Banco Central de Cuba
Cuba's monetary authority; sets exchange rates and licences new private exchange houses.
Banco Central de Cuba's first private exchange-house licence moved the 18 June financial Reform from law to practice in September; the central bank now controls who can enter the new market.
Last refreshed: 22 October 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
Will Cuba publish rules for a second private exchange house?
Timeline for Banco Central de Cuba
Moved its official rate to 681
Cuba Dispatch: Cuban peso sinks to 750 per dollarConfirmed a private exchange house met its requirements
Cuba Dispatch: Cuba clears first private exchange houseCuba's private-bank law, no licence yet
Cuba DispatchReceived supervisory authority over newly authorised private corporate banks
Cuba Dispatch: Cuba legalises private banks, GAESA blacklistedMentioned in: Informal dollar hits record 600 pesos
Cuba DispatchBackground
Banco Central de Cuba sets the country's official exchange-rate framework and supervises financial institutions. Its current market has three official segments; Segment III floats daily for individuals and non-state actors. This makes the bank's published rate a direct reference point for household and private-business currency exchange.
An 18 June 2026 Reform put private banks, exchange houses and non-bank lenders under BCC's supervision. A private exchange-house pilot confirmed in September was the first recorded use of that expanded role. The bank therefore sits at the junction of monetary policy and market access: it controls official currency arrangements while deciding which new financial firms can operate. That combination makes its rules and published decisions material to households and private businesses alike.
The licensing test has begun
On 18 June 2026, Cuba authorised private banks, private exchange houses and other named non-state financial services under Banco Central de Cuba's supervision. The measure put the bank in charge of licensing those newly enabled categories.
By 16 September, BCC said one private exchange house had met its requirements. ADT 64 had begun a pilot in Santa Clara on 31 August. The same account found no specific licensing rule in the official gazette and no published route for a second applicant, leaving the bank's first approval difficult to reproduce.
The official rate trails the street
On 29 September 2026, Banco Central de Cuba's floating Segment III rate stood at 681 pesos per dollar. El Toque's informal index was 750, a 69-peso gap between the bank's price and the street market.
That same 29 September snapshot put the informal euro at 850 pesos. For BCC, the figures measure how far the official market still sat from the rates households and private businesses faced outside it. The bank publishes Segment III as a daily floating rate, but the late-September gap showed that formal price-setting had not yet drawn the two markets together.
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Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 22 October 2026. Editorial standards.