Banks to settle int’l card payments on open market dollar rate

KARACHI: Pakistani banks have announced to settle Debit/credit card transactions on international merchants and websites at the open market dollar rate, ARY News reported.

As a result, the conversion rate for the transactions would be determined by the current open market rate, which may be different from the rate indicated on the website of the foreign merchant.

The banks in an announcement informed customers that they can only settle debit/credit card transactions on international merchants/websites by purchasing dollars from the open market. Hence the conversion rate on these transactions is applied according to the prevailing open market rate.

Bankers said the announcement was in response to various customer complaints regarding higher exchange rate.

he Pakistani rupee’s downward trend continued on Thursday as the local currency lost Re0.17 against the US dollar in the interbank market.

The local currency closed at Rs227.12 per dollar, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). This equates to an appreciation of 0.07 per cent from yesterday’s close of Rs226.95.