BIC Bank Lao Exchange Rate API: LAK Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

BIC Bank Lao is a commercial bank in Vientiane owned by Thai investors. Its website shows buying and selling rates in kip for the US dollar, Thai baht, yuan and euro. This guide shows how to read that board as JSON: what the rates mean, how they compare with the Bank of the Lao PDR official rate and with other banks in Laos, and the calls that return them.

What the BIC Bank board shows

• 4 currencies against the Laotian kip: CNY, EUR, THB and USD. Every value is LAK per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
• The counter board pair. Lao banks print separate buying rates for notes, bills and electronic transfers against one selling rate, set each morning around the Bank of the Lao PDR reference rate. The rates here are the electronic-transfer buy against the sell. The Bank of the Lao PDR official rate is shown next to each row.
• USD on 15 November 2026: BIC Bank bought at 22396 and sold at 22609 LAK, a spread of 0.95%. The Bank of the Lao PDR official rate was 22630, so the bank's mid sat -0.56% from it.
• The bank's own timestamp. The page prints a last-updated stamp (2026-11-15 08:00:01 on the board above), returned as bank_updated_at next to our captured_at.
• Every day's board is kept permanently, from 15 November 2026, the day collection started. 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 (0.95%), CNY (1.46%), EUR (1.49%) and the widest THB (1.98%), EUR (1.49%), CNY (1.46%). 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 BIC Bank and other banks in Laos

USD on the 7 boards AllRatesToday reads in Laos, all captured on 15 November 2026 (the Bank of the Lao PDR official rate was 22630):

BIC Bank had the 2nd narrowest USD spread of the 7. One call to /api/v1/bank-rates/la 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/la/biclao" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

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

{
  "bank": "biclao",
  "name": "BIC Bank Lao",
  "country": "la",
  "quote_ccy": "LAK",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-15 08:00:01",
  "basis": "Counter board",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:16:12.924Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"CNY","buy":3330,"sell":3379,"mid":3354.5,"spread_pct":1.461,"official":3368,"vs_official_pct":-0.401},
    {"ccy":"EUR","buy":24694,"sell":25064,"mid":24879,"spread_pct":1.487,"official":25106,"vs_official_pct":-0.904},
    {"ccy":"THB","buy":667.65,"sell":680.99,"mid":674.32,"spread_pct":1.978,"official":680.4,"vs_official_pct":-0.894},
    … 1 more currencies
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

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

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

{
  "bank": "biclao",
  "name": "BIC Bank Lao",
  "country": "la",
  "quote_ccy": "LAK",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-15 08:00:01",
  "basis": "Counter board",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:16:12.924Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 22396,
  "sell": 22609,
  "mid": 22502.5,
  "spread_pct": 0.947,
  "official": 22630,
  "vs_official_pct": -0.563,
  "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 BIC Bank Lao on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://www.biclaos.com/",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/la/biclao/",
    "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/la/biclao?date=2026-11-15" \
  -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/la/biclao/history?ccy=USD&from=2026-11-15&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' });

// BIC Bank Lao's USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('la', { bank: 'biclao', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`BIC Bank buys USD at ${r.buy}, sells at ${r.sell} LAK`);

// The board as it stood on a past day
const past = await client.bankRates('la', { bank: 'biclao', date: '2026-11-15' });
console.log(past.snapshot_date, past.rates.length);

Python

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/la/biclao",
    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 Bank of the Lao PDR rate is the one tax, accounting and customs rules in Laos name; nobody transacts at it. BIC 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 Bank of the Lao PDR endpoint when a rule asks for the official rate.

FAQ

Where do the BIC Bank Lao rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://www.biclaos.com/), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price BIC Bank shows, with the mid, the spread and the Bank of the Lao PDR rate added.

Are these the official LAK exchange rates?

No. They are BIC Bank's retail prices for customers. The official rate in Laos is the Bank of the Lao PDR 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 BIC 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 BIC Bank rates for a past date?

Yes, from 15 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.