What Your Bank Is Quietly Charging You on Every Forex Payment
Ryan Booysen
Foreign Exchange Specialist
18 May 2026
6 Min Read
In January this year, the rand was trading R15.69/$. By late March it had hit R17.20/$
That is a R1.50/$ swing - in less than three months.
For a business spending R2 million a month on foreign supplier payments, that move could have decimated your margin without a single bad decision on your part.
Your supplier never raised their prices.
You didn't change your product.
You didn't make a wrong business call.
The Rand moved - and your input costs went up by roughly R294,000 in a quarter. Quietly. Automatically.
This is unfortunately not the only way importers and exporters bleed margin...
The "spread" you never see
Here's what's interesting: your bank knows exactly what they're making on every forex payment you process. To the cent. Most of their business clients have no idea. There are two costs in every forex payment - and your bank is hoping you never calculate the second one.
Here's how the bank rate actually works - and why it costs you more than you think.
When your bank shows you an FX rate, they adjust pricing in line with your FX turnover numbers (meaning that the more FX you do, the better the rate should become). That adjustment is called the spread. It does not appear as a fee. It does not show up as a line item. It is built into the rate itself - which is exactly why most businesses are not aware of it.
For most South African businesses, that spread sits between 0.6% and 1% (and in some cases even greater than 1%) of the transaction value. On a $50,000.00 supplier payment, that's R5,000 to R8,000. On $150,000 a month in forex, that's between R180,000 and R300,000 a year going directly to your bank.
Not for a service. Not for compliance. Not for anything except the privilege of converting your money.
Why you're getting a retail rate on a wholesale transaction
Banks tier their forex pricing by volume. Large corporates - think Shoprite, Pick n Pay, major manufacturing groups - trade enough currency every month that banks compete aggressively for their business. They get rates as low as 0.1-0.3%.
Everyone else gets the retail window. Even if you're moving R5 million a month, if you're banking with a standard business account at one of the big four, you're almost certainly in the retail tier.
Forex intermediaries like DG Capital work differently. By combining transaction volume of all our clients - currently over $1 billion annually - we sit in the top pricing tier with our banking partners. That wholesale rate gets passed directly to each client. A business moving R1 million a month can access rates of approximately 0.33% - a number usually reserved for companies twenty times their size.
DGFX Rand Alert - on WhatsApp
Get notified the moment the Rand makes a move that matters to your money
What about bank fees on top of that?
The spread isn't the only cost. Most banks charge additional transaction fees - SWIFT fees, beneficiary fees, and processing charges - on top of the rate margin. These are usually tiered based on the transaction size as well and compound quickly for businesses making multiple payments a month.
A forex intermediary typically passes them through at cost, with no markup and in most cases our partnering banks provide flat rate TT Fees so it's easier to pick up and understand.
The 2026 context: this is not the year to be paying retail
The Middle East conflict has kept oil prices elevated and inflation creeping upward - SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago has already signalled readiness to hike rates if pressure persists. Trump's tariff escalation has created significant uncertainty for South African exporters who relied on AGOA. Global supply chains are re-routing.
In this environment, every basis point matters. A business that saves R15,000 a month on forex costs has that money to cover a cost increase, or simply protect its margin. A business that's been quietly overpaying has less buffer for exactly the kind of shocks markets keep delivering.
How to find out what you're actually paying? The simplest way is to give us a call, we can do live as well as retrospective rate checks for you.
See what your bank is charging you
Plug in your monthly volume and your bank's rate. You'll have your annual forex cost and the DG Capital comparison in under 60 seconds.
What switching actually looks like
A common objection: "It sounds good, but switching is complicated." It's not.
Opening an account through DG Capital involves a call to understand your business, a cost comparison, and FICA documentation - the same documentation you already have.
Most business clients are trading within 72 hours of their first conversation. The compliance is handled on your behalf. There is a streamlined online process to navigate without any bank branch visits required.
One point of contact. One call. One sharp rate you can rely on.
18 May 2026
6 Min Read
Ryan Booysen
Foreign Exchange
Specialist
In January this year, the rand was trading R15.69/$. By late March it had hit R17.20/$
That is a R1.50/$ swing - in less than three months.
For a business spending R2 million a month on foreign supplier payments, that move could have decimated your margin without a single bad decision on your part.
Your supplier never raised their prices.
You didn't change your product.
You didn't make a wrong business call.
The Rand moved - and your input costs went up by roughly R294,000 in a quarter. Quietly. Automatically.
This is unfortunately not the only way importers and exporters bleed margin...
The "spread" you never see
Here's what's interesting: your bank knows exactly what they're making on every forex payment you process. To the cent. Most of their business clients have no idea. There are two costs in every forex payment - and your bank is hoping you never calculate the second one.
Here's how the bank rate actually works - and why it costs you more than you think.
When your bank shows you an FX rate, they adjust pricing in line with your FX turnover numbers (meaning that the more FX you do, the better the rate should become). That adjustment is called the spread. It does not appear as a fee. It does not show up as a line item. It is built into the rate itself - which is exactly why most businesses are not aware of it.
For most South African businesses, that spread sits between 0.6% and 1% (and in some cases even greater than 1%) of the transaction value. On a $50,000.00 supplier payment, that's R5,000 to R8,000. On $150,000 a month in forex, that's between R180,000 and R300,000 a year going directly to your bank.
Not for a service. Not for compliance. Not for anything except the privilege of converting your money.
Why you're getting a retail rate on a wholesale transaction
Banks tier their forex pricing by volume. Large corporates - think Shoprite, Pick n Pay, major manufacturing groups - trade enough currency every month that banks compete aggressively for their business. They get rates as low as 0.1-0.3%.
Everyone else gets the retail window. Even if you're moving R5 million a month, if you're banking with a standard business account at one of the big four, you're almost certainly in the retail tier.
Forex intermediaries like DG Capital work differently. By combining transaction volume of all our clients - currently over $1 billion annually - we sit in the top pricing tier with our banking partners. That wholesale rate gets passed directly to each client. A business moving R1 million a month can access rates of approximately 0.33% - a number usually reserved for companies twenty times their size.
DGFX Rand Alert - on WhatsApp
Get notified the moment the Rand makes a move that matters to your money
What about bank fees on top of that?
The spread isn't the only cost. Most banks charge additional transaction fees - SWIFT fees, beneficiary fees, and processing charges - on top of the rate margin. These are usually tiered based on the transaction size as well and compound quickly for businesses making multiple payments a month.
A forex intermediary typically passes them through at cost, with no markup and in most cases our partnering banks provide flat rate TT Fees so it's easier to pick up and understand.
The 2026 context: this is not the year to be paying retail
The Middle East conflict has kept oil prices elevated and inflation creeping upward - SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago has already signalled readiness to hike rates if pressure persists. Trump's tariff escalation has created significant uncertainty for South African exporters who relied on AGOA. Global supply chains are re-routing.
In this environment, every basis point matters. A business that saves R15,000 a month on forex costs has that money to cover a cost increase, or simply protect its margin. A business that's been quietly overpaying has less buffer for exactly the kind of shocks markets keep delivering.
How to find out what you're actually paying? The simplest way is to give us a call, we can do live as well as retrospective rate checks for you.
See what your bank is charging you
Plug in your monthly volume and your bank's rate. You'll have your annual forex cost and the DG Capital comparison in under 60 seconds.
What switching actually looks like
A common objection: "It sounds good, but switching is complicated." It's not.
Opening an account through DG Capital involves a call to understand your business, a cost comparison, and FICA documentation - the same documentation you already have.
Most business clients are trading within 72 hours of their first conversation. The compliance is handled on your behalf. There is a streamlined online process to navigate without any bank branch visits required.
One point of contact. One call. One sharp rate you can rely on.
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before it costs you money.
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Be the first to know what's happening with the markets, what it means for you
and what to do about it -
before it costs you money.
Delivered weekly, straight to your inbox.
©2026 DG Forex Services.
All rights reserved.
©2026 DG Forex Services.
All rights reserved.