SBM Bank Kenya Exchange Rate API: KES Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

SBM Bank Kenya is the Kenyan subsidiary of Mauritius’s SBM Group. Its home page carries a forex ticker with buying and selling rates in Kenyan shillings for seven currencies. This guide shows how to read that board as JSON: what the rates mean, how they compare with the Central Bank of Kenya official rate and with other banks in Kenya, and the calls that return them.

What the SBM Kenya board shows

• 6 currencies against the Kenyan shilling: AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY and USD. Every value is KES per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
• The home-page FX ticker (buy / sell) pair. The Kenyan shilling floats and each bank sets its own buying and selling rates from the interbank market, so spreads differ between banks and currencies. Regional currencies such as the Ugandan and Tanzanian shilling are often quoted per 1 KES; they are converted here to KES per 1 unit. The Central Bank of Kenya sets a daily official mean rate, which banks are not bound to use.
• USD on 15 November 2026: SBM Kenya bought at 127.5 and sold at 131.7 KES, a spread of 3.24%. The Central Bank of Kenya official rate was 129.96, so the bank's mid sat -0.28% from it.
• No timestamp on the bank's page. SBM Kenya does not print a last-updated time, so bank_updated_at is null and captured_at (when AllRatesToday read the page) is the only time available.
• 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 (3.24%), GBP (7.56%), EUR (8.76%) and the widest JPY (16.61%), AUD (13.13%), CAD (13.13%). 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 SBM Kenya and other banks in Kenya

USD on the 11 boards AllRatesToday reads in Kenya, all captured on 15 November 2026 (the Central Bank of Kenya official rate was 129.96):

SBM Kenya had the 5th narrowest USD spread of the 11. One call to /api/v1/bank-rates/ke 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/ke/sbmke" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

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

{
  "bank": "sbmke",
  "name": "SBM Bank Kenya",
  "country": "ke",
  "quote_ccy": "KES",
  "bank_updated_at": null,
  "basis": "Home-page FX ticker (buy / sell)",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:53:29.548Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"AUD","buy":85.3,"sell":97.29,"mid":91.295,"spread_pct":13.133,"official":88.36,"vs_official_pct":3.322},
    {"ccy":"CAD","buy":85.4,"sell":97.4,"mid":91.4,"spread_pct":13.129,"official":91.13,"vs_official_pct":0.296},
    {"ccy":"EUR","buy":139.7,"sell":152.5,"mid":146.1,"spread_pct":8.761,"official":143.73,"vs_official_pct":1.649},
    … 3 more currencies
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

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

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

{
  "bank": "sbmke",
  "name": "SBM Bank Kenya",
  "country": "ke",
  "quote_ccy": "KES",
  "bank_updated_at": null,
  "basis": "Home-page FX ticker (buy / sell)",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:53:29.548Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 127.5,
  "sell": 131.7,
  "mid": 129.6,
  "spread_pct": 3.241,
  "official": 129.96,
  "vs_official_pct": -0.277,
  "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 SBM Bank Kenya on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://www.sbmbank.co.ke/",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/ke/sbmke/",
    "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/ke/sbmke?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/ke/sbmke/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' });

// SBM Bank Kenya's USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('ke', { bank: 'sbmke', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`SBM Kenya buys USD at ${r.buy}, sells at ${r.sell} KES`);

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

FAQ

Where do the SBM Bank Kenya rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://www.sbmbank.co.ke/), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price SBM Kenya shows, with the mid, the spread and the Central Bank of Kenya rate added.

Are these the official KES exchange rates?

No. They are SBM Kenya's retail prices for customers. The official rate in Kenya is the Central Bank of Kenya 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 SBM Kenya board updated?

AllRatesToday reads the page every hour. The bank prints no timestamp, so captured_at tells you when the rates were read.

Can I get SBM Kenya 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.