AB Bank PLC Exchange Rate API: BDT Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

AB Bank PLC, founded in 1982 as Arab Bangladesh Bank, was the first private-sector bank in Bangladesh. Its dealing room posts a daily foreign exchange rate sheet as a PDF with buying and selling rates for 9 currencies, forward rates and money-market notes. This guide shows how to read that board as JSON: what the rates mean, how they compare with the Bangladesh Bank official rate and with other banks in Bangladesh, and the calls that return them.

What the AB Bank board shows

• 9 currencies against the Bangladeshi taka: AED, CAD, CHF, CNY, EUR, GBP, JPY, SGD and USD. Every value is BDT per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
• The TT clean buy / TT & OD sell pair. Bangladeshi banks set their own daily taka buying and selling rates within the framework Bangladesh Bank sets, and each treasury issues a daily rate sheet with separate TT, OD/bill and cash-note rates. Bangladesh’s weekend is Friday and Saturday, so the newest sheet on a Friday is Thursday’s. Bangladesh Bank sets the official rate.
• USD on 15 November 2026: AB Bank bought at 124.2 and sold at 125.2 BDT, a spread of 0.80%. The Bangladesh Bank official rate was 124.75, so the bank's mid sat -0.04% from it.
• The bank's own timestamp. The page prints a last-updated stamp (November 12, 2026 11:26 AM on the board above), returned as bank_updated_at next to our captured_at.
• Every day's board is kept permanently, from 12 November 2026. Read one past day with ?date=, or a range for one currency with the /history endpoint (paid plans).

Spreads across the board

On the 15 November 2026 board the tightest spreads were USD (0.80%), SGD (2.55%), EUR (2.61%) and the widest JPY (3.23%), CAD (3.09%), CNY (3.03%). Spread is (sell − buy) ÷ mid: what a round trip through the bank costs, before any fees. The API returns it on every row as spread_pct, so you can rank currencies or alert when a bank widens its board.

USD at AB Bank and other banks in Bangladesh

USD on the 23 boards AllRatesToday reads in Bangladesh, all captured on 15 November 2026 (the Bangladesh Bank official rate was 124.75):

AB Bank had the 3rd narrowest USD spread of the 23. One call to /api/v1/bank-rates/bd returns every board in the table at once.

Get the board (REST)

You need an API key; the free key works. The full board:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/bd/abbl" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

What comes back (the 15 November 2026 board, first three rows):

{
  "bank": "abbl",
  "name": "AB Bank",
  "country": "bd",
  "quote_ccy": "BDT",
  "bank_updated_at": "November 12, 2026 11:26 AM",
  "basis": "TT clean buy / TT & OD sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:30:28.016Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"AED","buy":33.7216,"sell":34.6384,"mid":34.18,"spread_pct":2.682,"official":null,"vs_official_pct":null},
    {"ccy":"CAD","buy":86.5968,"sell":89.3165,"mid":87.95665,"spread_pct":3.092,"official":87.5377,"vs_official_pct":0.479},
    {"ccy":"CHF","buy":148.5996,"sell":152.8182,"mid":150.7089,"spread_pct":2.799,"official":null,"vs_official_pct":null},
    … 6 more currencies
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

One currency, with the row fields at the top level:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/bd/abbl?ccy=USD" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

{
  "bank": "abbl",
  "name": "AB Bank",
  "country": "bd",
  "quote_ccy": "BDT",
  "bank_updated_at": "November 12, 2026 11:26 AM",
  "basis": "TT clean buy / TT & OD sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:30:28.016Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 124.2,
  "sell": 125.2,
  "mid": 124.7,
  "spread_pct": 0.802,
  "official": 124.75,
  "vs_official_pct": -0.04,
  "disclaimer": "Retail buy/sell rates as displayed on each bank’s own website at capture time, quoted as home currency per 1 unit of foreign currency. Indicative only: banks change these through the day, apply them at the counter or in-app, and they are not official or reference rates. For the rate a regulation names, use the central-bank endpoints.",
  "attribution": {
    "source": "Board rates published by AB Bank PLC on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://abbl.com/exchange-rates/",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/bd/abbl/",
    "terms": "Public pages that show the rates need a visible link to allratestoday.com"
  }
}

The board as it stood on a past day:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/bd/abbl?date=2026-11-12" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

One currency over a date range, one row per day (paid plans; add &format=csv, xml or xlsx for a file):

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/bd/abbl/history?ccy=USD&from=2026-11-12&to=2026-11-15" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

JavaScript

npm install @allratestoday/sdk

import { AllRatesToday } from '@allratestoday/sdk';

const client = new AllRatesToday({ apiKey: 'art_live_your_key' });

// AB Bank PLC's USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('bd', { bank: 'abbl', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`AB Bank buys USD at ${r.buy}, sells at ${r.sell} BDT`);

// The board as it stood on a past day
const past = await client.bankRates('bd', { bank: 'abbl', date: '2026-11-12' });
console.log(past.snapshot_date, past.rates.length);

Python

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/bd/abbl",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer art_live_your_key"},
    timeout=10,
)
r.raise_for_status()
for row in r.json()["rates"]:
    print(row["ccy"], row["buy"], row["sell"], row["spread_pct"])

Board rate or official rate?

The Bangladesh Bank rate is the one tax, accounting and customs rules in Bangladesh name; nobody transacts at it. AB Bank's board is the price a customer actually gets. The API puts both on every row: official is the central bank's rate for the same currency and vs_official_pct is how far the bank's mid sits from it. Use the board to show customers a real price, compare banks for a remittance, or keep a dated record of what the bank quoted; use the Bangladesh Bank endpoint when a rule asks for the official rate.

FAQ

Where do the AB Bank PLC rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://abbl.com/exchange-rates/), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price AB Bank shows, with the mid, the spread and the Bangladesh Bank rate added.

Are these the official BDT exchange rates?

No. They are AB Bank's retail prices for customers. The official rate in Bangladesh is the Bangladesh Bank rate, which the API returns as official on each row where the central bank has one, and in full from the central-bank endpoint.

How often is the AB Bank board updated?

AllRatesToday reads the page every hour. The bank's own last-updated stamp is returned as bank_updated_at, so you can tell a fresh read of an unchanged board from a new board.

Can I get AB Bank rates for a past date?

Yes, from 12 November 2026 onward; every day's board is kept permanently. Add ?date=YYYY-MM-DD for one day: the response is the board captured that day, or the nearest earlier day within five days, with date_requested and snapshot_date added. For a range, /history?ccy=USD&from=…&to=… returns one row per day as JSON, CSV, XML or XLSX on paid plans.

Do I need an API key?

Yes. Commercial bank boards need an API key; any plan works, the free key included, and each call counts against the plan. Public pages or widgets that show the rates need a visible link to allratestoday.com.