What Comorian franc actually arrives in Comoros 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 (KMF) |
|---|---|
| 500 AUD | 153,470 KMF |
| 1,000 AUD | 306,940 KMF |
| 2,000 AUD | 613,880 KMF |
| 5,000 AUD | 1,534,700 KMF |
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.
An Indian Ocean archipelago that governs three volcanic islands and claims a fourth, the Comoros perfumes the world with ylang-ylang and grows much of the vanilla that flavours it.
Four horizontal stripes of yellow, white, red and blue, with a green triangle at the hoist bearing a white crescent and four white stars. The constitution describes the design without assigning meanings; the stripes and stars are conventionally read as the four islands - Mwali (Moheli), Maore (Mayotte), Ndzuwani (Anjouan) and Ngazidja (Grande Comore) - and the crescent and green as Islam. Mayotte is administered by France and claimed by the Comoros.
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.
Comoros holds its franc at a fixed euro rate under an arrangement inherited from the CFA franc system, so movement here comes from the Australian dollar against the euro rather than from anything happening in the islands. Money sent home by Comorians abroad is a very large share of national income.
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 Comoros 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/KMF converter page handles any amount. Receiving money from overseas explains the process end to end.
The Comorian interbank system exchanges paper, once a day. The Banque Centrale des Comores describes its clearing house as an interbank system for exchanging payment orders in paper format, established in 2006, handling cheques, transfers, the unpaid items arising from them and accounting adjustment forms. A clearing session is held every day except Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, in Moroni, with participants settling by multilateral compensation on the central bank's books, and participation limited to banking institutions with permanent branches.
Reaching somebody on one of the other islands is therefore a question of who keeps a counter there. The central bank licenses three financial intermediaries for exchange operations and transfers with abroad: the state-owned national postal and financial services company, created in 2005 and operating nationwide; a Comorian transfer house established in 2009 handling national and international transfers; and a third approved in June 2014 and based at Missiri on Anjouan.
Below them sits a cooperative layer whose reach is uneven and published. The central bank's register of credit institutions records the Meck network with fourteen base units, nine on Grande Comore, four on Anjouan and one on Moheli, alongside unions of sanduk on Anjouan and Moheli approved in 2006 and 2011, the first with thirty-two affiliated units and largely rural. Four banks are licensed. Comoros has no entry in the ISO 13616 registry, so an international account number is not what a recipient supplies.
Sources: Banque Centrale des Comores, La chambre de compensation · Banque Centrale des Comores, Intermediaires financiers · Banque Centrale des Comores, Etablissements de credit · SWIFT, ISO 13616 IBAN Registry
How much Comorian franc will I receive in Comoros?
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 Comoros 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 Comoros. 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.