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Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) lets an international cardholder pay in their home currency instead of the merchant’s local currency, with the exchange rate and converted amount shown upfront before they confirm. When a cardholder’s card currency differs from the merchant’s local currency, the acquirer’s system calls Fexco’s rate service to generate a DCC offer. The cardholder is offered a choice between the merchant’s local currency and their home currency at the quoted rate. Fexco supplies the rate and amount only. The actual transfer of funds between the merchant, acquirer, and cardholder’s banks happens afterward through the card schemes (payment networks such as Visa or Mastercard). DCC applies across three channels:

Point of sale (POS)

The cardholder presents a foreign card at a physical terminal. The terminal or host calls Fexco’s rate service and presents the DCC offer before the transaction is authorized.
POS PIN pad terminal showing Visa currency selection with exchange rate, margin, and buttons to select GBP or USD.

POS terminal showing a DCC transaction. The cardholder sees the exchange rate and margin, then selects their home currency.

Ecommerce (eDCC)

At an online checkout, the payment page calls Fexco’s rate service and presents the DCC offer before the cardholder confirms payment. The rate is generated at the moment of checkout, in the same way as a POS transaction.
Ecommerce checkout page with a currency selection modal showing GBP and USD options with exchange rate and margin.

Ecommerce checkout showing the DCC currency selection. The cardholder sees the exchange rate and margin before choosing a currency.

ATM

An international cardholder withdrawing cash sees the cost of the withdrawal in their home currency before confirming. Fexco’s rate service generates the rate at the point of withdrawal.
ATM screen showing cash withdrawal amount in GBP, exchange rate, margin, and converted amount in USD with accept and decline options.

ATM screen showing the DCC offer for a cash withdrawal. The cardholder can accept or decline the currency conversion.

After the cardholder accepts the DCC offer on any channel, they receive a confirmation showing the converted amount, exchange rate, and margin applied.

How DCC works

The core DCC flow is the same across all three channels. The steps below use a POS transaction as the example:
  1. Present the card: The cardholder presents their foreign card at the point of payment.
  2. Request a rate: The acquirer’s system routes a rate request to Fexco, identifying the merchant and card for the transaction amount.
  3. Receive the rate and amount: Fexco’s rate service returns the exchange rate and the equivalent amount in the cardholder’s home currency.
  4. Present the DCC offer: The terminal or payment page offers the cardholder a choice: pay in the merchant’s local currency or in their own currency. Their choice is recorded.
  5. Authorize the transaction: If the cardholder chooses their home currency, the transaction is authorized with the card schemes at the converted amount.
  6. Issue a receipt: The acquirer receives an authorization confirmation and issues a DCC-compliant receipt showing the rate applied.
The diagram below shows a complete POS transaction, from the cardholder presenting their card to the acquirer receiving the authorization confirmation.

Who integrates with DCC?

Fexco’s direct customers are acquirers (the banks that hold merchant accounts), payment service providers (PSPs), and ATM operators. An acquirer, PSP, or ATM operator integrates with the DCC APIs described in this documentation, then offers DCC to the merchants or ATM estate it manages.
Merchants and cardholders never call Fexco’s APIs directly.

DCC integration components

A DCC integration is made up of three components. Most integrations touch all three, though not every acquirer boards merchants directly with Fexco.

Merchant boarding

Registers a merchant location with Fexco under a template that controls its currencies, commission structure, and whether DCC is active.

Rate service

Returns the exchange rate and amount for a DCC offer, requested by the acquirer in real time at the point of payment.

Transaction import

Reports which DCC offers were accepted, so Fexco can calculate commission.
These three components run in sequence for a single transaction:
  1. A merchant is boarded once, ahead of time, which assigns it a template that determines its DCC configuration.
  2. At the point of payment, the acquirer calls the rate service for a rate and amount, and the cardholder accepts or declines the DCC offer.
  3. The acquirer reports the transaction to Fexco through a transaction import file, which allows Fexco to calculate commission for accepted DCC offers.
Boarding happens once per merchant, while the rate service and transaction import repeat for every transaction. See Integration journey for how these fit into the phases of building and launching your integration.

Next steps

Now that you understand how DCC works, explore the pages below to continue.
  • What is MCP?: learn about Multi-Currency Pricing, a separate mechanism where merchants pre-price products in the cardholder’s home currency before checkout.
  • Integration journey: see the phases from onboarding to production.
  • Before you integrate: find out what you need from Fexco before you start building.