Argentina will ease regulations on opening and operating currency exchange businesses, the central bank said on Thursday, making it easier for tourists to buy pesos at hotels, restaurants and banks.
The measures are yet another blow to informal money changers who have experienced falling demand for their services under President Mauricio Macri.
Informal currency exchange proliferated in Argentina under former populist President Cristina Fernandez, whose currency controls drove local demand for US dollars. Tourists could change their home currency informally at the more favourable unofficial "blue" rate than at banks or formal exchange houses. So-called "arbolitos" - "little trees," owing to the dollar's green color - still line the corners and storefronts of Buenos Aires' touristy Florida street offering "cambio" to visitors and locals alike willing to risk an occasional counterfeit bill.
But the incentive to change money informally has fallen since Macri allowed the peso to float shortly after taking office in December, nearly closing the gap between the official and "blue" exchange rates. "There's a lot less work," said Miguel, who has worked as an informal money-changer for three years and declined to give his last name. He said he was not concerned about the new central bank rules, noting that many tourists find it inconvenient to wait in lines and produce documentation at formal establishments with limited operating hours and less favourable rates.
The new rules, approved by the central bank's board, will allow businesses hoping to open currency exchange locations to begin operating after informing the central bank, rather than waiting for the monetary authority's approval as previously required.
A restriction prohibiting banks from directly owning currency exchange businesses will be lifted, and both independent and bank-owned exchange houses will be able to operate within other businesses like hotels, travel agencies and restaurants. Businesses linked with tourism will also be allowed to exchange currencies themselves, the central bank said.
The new rules mark the latest tourist-friendly reform initiated in Argentina under Macri. In August, he eliminated the $160 "reciprocity" fee that had been charged to US tourists entering the country.
Aldo Elias, president of Argentina's Tourism Hotels Association, said the new rules would simplify what had previously been a messy process that left tourists vulnerable to being swindled.
"This will improve the process of changing money," Elias said. "Going out in the street is neither safe nor simple."
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