What sending money abroad actually costs.

The cost you can see, and the one you cannot

Ask a Canadian bank what an international transfer costs and you get one number: the wire fee. RBC charges $45. TD charges up to $50. BMO charges 0.2% of the value with a $15 minimum, plus a $10 communication fee. CIBC runs $30 to $80 depending on the amount.

That number is real, and it is not the main event.

The second cost is the exchange rate. Your bank does not convert your dollars at the rate you see on Google. It converts them at its own rate, set 2.5% to 3% worse, and keeps the difference. Nothing on your statement calls this a fee. It looks like the exchange rate simply is that number.

On $2,000, a 2.5% markup is worth about $50. On $10,000 it is $250. It scales with the amount you send, which the flat wire fee does not — so the larger the transfer, the more the invisible cost dominates.

The mid-market rate is the only honest reference

The mid-market rate is the midpoint between the buy and sell price of a currency pair on the global market. It is what banks trade with each other at, and what you get when you search a currency pair. It has no margin in it.

That makes it the yardstick. Any provider's real cost is the gap between the mid-market rate and what they actually give you, plus whatever fee they charge on top.

This is the whole reason Wise is usually cheaper: it converts at the mid-market rate and charges a visible fee instead. You can verify the rate yourself in five seconds, which is not true of any bank.

The "no fee" transfer is the one to watch

Every Big Five bank now offers a branded international transfer with a very low or zero stated fee:

• RBC International Money Transfer — no visible fee on transfers within its daily limit.
• TD Global Transfer — advertised at "$0 TD fee".
• CIBC Global Money Transfer — no transfer fee.
• Scotiabank — $1.99 on its international money transfer service.

These are genuinely better than a traditional wire, and you should not read "no fee" as "free". The fee went to zero because the entire margin moved into the exchange rate. The bank still gets paid; it just stopped telling you when.

This is not a scandal, it is a pricing decision, and it is legal and disclosed in the fine print. But it does mean a "$0 fee" product can cost more than a competitor charging $12 — and you cannot tell which without doing the arithmetic.

The only comparison that works

Ignore every advertised fee. Compare a single number: how much money reaches the recipient.

1. Find the mid-market rate for your currency pair. Search the pair; the first result is it.
2. Get a quote from each provider for the exact amount you are sending. Write down the destination-currency figure, not the fee.
3. Multiply your amount by the mid-market rate. That is the theoretical maximum. The gap between it and each quote is that provider's true, all-in cost.
4. Check the receiving end. Some banks charge $15 to $30 to receive an international wire. A provider that pays out over a local network instead usually avoids this.

Four steps, about three minutes, and it is the only method that cannot be gamed by how a provider chooses to present its pricing.

Five corridors, costed

What $2,000 CAD actually costs to send, comparing Wise against a traditional bank wire on the same amount:

Wise figures are live quotes from 19 September 2026 for a bank-funded $2,000 transfer; rates and fees move daily, so check a current quote before sending. The bank wire column assumes a $45 outgoing fee and a 2.5% rate markup — the conservative end of the typical range, so the real gap is often wider.

The pattern holds across every corridor: the stated fee differs by a few dollars, and the rate markup differs by eighty.

When a bank wire is still the right answer

Cheaper is not always correct:

• Very large amounts. Specialist providers have transfer ceilings; a wire does not have a practical one. For a property purchase or similar, a wire is the normal instrument.
• The recipient requires a SWIFT wire. Some institutions, lawyers and government bodies will only accept one, and a local-network payout will be rejected.
• You need documentary proof of a bank-to-bank transfer for a visa application, a mortgage file, or a tax authority.
• The currency is not well served. Specialists cover major corridors well and thin ones badly or not at all.

For the domestic version of this decision, see e-Transfer vs wire transfer.

Interac e-Transfer does not cross borders

Worth stating plainly, because it is a common assumption: you cannot send an Interac e-Transfer internationally. It works only between Canadian financial institutions, only in Canadian dollars, and both parties need a Canadian bank account.

If the recipient has a Canadian account, e-Transfer is free and instant and none of this page applies — see e-Transfer limits by bank. The moment money has to cross a border, you are in wire and specialist-provider territory. e-Transfer vs Wise covers where the line falls.

If you are invoicing internationally

Cross-border payments create a bookkeeping problem the transfer cost does not: the amount that arrives is never the amount on the invoice. Fees and the rate land in between, so a $2,000 invoice settles as $1,987, and the difference has to go somewhere sensible.

Deciding who absorbs it is a business decision — many Canadian service businesses quote in Canadian dollars and state that transfer fees are the client's responsibility, which keeps the invoice and the payment matched. Whatever you choose, record the payment against the invoice it settles so a short payment stays visible instead of quietly becoming an unexplained gap at year end.

Biller tracks payments against invoices, handles GST/HST on the invoice itself, and reports on a Canadian tax year.

Guides by destination

• Sending money from Canada to Australia — $10.83 on $2,000 through Wise, usually 1–2 business days.
• Sending money from Canada to India — $13.53 on $2,000 through Wise, usually within 1 business day.
• Sending money from Canada to the Philippines — $14.79 on $2,000 through Wise, usually 1–2 business days.
• Sending money from Canada to the United Kingdom — $11.65 on $2,000 through Wise, often within hours.
• Sending money from Canada to the United States — $12.18 on $2,000 through Wise, usually 1–2 business days.

Related guides

• e-Transfer vs Wise
• e-Transfer vs wire transfer
• Sending large amounts in Canada
• Payment methods for Canadian small businesses