Send money from Canada to France
France is in the euro, so your balance is converted once and the euro are paid into a French IBAN through SEPA. BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and La Banque Postale are all reachable, as is any other French bank. You hold the balance in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro, because Grey carries no Canadian dollar balance. Both the fee and the rate sit in front of you before confirmation, and the rate stops moving once you confirm.
CAD
EUR
-
Trusted by 3M+ people around the world
GOOGLE PLAY •22K REVIEWS
APP STORE • 12K REVIEWS
Who in Canada is paying into France
This corridor is quieter than the big remittance routes out of Canada and it is used differently. A large part of it is property: Canadians in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver who bought a house in the Dordogne or an apartment in Nice and now have syndic charges, a taxe fonciere bill and a plumber to pay every year, in euro, to people who invoice in euro.
Another part is study. Canadian students on exchange in Lyon, Bordeaux or Paris whose parents cover rent and a deposit, and French students in Canada paying something back. Then there is trade, which runs through design, food, wine and the professional services that sit around them, and finally French nationals working in Canada who still support parents outside Rennes or Montpellier.
None of them needs a complicated arrangement. A French IBAN, one conversion into euro, and a SEPA credit at the other end.
Three steps to a French IBAN
Sign up
The account is free, opens in about five minutes, and asks for one valid identity document. There is no branch to attend.
Fund
Your Grey balance is held in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro, and is fed by money arriving from a client, an employer or a transfer you make yourself.
Send
Type in the French IBAN, read the euro amount alongside the rate and the fee, then confirm. The rate is fixed from that point and the payment travels by SEPA.
The cost of putting euro into a French account
Because France uses the euro, that is the whole of the conversion. Your dollars or pounds become euro and stop there. Nothing is converted a second time on arrival and no local currency is waiting behind the SEPA credit.
So the comparison you should be making is narrow and easy to run. Take the euro figure Grey shows you, take the euro figure anyone else shows you, and ignore every other claim on either screen.
A single conversion, held at confirmation
Grey displays the rate before you confirm and fixes it when you do. The euro total you accepted is the total that arrives in the French account, with nothing adjusted afterwards.
That is worth more than it sounds when the payment is an exact amount. A syndic calls for a precise figure, an agency invoices a precise figure, and a landlord in Bordeaux expects the rent, not the rent minus whatever happened overnight.
Grey set against a Canadian bank wire
A wire to France arranged through TD Canada Trust, CIBC or BMO is priced as an international transfer and routed through correspondent banks, each of which is a step you cannot see. The rate is decided inside the bank and reaches you as part of a total rather than as a number you agreed to in advance. Grey converts once into euro, sends by SEPA against the IBAN alone, and shows the rate and the fee as two separate lines before you commit, which is the only way to know in advance what a French recipient is actually going to be credited with.
What the French end receives
A euro credit in a French bank account, arriving through SEPA and reading like any payment sent from within Europe. There is nothing for the recipient to join.
Payment to a French IBAN
BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, La Banque Postale and other French banks are reachable. The IBAN is the only detail required, and it carries the payment by itself.
SEPA and SEPA Instant
SEPA runs across the eurozone, and SEPA Instant settles eligible payments in under ten seconds around the clock. From a funded Grey balance, transfers typically arrive within minutes.
GreyTag
If the person on the other side also uses Grey, GreyTag moves money between the two accounts free and instantly, in whichever currencies you each hold.
How money reaches your Grey balance
Money reaches a Grey balance from somewhere outside the country. Three routes cover almost every case on this corridor.
A client
Consulting, design and professional fees billed in euro, dollars or pounds can be received straight into the matching balance and held there until a French bill arrives.
An employer
Pay from a company outside Canada goes into the balance in its own currency, which suits people working remotely for European or American firms.
Your own transfer
Moving money in yourself is what most property owners do, because French charges arrive on a predictable calendar and it is easier to have the euro ready.
Whatever the source, the balance holds its currency until you send, and the conversion into euro happens once, at a rate you have already read and accepted.
What Canadians pay for in France
Property and its running costs
Syndic charges on an apartment in Nice, taxe fonciere and taxe d'habitation, a roofer in the Lot, a gardener paid to keep a place presentable between visits. Small euro invoices, several times a year.
Students and rent
Rent and a deposit for a room in Lyon, a caution paid to a landlord, residence fees and insurance for a Canadian student on exchange. Fixed euro amounts against a term calendar.
Family in France
French nationals working in Ottawa or Vancouver supporting parents near Rennes or Montpellier, and grandparents sending something to grandchildren. Modest, regular, and paid to a personal IBAN.
Suppliers and professional services
A wine importer settling with a producer in Burgundy, a design studio paying a Paris contractor, a notaire or an accountant invoicing on a French property matter.
Four uses cover most of this corridor, and they are almost all recurring rather than one-off.
Why the French corridor works on Grey
Open the account, fund a balance, enter the French IBAN. The euro reach the account through SEPA, usually within minutes of your confirming.
One valid identity document is what the account asks for. The transfer itself needs only the IBAN, which appears on any French RIB and can be read out over the phone without further detail attached.
FAQs
Does Grey convert twice when I send money to France?
No. France uses the euro, so there is one conversion from your balance into euro and the SEPA credit arrives in euro.
Is a French IBAN enough to send the payment?
Yes. The IBAN routes a SEPA payment on its own. No intermediary bank details or extra codes are needed for a French account.
Which French banks can Grey pay into?
BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, La Banque Postale and other French banks. Any French IBAN can receive the euro credit.
Can I pay syndic charges on a French apartment from Canada?
Yes. Send euro to the syndic's French IBAN. The euro figure is fixed at confirmation, so the exact amount called for is the amount paid.
Can I hold euro in Grey before paying a French account?
Yes. If you hold euro, a payment to France involves no conversion at all, only the fee shown before you confirm.
Can I fund Grey in Canadian dollars to pay in euro?
No. Grey holds no Canadian dollar balance. You hold US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro, and send euro to France.
How fast does a SEPA transfer reach a French bank?
Transfers from a funded Grey balance typically arrive within minutes. Eligible payments go by SEPA Instant, which settles in under ten seconds, day or night.
Does my landlord in Lyon need a Grey account to receive rent?
No. The euro arrive in their French bank account as an ordinary SEPA credit, with nothing to install or register for.
Can I pay a French notaire or accountant through Grey?
Yes. Professional firms are paid to their French IBAN like any other account, with the euro amount agreed before the transfer leaves.
Can I send rent to a student in Bordeaux every month?
Yes. Each month is its own transfer to the same French IBAN, with the rate and fee shown before you confirm it.
Will Interac e-Transfer work for a payment to France?
No. Interac e-Transfer does not leave Canada. Grey converts your balance to euro and delivers it into the French IBAN by SEPA.
Get digital banking
at your fingertips
