What Cape Verdean escudo actually arrives in Cape Verde when someone sends Australian dollars, at the live mid-market rate. We explain the process; we never recommend a provider.
| They send (AUD) | You receive at mid-market (CVE) |
|---|---|
| 500 AUD | 34,323 CVE |
| 1,000 AUD | 68,645 CVE |
| 2,000 AUD | 137,290 CVE |
| 5,000 AUD | 343,225 CVE |
Mid-market equivalents, not transfer quotes - the sender’s provider deducts its margin and any fees before the money reaches you. STRUCK 11:00 AEST · TUE 13 OCT.
A scatter of ten volcanic islands off West Africa, Cape Verde has no natural rivers, exports its musicians to the world, and turned isolation into one of Africa's most stable democracies.
A blue field crossed by a band of white, red and white below centre, with a ring of ten yellow five-pointed stars. The stars stand for the archipelago's ten islands, set in a circle as a sign of union; blue is the sky and sea, white is peace, and red the people's effort.
A continent pretending to be a country - Australia is the only nation that fills an entire continent, with most of its 27 million people clinging to the coast while the red-dirt interior does its own thing.
A blue field with the Union Jack in the canton, a large white seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below it, and the five white stars of the Southern Cross at the fly. Six of the big star's points stand for the states and the seventh for the territories; the Southern Cross marks Australia's place in the southern sky.
Cape Verde holds its escudo at a fixed rate against the euro under a long-standing arrangement with Portugal, so an Australian dollar buys escudos in step with what it buys euros. More Cape Verdeans live abroad than on the islands, which makes money sent home an unusually large part of the economy.
The exchange rate is set on the sending side - by the service the sender chooses in Australia - so the most useful thing a receiver can do happens before the transfer: share the live mid-market rate on this page so the sender can judge the margin in their quote. How the money arrives in Cape Verde determines any local receiving charges - bank-to-bank transfers can pass through intermediary banks that deduct handling fees.
Sending rather than receiving? The sender’s view of this corridor covers the same rate from the other side. The AUD/CVE converter page handles any amount. Receiving money from overseas explains the process end to end.
In Cape Verde the same company carries the international leg and the domestic one. The SWIFT network in the country was run for roughly twenty years as a shared network by the Banco de Cabo Verde, then transferred to the interbank payment systems company, which certified as the first SWIFT service bureau in Cape Verde and provides connectivity from the archipelago to any institution, whether or not it is present in the country. A payment arriving from outside reaches the islands through infrastructure that company operates.
It then lands on a network the same company runs. The Government's financial sector strategy records that, unlike many other markets, banks in Cape Verde do not operate their own cash machine networks but share that company's integrated network, of which they are shareholders. It was created in 1999, and its shareholders include the Banco de Cabo Verde and the Treasury alongside the commercial banks, so the rail a recipient withdraws from is jointly owned by the institutions that use it.
Reach on the ground is bounded and published. In 2018 the branch network of seven commercial banks and four restricted-authorisation credit institutions covered eighteen of the country's twenty-two municipalities, which leaves four with no branch of any kind. Cape Verde has no entry in the ISO 13616 registry, so a recipient supplies the domestic account identifier and their own institution's details rather than an international account number.
Sources: Ministerio das Financas, Republica de Cabo Verde, Estrategia de Desenvolvimento do Sector Financeiro Cabo-Verdiano 2019-2021 · Sociedade Interbancaria e Sistemas de Pagamentos, About · SWIFT, ISO 13616 IBAN Registry
How much Cape Verdean escudo will I receive in Cape Verde?
A little less than the mid-market figures above. The service the sender uses in Australia sets the rate and fees; local receiving banks in Cape Verde can also apply their own charges depending on how the transfer arrives.
The sender asked for my details - what will they need?
Whatever their transfer service asks for on the receiving side - typically your full legal name and local bank account details in Cape Verde. Give the name exactly as your bank records it; mismatches are the most common reason a transfer is delayed.
Why did I receive less than the rate on this page suggests?
No retail provider transacts at the mid-market rate - it is the midpoint of the wholesale market. What separates it from a quoted rate is margin, and margin is normally a larger cost than any advertised fee. On a bank-to-bank transfer an intermediary bank can also deduct a handling charge in transit.