Send money to China from Canada
Grey converts your balance into renminbi and pays it into Chinese bank accounts at ICBC, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China. You need the beneficiary name exactly as their bank holds it, plus the bank, branch and account number. The rate and the fee are shown before you confirm, and the CNY figure your recipient will receive is on the same screen.
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The shape of the Canada to China corridor
No other corridor on the Canadian network looks like this one. Chinese Canadians are the largest single immigrant origin group in both Vancouver and Toronto, and the settlement is dense enough to have its own geography: Richmond and Burnaby in British Columbia, Markham, Scarborough and North York in Ontario. Families are frequently split across the Pacific on purpose, with a parent, a business or a property kept on each side.
That is why the money runs in both directions rather than one. This page covers the Canadian end of it. Adult children in Vancouver sending to parents in Guangzhou or Shanghai. Parents in Toronto sending tuition and rent to a student at a university in Beijing or Nanjing. Property payments, management fees and taxes on an apartment held in China. And on the commercial side, Canadian importers paying suppliers in Shenzhen and Yiwu, where the invoice is written in yuan and the supplier would rather be paid in yuan.
What Grey does not offer is a Canadian dollar balance. You hold US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro, funded by money arriving from a client, an employer or your own transfer, and convert to CNY at the point of sending.
Three steps to a Chinese bank account
Sign up
Open a free Grey account in roughly five minutes using a valid identity document. One verification covers China and more than 80 other destinations.
Fund
Keep your balance in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro, funded by money arriving from a client, an employer or a transfer you make yourself.
Send
Enter the beneficiary name exactly as the Chinese bank records it, with the bank, branch and account number. Check the CNY figure, the rate and the fee, then confirm.
What a transfer to China costs
On the business side of this corridor there is a second cost that almost never appears in any comparison. Canadian importers often pay Chinese suppliers in US dollars, and the supplier then converts to yuan at their own bank, at a rate neither party discussed. Some suppliers quietly price that step into the invoice, which means you pay for it twice over without seeing it once.
Quoting straight into yuan removes the step. One conversion, on your side, at a rate you have looked at, and a supplier paid the exact figure on the invoice rather than an approximation that has to be argued about at the next order.
The rate holds from the moment you confirm
A sender in Richmond or Markham sees the yuan figure before confirming, and that is the figure applied. It does not change while the transfer is settling and there is no correction afterwards.
For tuition this is the practical point. A Chinese university bills a precise yuan figure with a deadline attached, and a payment that arrives a little short means a second transfer, a second fee and a phone call. Fix the number in Toronto and it is the number the university sees.
Grey against a wire from a Canadian bank
Interac e-Transfer does nothing across the Pacific, so the familiar route is an international wire from RBC, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, BMO or CIBC. Wire pricing in Canada is a standing complaint, though on this corridor the specific trouble is different. A dollar wire to China is converted by the receiving bank, sometimes after a hold for review, and the recipient learns the rate only when the yuan appear. Grey converts to CNY before anything leaves Canada, shows the rate and the fee first, and delivers a domestic yuan credit at ICBC, Bank of China, China Construction Bank or Agricultural Bank of China. The transfer is trackable from confirmation to settlement rather than opaque until it arrives.
What lands in China
A yuan credit your recipient will recognize, in the account they already have. No Grey account to open on their side, no app, and nothing charged to them by Grey.
Credited to a Chinese account
ICBC, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China are all reachable, along with other Chinese banks. Bank, branch and account number identify the account.
The name has to match
Chinese banks check the beneficiary name against the account record and reject payments where it does not match. Copy it from the invoice or ask your family for the exact wording.
GreyTag across the Pacific
Where both sides hold Grey accounts, a GreyTag transfer is free and instant, which suits a student or a relative already using the app.
Getting money into your Grey balance
Yuan leave a balance that has been funded. Three routes cover most senders in Vancouver, Richmond, Markham and Toronto, and none of them is a Canadian dollar balance.
Money from a client
Importers, agents and consultants invoicing outside Canada can take payment into the Grey balance directly, then convert when the supplier payment falls due.
Money from an employer
Income in US dollars, pounds or euro can land in the matching balance and sit there until a tuition instalment or a monthly transfer is due.
Funded by you, or by another Grey user
Fund the balance yourself, or receive a GreyTag from another Grey user, which arrives instantly and costs nothing. Families often pool a term's fees this way.
From a funded balance, sending to China is a conversion into yuan and a confirmation, with the CNY figure shown before either.
What Canadians send to China for
Parents and older relatives
Regular amounts from Vancouver or Markham to a mother or father in Guangzhou, Shanghai or a smaller city, covering medical costs, a helper, or simply the month.
University tuition and living costs
Fees and rent for a son or daughter studying at a Chinese university, or for a Canadian student on exchange. Universities bill exact yuan figures against fixed deadlines.
Property in China
Mortgage instalments, management fees, renovation costs and taxes on an apartment kept by a family that now lives in Canada. Dated payments with no room for an approximate amount.
Suppliers and manufacturing
Canadian importers paying factories and trading companies in Shenzhen, Yiwu or Guangzhou. Paying in yuan against a yuan invoice keeps the conversion visible and the supplier relationship clean.
Four purposes account for most of this route, and they are unusually evenly balanced between household and business.
Five reasons Grey suits this corridor
The first transfer needs the details right. Everything after it is quick.
Open a free account, verify with a valid identity document, fund a balance in US dollars, pounds or euro, and save the recipient once with the name exactly as their Chinese bank holds it. From then on a payment to Guangzhou, Shanghai or Shenzhen is a rate to read and a confirmation to give. Transfers are encrypted and trackable throughout, and support is inside the app if a payment needs checking.
FAQs
Why must the beneficiary name match the Chinese bank record?
Chinese banks check the name against the account and reject payments that do not match. Copy it from the invoice or ask the recipient directly.
Which Chinese banks can Grey pay into from Canada?
ICBC, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China, along with other Chinese banks, using bank, branch and account number.
Will my supplier in Shenzhen receive yuan or US dollars?
Yuan. Grey converts in Canada at a rate you see first, so the supplier is credited the figure written on the invoice.
Can I hold Canadian dollars on Grey before sending to China?
No. Balances are held in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro, and convert to yuan when you send.
Can I pay Chinese university tuition from Canada?
Yes, where the university accepts a bank credit. The CNY figure is fixed at confirmation, so the exact billed amount arrives.
Do my parents in Guangzhou need a Grey account?
No. The yuan arrive as a credit in the account they already hold, and Grey charges them nothing to receive it.
Does the CNY amount change after I confirm?
No. The rate is fixed at confirmation, so the yuan figure on screen is the figure credited in China.
Can Interac e-Transfer send money to a Chinese bank account?
No. Interac e-Transfer works only within Canada. Grey converts your balance to yuan and credits a Chinese account instead.
What is wrong with wiring US dollars to a Chinese supplier?
Their bank converts at a rate neither of you chose, and some suppliers price that step into the invoice. Sending yuan avoids it.
How do I fund the balance I pay China from?
Through a client, an employer, a transfer you make yourself, or a GreyTag from another Grey user, which is free and instant.
Can I track a payment sent from Vancouver to Shanghai?
Yes. Transfers are encrypted and can be followed from the moment you confirm until the yuan settle in China.
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