Send money to Brazil from Canada
Grey pays Brazilian reais into accounts at Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itau Unibanco, Caixa Economica Federal and Santander Brasil, or through Pix using a CPF, a registered phone number or an email address. Your Grey balance holds US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro, and converts to reais at a rate you see before you confirm. Pix credits typically arrive within seconds, at any hour.
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How Canada pays Brazil
This corridor leans commercial, which makes it unusual on the Canadian network. Toronto is the financing centre for Latin American mining, and Vancouver is where a good deal of the engineering, geology and environmental consulting behind it is done. Brazilian operations come with Brazilian costs: a contractor in Belo Horizonte, a drilling services firm in Minas Gerais, a law firm in Sao Paulo, a field team that has to be paid in reais on the ground.
Underneath that sits a smaller and steadier thread. The Brazilian community in Toronto and Mississauga has grown quickly, and the payments that go with it are the ordinary kind: money to parents in Goiania, a share of a mortgage in Curitiba, a sibling's university fees, a flight home covered from Canada.
Both use the same mechanism. Grey holds no Canadian dollar balance, so you hold US dollars, pounds or euro, funded by money reaching you from a client, an employer or your own transfer, and convert to reais at the moment you send.
Three steps to reais in a Brazilian account
Sign up
Open a free Grey account in roughly five minutes with a valid identity document. That one verification covers Brazil and more than 80 other destinations.
Fund
Keep your balance in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro. It is funded by money arriving from a client, an employer or a transfer you make yourself.
Send
Enter the bank account number and branch code, the agencia, or use the recipient's Pix key. Check the reais figure, the rate and the fee, then confirm.
What a transfer to Brazil costs
Business payments make this sharper than family ones. An invoice from a Brazilian contractor is written in reais, so the reais have to be exact. Sending dollars and letting the recipient's bank convert pushes both the cost and the uncertainty onto them, and it usually comes back to you later as a disputed balance or a padded invoice.
Quoting directly into reais avoids that conversation entirely. You convert once, on your side, at a rate you have seen, and the contractor is paid the figure on their invoice rather than an approximation of it.
Fixing the rate before the money moves
The rate shown at confirmation is the rate applied. It does not shift while the transfer settles, and no adjustment is made afterwards.
The Canadian dollar and the real can both move quickly, so a quote refreshes while you look at it and stops the moment you accept it. For a scheduled payment to a Brazilian supplier, that is the difference between committing to a number and committing to a guess.
Grey set against a Canadian bank wire
Interac e-Transfer covers most Canadian payments and none of the Brazilian ones, so the alternative is an international wire from RBC, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, BMO or CIBC. The pricing of those wires is a live complaint in this country, and the visible fee is only part of the story. Wires to Brazil commonly go as US dollars, which means the conversion into reais happens at the receiving bank, at a rate neither you nor the person waiting on the money chose. Grey quotes the reais directly, shows the rate and the fee before you confirm, and delivers a domestic credit or a Pix transfer that the recipient recognizes immediately.
What arrives in Brazil
The recipient needs no Grey account and pays Grey nothing. Reais arrive as an ordinary domestic credit in the account they already have.
Bank account with agencia
Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itau Unibanco, Caixa Economica Federal and Santander Brasil are all reachable. You need the account number and the branch code.
Pix, at any hour
Pix keys can be a CPF number, a registered phone number or an email address. Pix runs 24 hours a day and transfers typically arrive within seconds.
GreyTag for two Grey accounts
Two Grey accounts can move money between them by GreyTag, free and instant, which suits a Canadian working on a project in Brazil.
Funding the account you send from
Reais go out of a funded balance, and that balance is filled one of three ways. None of them holds Canadian dollars, because Grey does not offer a Canadian dollar balance.
Client payments
Consultancies and independent engineers invoicing outside Canada can be paid into their Grey balance, then convert to reais when the Brazilian side falls due.
Employer payments
Salary or contract pay arriving in US dollars, pounds or euro can land in the matching balance and wait there until it is needed.
A transfer you make, or a GreyTag
Move money into the balance yourself, or take a GreyTag from another Grey user, which arrives instantly and costs nothing.
Once funded, a payment to Brazil is a conversion into reais followed by a confirmation, with both numbers visible before either step.
What this corridor is used for
Mining and engineering services
Drilling contractors, geologists, environmental consultants and field crews working on Brazilian projects for firms headquartered in Toronto or Vancouver. Invoices come in reais and are paid in reais.
Contractors and professional fees
A developer in Florianopolis, a designer in Sao Paulo, a law firm handling a Brazilian subsidiary. Pix suits these payments because they are frequent, dated and not especially large.
Family in Brazil
Money from Toronto and Mississauga to parents in Goiania or Curitiba, a contribution to a mortgage, help with a medical bill. The same amount on the same date, month after month.
Study and travel
A sibling's university fees, a nephew's exchange year, flights and costs for a family trip home. These land in a bank account rather than by Pix when the institution asks for it that way.
Four uses cover most Canada to Brazil traffic on Grey, and they split fairly evenly between work and family.
Five reasons Grey suits this route
The setup is a one-time job. The transfers after it are quick.
Open the account, verify with a valid identity document, fund a balance in US dollars, pounds or euro, and save your recipient once, whether that is a Pix key or an account at Banco do Brasil with its agencia. Every later payment shows you the rate, the fee and the reais before you confirm. Transfers are encrypted and trackable end to end, and support is reachable in the app.
FAQs
Can I send from Canada using a Pix key?
Yes. A CPF number, a registered phone number or an email address works as the Pix key, and transfers typically arrive within seconds.
Which Brazilian banks does Grey pay into?
Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itau Unibanco, Caixa Economica Federal and Santander Brasil, using the account number and the branch code.
What is the agencia and why does Grey ask for it?
It is the branch code attached to a Brazilian bank account. Grey needs it alongside the account number to deliver the reais correctly.
Can I hold Canadian dollars before converting to reais?
No. Grey balances are held in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro, and convert to reais when you send.
Will my Brazilian contractor be paid in reais or dollars?
In reais. Grey converts on your side at a rate you see first, so the invoice amount is what reaches their account.
Does Pix work outside business hours in Brazil?
Yes. Pix runs 24 hours a day, so a transfer confirmed overnight in Canada still credits the recipient within seconds.
Does my family in Curitiba need a Grey account?
No. The reais arrive as a domestic credit in the account or Pix key they already use, with nothing charged by Grey.
Can Interac e-Transfer send money to Brazil?
No. Interac e-Transfer stays within Canada. Grey converts your balance into reais and pays a Brazilian account or Pix key instead.
Is the rate locked when I confirm a payment to Brazil?
Yes. The rate is fixed at confirmation, so the reais figure shown on screen is the figure that lands.
How do I fund the balance I pay Brazilian invoices from?
Through a client payment, an employer payment, a transfer you make yourself, or a free GreyTag from another Grey user.
Can I track a payment to a field team in Minas Gerais?
Yes. Transfers are encrypted and can be followed from the moment you confirm until the reais settle in Brazil.
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