CEC Bank Exchange Rate API: RON Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

CEC Bank is Romania’s state-owned savings bank, with more than 1,000 units. Its exchange-rate page lists buying and selling rates in lei for nine currencies on three boards: internet banking, account and card operations, and the exchange desk. This guide shows how to read that board as JSON: what the rates mean, how they compare with the National Bank of Romania official rate and with other banks in Romania, and the calls that return them.

What the CEC board shows

• 9 currencies against the Romanian leu: CAD, CHF, DKK, EUR, GBP, HUF, PLN, SEK and USD. Every value is RON per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
• The account / card operations (operațiuni cont/card) buy / sell pair. Romanian banks publish separate boards for account conversions, their mobile apps, cash at the exchange office and card payments. The rates here are the account (non-cash) pair; the National Bank of Romania sets a daily reference rate around 13:00 that sits between them. The National Bank of Romania official rate is shown next to each row.
• USD on 15 November 2026: CEC bought at 4.7661 and sold at 4.9082 RON, a spread of 2.94%. The National Bank of Romania official rate was 4.8428, so the bank's mid sat -0.12% from it.
• The bank's own timestamp. The page prints a last-updated stamp (13.11.2026 17:00 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 EUR (1.99%), CHF (2.48%), USD (2.94%) and the widest HUF (9.18%), PLN (8.83%), SEK (8.35%). 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 CEC and other banks in Romania

USD on the 11 boards AllRatesToday reads in Romania, all captured on 15 November 2026 (the National Bank of Romania official rate was 4.8428):

CEC had the 3rd narrowest USD spread of the 11. One call to /api/v1/bank-rates/ro 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/ro/cec" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

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

{
  "bank": "cec",
  "name": "CEC Bank",
  "country": "ro",
  "quote_ccy": "RON",
  "bank_updated_at": "13.11.2026 17:00",
  "basis": "Account / card operations (operațiuni cont/card) buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:22:29.245Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"CAD","buy":3.3058,"sell":3.4936,"mid":3.3997,"spread_pct":5.524,"official":3.3942,"vs_official_pct":0.162},
    {"ccy":"CHF","buy":5.7081,"sell":5.8516,"mid":5.77985,"spread_pct":2.483,"official":5.7814,"vs_official_pct":-0.027},
    {"ccy":"DKK","buy":0.6955,"sell":0.7357,"mid":0.7156,"spread_pct":5.618,"official":0.7156,"vs_official_pct":0},
    … 6 more currencies
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

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

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

{
  "bank": "cec",
  "name": "CEC Bank",
  "country": "ro",
  "quote_ccy": "RON",
  "bank_updated_at": "13.11.2026 17:00",
  "basis": "Account / card operations (operațiuni cont/card) buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:22:29.245Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 4.7661,
  "sell": 4.9082,
  "mid": 4.83715,
  "spread_pct": 2.938,
  "official": 4.8428,
  "vs_official_pct": -0.117,
  "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 CEC Bank on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://www.cec.ro/curs-valutar",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/ro/cec/",
    "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/ro/cec?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/ro/cec/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' });

// CEC Bank's USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('ro', { bank: 'cec', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`CEC buys USD at ${r.buy}, sells at ${r.sell} RON`);

// The board as it stood on a past day
const past = await client.bankRates('ro', { bank: 'cec', 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/ro/cec",
    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 National Bank of Romania rate is the one tax, accounting and customs rules in Romania name; nobody transacts at it. CEC'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 National Bank of Romania endpoint when a rule asks for the official rate.

FAQ

Where do the CEC Bank rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://www.cec.ro/curs-valutar), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price CEC shows, with the mid, the spread and the National Bank of Romania rate added.

Are these the official RON exchange rates?

No. They are CEC's retail prices for customers. The official rate in Romania is the National Bank of Romania 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 CEC 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 CEC 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.