Guide

Absa Bank (Seychelles) Exchange Rate API: SCR Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

By Madhushan November 15, 2026 6 min read

Reviewed by Madhushan, Fintech Developer — November 2026

Absa Bank (Seychelles) is the Seychelles arm of South Africa’s Absa Group. Its daily indicative-rates sheet lists notes and TT/draft buy and sell rates in rupees for about a dozen currencies. This guide shows how to read that board as JSON: what the rates mean, how they compare with the IMF (no Central Bank of Seychelles source in the product) official rate, and the calls that return them.

What the Absa Seychelles board shows

12 currencies against the Seychellois rupee: AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, INR, JPY, MUR, SGD, USD and ZAR. Every value is SCR per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
The TT / draft buy / sell (daily indicative sheet) pair. Seychelles banks print a daily indicative sheet with separate bank-note and TT/draft buy and sell rates in rupees per unit, typically 3-4% either side of mid. No central-bank table in the product quotes SCR, so the reference check is inactive. The IMF (no Central Bank of Seychelles source in the product) official rate is shown next to each row.
USD on 15 November 2026: Absa Seychelles bought at 14.0374 and sold at 15.009 SCR, a spread of 6.69%.
The bank's own timestamp. The page prints a last-updated stamp (2026-11-13 8:22 AM on the board above), returned as bank_updated_at next to our captured_at.
Every day's board is kept permanently, from 13 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 INR (6.67%), USD (6.69%), EUR (6.90%) and the widest ZAR (10.45%), MUR (10.22%), SGD (8.45%). 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.

Get the board (REST)

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

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

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

{
  "bank": "absasc",
  "name": "Absa Bank (Seychelles)",
  "country": "sc",
  "quote_ccy": "SCR",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-13 8:22 AM",
  "basis": "TT / draft buy / sell (daily indicative sheet)",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:46:44.739Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"AUD","buy":9.3871,"sell":10.2151,"mid":9.8011,"spread_pct":8.448,"official":null,"vs_official_pct":null},
    {"ccy":"CAD","buy":9.6731,"sell":10.5264,"mid":10.09975,"spread_pct":8.449,"official":null,"vs_official_pct":null},
    {"ccy":"CHF","buy":16.5168,"sell":17.9738,"mid":17.2453,"spread_pct":8.449,"official":null,"vs_official_pct":null},
    … 10 more currencies
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

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

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

{
  "bank": "absasc",
  "name": "Absa Bank (Seychelles)",
  "country": "sc",
  "quote_ccy": "SCR",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-13 8:22 AM",
  "basis": "TT / draft buy / sell (daily indicative sheet)",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:46:44.739Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 14.0374,
  "sell": 15.009,
  "mid": 14.5232,
  "spread_pct": 6.69,
  "official": null,
  "vs_official_pct": null,
  "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 Absa Bank (Seychelles) on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://www.absa.sc/content/dam/seychelles/absa/pdf/fx-rates/daily-indicative-rates.pdf",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/sc/absasc/",
    "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/sc/absasc?date=2026-11-13" \
  -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/sc/absasc/history?ccy=USD&from=2026-11-13&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' });

// Absa Bank (Seychelles)'s USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('sc', { bank: 'absasc', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`Absa Seychelles buys USD at ${r.buy}, sells at ${r.sell} SCR`);

// The board as it stood on a past day
const past = await client.bankRates('sc', { bank: 'absasc', date: '2026-11-13' });
console.log(past.snapshot_date, past.rates.length);

Python

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/sc/absasc",
    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 IMF (no Central Bank of Seychelles source in the product) rate is the one tax, accounting and customs rules in Seychelles name; nobody transacts at it. Absa Seychelles's board is the price a customer actually gets. Where the central bank has a rate for the same currency, the API returns it as official with vs_official_pct alongside; for Seychelles that is the US dollar only. Use the IMF (no Central Bank of Seychelles source in the product) endpoint when a rule asks for the official rate.

FAQ

Where do the Absa Bank (Seychelles) rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://www.absa.sc/content/dam/seychelles/absa/pdf/fx-rates/daily-indicative-rates.pdf), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price Absa Seychelles shows, with the mid, the spread and the IMF (no Central Bank of Seychelles source in the product) rate added.

Are these the official SCR exchange rates?

No. They are Absa Seychelles's retail prices for customers. The official rate in Seychelles is the IMF (no Central Bank of Seychelles source in the product) 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 Absa Seychelles 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 Absa Seychelles rates for a past date?

Yes, from 13 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.

Absa Bank (Seychelles) rates, as JSON

Free API key, hourly board captures, the official rate alongside.

Get your free API key