The Banco de España is responsible for granting authorisation to perform transactions comprising the purchase and sale of foreign banknotes and traveller's cheques in exchange for delivery of their equivalent value in euro or in other banknotes of foreign banks in establishments open to the public other than credit institutions.
Either natural or legal persons may purchase foreign currency, and they may do so either as their exclusive activity or in addition to the business comprising the main activity.
The sale of foreign currency may be carried out only by a legal person in the form of a public limited company, with this business as its exclusive corporate purpose, without prejudice to the Banco de España deeming, at the request of the interested party, other activities as ancillary or supplementary to those of the corporate purpose, in accordance with the procedure for authorisation of supplementary activity for owners of currency-exchange bureaux
available at the Banco de España Virtual Office.
The applicable legislation, the authorisation procedure for owners of currency-exchange bureaux, the prior steps to be taken, the documentation which must accompany the application and the time limit for a decision to be made are available in the section on authorisation of owners of establishments open to the public to conduct foreign currency exchange transactions at the Banco de España Virtual Office .