
- Commission: as clear, legible and prominent as the rates; a separate panel next to the board is accepted. Government guidance
- Accurate: nothing may say a rate is not to be relied on. Reg. 8
- Receipt: date the rate was set, amounts in foreign currency and sterling, rate, commission or charge, net amount paid, the bureau’s name and address. Reg. 6
- Penalty: a criminal offence, enforced by local trading standards.
- Claims: “0% commission” can be an offence when conditions such as a minimum amount are unclear; “best rates” needs evidence you beat competitors; listing currencies you do not deal in can mislead; buy-back offers need terms, limits and time limit clear before purchase. Government guidance
- Total price: a rate board is very likely an invitation to purchase, so it gives the total price with unavoidable fees, or how the price is worked out, as prominently as the price. 2024 Act, s. 230
- “Free”: banned outright when the customer pays another way; misleading actions and omissions cover buying from consumers as well as selling. 2024 Act
- Fines: the Competition and Markets Authority can fine directly, up to £300,000 or 10% of turnover, whichever is higher. CMA guidance
- Registration: with HMRC as a money service business under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, before trading; showing the number is optional, though many do. HMRC
- ID checks: since 30 June 2026, from £12,000 for an occasional exchange, single or linked, and any amount when money laundering is suspected. HMRC guidance
- FCA: cash-for-cash exchange is not a payment service, so no FCA licence; sending money abroad needs one.
In practice: if your margin is in the rate, say the commission is included in the rates shown.
The open question. legislation.gov.uk marks the 1992 regs as lapsed in 2008, but the 2008 unfair trading regulations said they “shall continue in force” (Schedule 3, paragraph 5). The 2024 Act revoked those regulations, saving included, in April 2025, without mentioning bureaux. The guidance is still published and trading standards still cite the 1992 rules, so follow them: the 2024 Act asks almost the same.
Scotland and Northern Ireland. Same rules in Scotland, where the Procurator Fiscal prosecutes. Northern Ireland has a near-identical version of the 1992 regs; the Department for the Economy enforces the 2024 Act there.
How an easyCMS board covers it
| The rule | On an easyCMS board |
|---|---|
| Buy and sell as a pair | Side by side, buy first, unit next to the code |
| Commission as prominent | A commission line under the rates, as large as them |
| No “0% commission” | Studio warns you if you type it |
| Current rates, only what you deal in | Daily reference rates plus your margins, or locked at what you type; hide a currency from every board at once |
| Seen from the door | A portrait window design, readable from the pavement |
| Date of the rates | Shown on the board |
Receipts stay at the till. Pick a design from the exchange-rate board templates, or read more on the currency board. Other countries: display rules by country, Spain, France.