Standard Bank Exchange Rate API: ZAR Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

Standard Bank is South Africa's largest bank by assets and the core of Standard Bank Group. Its forex rates page lists telegraphic transfer and foreign-note buying and selling rates for about 60 currencies, set once each business day at 16:00, with a dated history of past sheets. This guide shows how to read that board as JSON: what the rates mean, how they compare with the South African Reserve Bank official rate and with other banks in South Africa, and the calls that return them.

What the Standard Bank board shows

• 57 currencies against the South African rand: AED, AOA, ARS, AUD, BDT, BRL, BWP, CAD, CHF, CNY, CZK, DKK, EGP, EUR, FJD, GBP, GHS, GMD, GNF, HKD, HUF, ILS, INR, ISK, JPY, KES, KRW, LKR, MAD, MGA, MUR, MWK, MXN, MZN, NGN, NOK, NZD, PLN, QAR, RON, RUB, RWF, SAR, SCR, SEK, SGD, SSP, THB, TND, TRY, TWD, TZS, UGX, USD, XAF, XOF and ZMW. Every value is ZAR per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
• The telegraphic transfer buy / sell pair. South African banks set their own buying and selling rates for transfers and bank notes from the interbank rand market and update them several times a day. Most currencies are quoted as foreign units per rand and only the majors as rand per unit; every figure here is converted to rand per 1 unit. The South African Reserve Bank sets official reference rates but not bank rates.
• USD on 15 November 2026: Standard Bank bought at 16.7703 and sold at 17.1328 ZAR, a spread of 2.14%. The South African Reserve Bank official rate was 16.8478, so the bank's mid sat +0.62% from it.
• The bank's own timestamp. The page prints a last-updated stamp (2026-11-13 16:00:18 (Johannesburg) 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 TZS (0.77%), USD (2.14%), SCR (2.14%) and the widest XAF (12.76%), BWP (12.07%), MZN (10.70%). 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 Standard Bank and other banks in South Africa

USD on the 3 boards AllRatesToday reads in South Africa, all captured on 15 November 2026 (the South African Reserve Bank official rate was 16.8478):

Standard Bank had the narrowest USD spread of the 3. One call to /api/v1/bank-rates/za 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/za/standardbank" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

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

{
  "bank": "standardbank",
  "name": "Standard Bank",
  "country": "za",
  "quote_ccy": "ZAR",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-13 16:00:18 (Johannesburg)",
  "basis": "Telegraphic transfer buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:22:26.941Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"AED","buy":4.50248,"sell":4.73037,"mid":4.616425,"spread_pct":4.937,"official":null,"vs_official_pct":null},
    {"ccy":"AOA","buy":0.017149,"sell":0.0187769,"mid":0.01796295,"spread_pct":9.063,"official":null,"vs_official_pct":null},
    {"ccy":"ARS","buy":0.010833,"sell":0.0110754,"mid":0.0109542,"spread_pct":2.213,"official":null,"vs_official_pct":null},
    … 54 more currencies
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

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

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

{
  "bank": "standardbank",
  "name": "Standard Bank",
  "country": "za",
  "quote_ccy": "ZAR",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-13 16:00:18 (Johannesburg)",
  "basis": "Telegraphic transfer buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:22:26.941Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 16.7703,
  "sell": 17.1328,
  "mid": 16.95155,
  "spread_pct": 2.138,
  "official": 16.8478,
  "vs_official_pct": 0.616,
  "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 Standard Bank on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://ws15.standardbank.co.za/finSnapShot/GetforexServlet",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/za/standardbank/",
    "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/za/standardbank?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/za/standardbank/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' });

// Standard Bank's USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('za', { bank: 'standardbank', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`Standard Bank buys USD at ${r.buy}, sells at ${r.sell} ZAR`);

// The board as it stood on a past day
const past = await client.bankRates('za', { bank: 'standardbank', 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/za/standardbank",
    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 South African Reserve Bank rate is the one tax, accounting and customs rules in South Africa name; nobody transacts at it. Standard 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 South African Reserve Bank endpoint when a rule asks for the official rate.

FAQ

Where do the Standard Bank rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://ws15.standardbank.co.za/finSnapShot/GetforexServlet), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price Standard Bank shows, with the mid, the spread and the South African Reserve Bank rate added.

Are these the official ZAR exchange rates?

No. They are Standard Bank's retail prices for customers. The official rate in South Africa is the South African Reserve 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 Standard 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 Standard Bank 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.