African FX, explained with the data

Each guide answers one question a treasurer, analyst or developer actually asks, using the rates Modan records as the worked example. Measured, specific, and honest about what a number can and cannot tell you.

• Treasury · analysts · researchersOfficial vs parallel naira exchange rate: what each number meansThe official, interbank, retail and parallel naira rates are four different kinds of price. What each one measures, why they diverge, which ones a customer can transact at, and how Modan labels them so a central bank's reference is never ranked as the best rate.6 min read
• Developers · analystsspread_bps vs vs_mid_bps: reading FX quotes in basis pointsWhat a basis point is, how spread_bps measures a provider's distance from the best rate of the same kind, how vs_mid_bps measures distance from an independent mid, why the two must never be confused, and when to use each.5 min read
• Fintechs · payments teams · curious sendersHow remittance providers set their exchange ratesWhy LemFi, Wise, Sendwave and other providers quote different rates on the same corridor at the same moment: the two levers of rate margin and explicit fee, how providers source liquidity, why quotes move intraday, and how to compare them fairly.6 min read
• Treasurers · finance teamsHow to benchmark a bank's FX quote against the marketA treasury method for judging an FX quote on an African corridor: put it next to the timestamped provider book, measure its distance from the best executable quote and from an independent mid in basis points, read the corridor's dispersion, and keep the record.6 min read
• DevelopersGet naira (NGN) exchange rates by API in Python and JavaScriptA working walkthrough of the Modan REST API for NGN corridors: get a free key, request GBP→NGN provider rates, read spread_bps and the independent mid, convert an amount net of fees, pull history, and handle quotas — in curl, Python and JavaScript.7 min read
• Developers · AI buildersGive an AI agent live African FX rates with MCPHow to let an AI agent read provider-level African FX rates instead of guessing: what the Modan MCP server exposes, how the model uses each tool, example conversations, what the answers are labelled with, and the limits to know about.5 min read
• Fintechs · treasury · crypto desksUSDT to NGN: how stablecoin corridors are pricedHow USDT→NGN and USDC→NGN quotes are formed on crypto venues and P2P markets, why they are not the same thing as USD→NGN, why an independent fiat mid does not exist for them, and how Modan labels stablecoin corridors so the numbers stay comparable.5 min read
• Everyone who relies on the numbersHow Modan collects and validates provider FX ratesModan's methodology: which sources are tracked and how they are classified, how often each is re-checked, what validation an observation passes, where the independent mid comes from, what is deliberately not done, and how freshness is disclosed.5 min read

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