International Money Transfers: Sending Money Abroad and Receiving It in Canada

Money can be sent from Canada to another country through banks, credit unions and money transfer businesses, among others. A bank can send it as a wire, and some banks also run their own online international transfer service. What a transfer costs is more than the posted fee: FCAC notes that some businesses profit by charging a higher than usual exchange rate, and the recipient may pay a fee to collect the money. So the amount the recipient receives, for the same amount sent, is the number to compare. Receiving money in Canada and FINTRAC reporting are covered below; how a wire works is on wire transfers.

What are the ways to send money abroad from Canada?

In a transfer, the provider in Canada sends the payment instructions to a partner abroad (an agent, a business or a bank), and that partner pays the recipient. Depending on the service, the recipient gets cash, a deposit into a bank account, or a credit to a credit, debit or prepaid card.

Money transfer businesses include firms such as Wise and Western Union, which two banks in the table below use; their apps are compared on money transfer apps. FCAC’s point on choosing one is that the recipient has to be able to collect the money, and may need identification to do it.

Which banks have their own international transfer service?

Each bank sets its own fees. A transfer fee is the provider’s own charge, and FCAC notes that the exchange rate a business applies can carry a profit too, since some charge a higher than usual rate. The table below sets out each bank’s online service for sending money abroad as its own page describes it.

A dash means this table shows no figure for that bank.

Checked against each bank's page on October 19, 2026.

On three banks’ pages the stated transfer fee is separate from the exchange rate: CIBC’s says CIBC foreign exchange rates apply and the recipient’s bank may charge the recipient a fee; BMO’s says standard foreign exchange rates apply; TD’s says Western Union applies its own transfer fees and exchange rates on the cash pick-up option.

What does an international transfer cost?

FCAC breaks the cost into three parts:

• The sending fee. Banks and other federally regulated institutions must tell you what they charge to send money abroad, and that fee doesn’t include charges in the receiving country. Fees vary widely between providers, and can depend on the amount sent and how you pay.
• The exchange rate. Some businesses make a profit by charging a higher than usual rate, and changes in the rate also affect what the recipient gets. FCAC suggests finding out whether the amount received depends on the rate when you pay or when the recipient collects.
• The recipient’s side. The recipient may have to pay a fee or tax to collect the money, on top of the sending fee.

Paying with a credit card can cost more: FCAC says the transfer may be treated as a cash advance, which has no interest-free period.

In the example, the option with no fee delivered less, because its rate carried more of the cost. The figure that settles a comparison is the amount received for the same amount sent, quoted on the same day.

How a bank’s rate compares with the Bank of Canada’s rate is on currency exchange, and each bank’s wire fees are in the wire fee table. On a wire, one bank’s page says charges to cover intermediaries’ fees, such as correspondent banks’, may be deducted from the amount (the bank’s wire page).

How long does a transfer take?

FCAC says the money may take from a few minutes to a few days to arrive, and a faster option usually costs more. Wire timing is on how long a wire takes, and business days on bank holidays.

How do you set up a transfer and keep track of it?

Depending on the service, a transfer can be set up online, by telephone, by email or in person, and paid for by cash, cheque, money order, debit card, credit card or prepaid card. FCAC’s advice is to get a receipt and a transaction number for every transfer, so it can be traced, and to find out how delivery is confirmed and whether any protection or guarantee applies.

Before handing money to a business, FCAC suggests hearing from family, friends and community members about their experience with it, and contacting the consumer protection office in your province or territory.

For a wire, the details the bank needs about the recipient are listed on what you need to send a wire, and each bank’s SWIFT code is on SWIFT codes.

How do you receive money in Canada from abroad?

What the sender needs. The details a sender abroad needs from you are listed on what a sender abroad needs, and each bank’s own numbers are on its routing-numbers page. Which banks and accounts have no SWIFT code is on accounts with no SWIFT code.

What the Canadian side may charge. The institution receiving a wire deducts its fees before it deposits the money in the recipient’s account. Each bank’s fee for an incoming wire is in the wire fee table. A money transfer business can also pay the money into a bank account. Canadian institutions can send and receive wires in many currencies, and when the money is converted, the rate carries part of the cost in the same way as in the example above. As on the sending side, the person collecting the money may pay a fee to do it.

Moving savings when you immigrate. A wire is paid into the recipient’s bank account; accounts for newcomers are compared on newcomer bank accounts. Carrying it in person is different: the CBSA says “there are no restrictions on the amount of money you can bring into or take out of Canada”, but anyone crossing the border must declare currency or monetary instruments worth CAN$10,000 or more. How that declaration works for newcomers is on proof of funds. A large transfer that arrives electronically is reported by the institution that receives it, as the next section explains.

When is a large transfer reported to FINTRAC?

Large international electronic funds transfers are reported to FINTRAC by the institutions that handle them: FINTRAC’s reporting requirement applies to financial entities, to money services businesses and to casinos. The report is the institution’s to file, so a transfer through a money transfer business is reported by that business. A report is due for:

• Sending: $10,000 or more in a single international electronic funds transfer that the bank initiates at a client's request.
• Receiving: $10,000 or more in a single international electronic funds transfer that the bank finally receives.
• Several transfers: 2 or more international electronic funds transfers, outgoing or incoming, that total $10,000 or more within a static 24-hour window, when the bank knows they were requested by the same person or entity or are for the same beneficiary, or, for transfers it initiates, were requested on behalf of the same person or entity.
• When: within 5 business days after the day the bank initiates or finally receives the transfer.

The cash version of the rule, for large cash deposits, is on depositing cash.

What if a transfer goes wrong or turns out to be a scam?

FCAC says banks and other federally regulated institutions must have a complaint-handling process to resolve a problem, while other money transfer businesses may be regulated by a province. Whether a payment can be stopped is on cancelling a payment, money sent to the wrong person on the wrong account, and scams that ask for money transfers on banking fraud protection.

Related pages

• Wire transfers
• Currency exchange
• SWIFT codes of Canadian banks
• Ways to move money
• Depositing cheques and cash
• Newcomer bank accounts
• US-dollar accounts
• Money transfer apps
• Bank drafts, certified cheques and money orders
• Prepaid cards