A bureau de change (plural bureaux de change, both pronounced is a business whose customers exchange one currency for another. Although originally french, the term bureau de change is widely used throughout Europe and parts of Africa.
A bureau de change is often located at a bank, at a travel agent, airport, main railway station or large stores— namely, anywhere there is likely to be a market for people needing to convert currency. So they are particularly prominent at travel hubs, although currency can be exchanged in many other ways both legally and illegally in other venues
Business model
A bureau de change makes profit and competes by manipulating two variables: the exchange rate they use to calculate transactions, and an explicit commission for their service.
The exchange rates charged at bureaux are generally related to the spot prices available for large interbank transactions, and are adjusted to guarantee a profit. The rate at which a bureau will buy currency differs from that at which it will sell it; for every currency it trades both will be on display, generally in the shop window.
