Send money from Canada to Germany
Germany is inside the eurozone, so there is a single conversion into euro and then a SEPA credit into a German IBAN. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, DZ Bank and the Sparkasse network are all reachable. Your Grey balance is held in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro, since there is no Canadian dollar balance in Grey. The rate and the fee are both shown to you before confirmation.
CAD
EUR
-
Trusted by 3M+ people around the world
GOOGLE PLAY •22K REVIEWS
APP STORE • 12K REVIEWS
The trade corridor underneath the family one
Canada's relationship with Germany is industrial before it is anything else. The automotive belt through Windsor, Oshawa and Cambridge buys German tooling, controls and machine parts. Firms in Kitchener and Waterloo pay German engineering consultancies and software houses. Aerospace and precision manufacturers in Ontario and Alberta settle with suppliers in Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria against invoices priced in euro to the cent.
There is a long domestic history sitting alongside it. German-speaking settlement around Kitchener and the Waterloo region goes back generations, and families there still have relatives, property and occasionally an inheritance on the other side. Add the students, the exchange researchers and the engineers seconded in both directions, and the corridor carries invoices and household money on the same rails.
Both arrive as a euro credit in a German bank account, with the IBAN doing all the routing.
Opening, funding and paying a German account
Sign up
Registration costs nothing and takes around five minutes. One valid identity document completes the verification, for personal and business use alike.
Fund
Your balance is kept in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro. Money arrives into it from a client, an employer or a transfer you make, and Grey holds no Canadian dollar balance at all.
Send
Enter the German IBAN, check the euro figure against the rate and the fee, and confirm. From that moment the rate is fixed and the payment moves by SEPA.
What a euro payment to Germany costs
German suppliers invoice precisely and expect to be paid precisely. A euro amount that arrives short because a margin was buried somewhere in the conversion creates a credit note, a query and a delay, none of which is worth the saving that caused it.
Knowing the euro figure before the payment leaves removes that entirely. It also means the cost of the transfer is a number you can book rather than a difference you notice at month end.
One conversion into euro, fixed at confirmation
The rate is on screen before you confirm and it stops there. Whatever the market does afterwards, the euro amount you approved is the euro amount credited to the German account.
For a Canadian manufacturer paying a supplier on thirty day terms, that is what makes the payment match the purchase order. For anyone sending money to a relative near Stuttgart, it is simply the difference between a figure and an approximation.
Grey compared with a wire from a Canadian bank
Sending to Germany through RBC, Scotiabank or National Bank of Canada means a SWIFT payment handled by correspondent banks and priced as an occasional exception rather than a routine transaction. The exchange rate is set internally and disclosed to you as an outcome. For a purchasing department that is awkward, because the euro that reach the supplier are not the euro that were budgeted. Grey converts once, pays into the IBAN by SEPA, itemizes the fee and the rate before confirmation, and leaves the payment trackable until it settles in Germany.
What arrives in Germany
A euro credit in a German bank account, delivered by SEPA and looking exactly like a domestic German transfer. The recipient does nothing except have an account.
Payment to a German IBAN
Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, DZ Bank and Sparkasse accounts are all reachable, along with other German banks. The IBAN alone routes the payment, including to the regional Sparkassen.
SEPA and SEPA Instant
SEPA covers the eurozone and SEPA Instant settles eligible transfers in under ten seconds, at any time of day. From a funded Grey balance, a German payment typically lands within minutes.
GreyTag
When both sides hold Grey accounts, a GreyTag transfer is free and instant, and it works regardless of which currency either of you is holding.
Getting money into the balance
Funds reach a Grey balance from outside Canada. Three routes account for nearly all of it on this corridor.
Client revenue
Engineering fees, licence income and contract revenue billed in dollars, pounds or euro can be received into the matching balance and held until a German invoice falls due.
Employer pay
An engineer or researcher paid by a company outside Canada can receive that pay into the balance, then send euro when a bill or a family payment comes round.
A transfer of your own
Moving funds in ahead of time is standard practice where payment terms are known, and it means a supplier can be paid on the day rather than on the day after.
The balance keeps its currency until the transfer is sent, and only then becomes euro, once, at the rate already displayed to you.
What the Canada to Germany corridor carries
Machinery, tooling and parts
Controls, drives, dies and precision components bought from suppliers in Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia by plants in Windsor, Cambridge and Oshawa. Priced in euro, paid on terms.
Engineering and technical services
German consultancies, testing houses, certification bodies and software vendors invoicing Canadian firms, often monthly, often to a Sparkasse or Commerzbank account.
Family and inheritance
Relatives supported near Stuttgart or Hanover, a share of an estate paid across, care costs for an elderly parent. The Kitchener and Waterloo region generates more of this than its size suggests.
Students and research stays
Rent, Semesterbeitrag and living costs for Canadian students at German universities, and for German researchers spending a year in Canadian labs.
Four uses account for most of it, and on this corridor the commercial ones are the heavier half.
Why Canadian senders use Grey for Germany
Open the account, fund a balance, enter the German IBAN. The euro arrive by SEPA, usually within minutes of confirmation, into the account exactly as printed on the invoice.
Opening the account takes one valid identity document. Sending takes the IBAN and nothing more, whether the account belongs to a supplier in Munich or a cousin in Bremen.
FAQs
Can Grey pay into a Sparkasse account?
Yes. Sparkasse accounts are reachable, along with Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and DZ Bank. The German IBAN routes the payment on its own.
Is money converted twice when sending from Canada to Germany?
No. Germany is in the eurozone, so your balance converts once into euro and arrives as a euro SEPA credit.
Can I pay a German supplier's invoice in euro from Grey?
Yes. Send to the IBAN printed on the invoice. The euro total is fixed at confirmation, so the amount paid matches the amount billed.
Do I need a business account to pay German suppliers?
No. Payments to German IBANs run from an ordinary Grey account funded in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro.
Can I top up Grey in Canadian dollars for a German payment?
No. Grey holds no Canadian dollar balance. You hold US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro, and convert to euro on sending.
How fast does a SEPA payment reach a German bank account?
A payment from a funded Grey balance typically lands within minutes. Eligible transfers route by SEPA Instant and settle in under ten seconds.
Does my cousin in Hanover need a Grey account?
No. The euro land in their German bank account as an ordinary SEPA credit. They install nothing and register for nothing.
Can I hold euro in Grey so a German payment needs no conversion?
Yes. A euro balance pays a German IBAN without any conversion, leaving only the fee shown before you confirm.
Can I pay German university fees or rent from Canada?
Yes. Send euro to the university's or the landlord's German IBAN, with the exact amount confirmed before the transfer leaves your balance.
Will Interac e-Transfer reach a German bank account?
No. Interac e-Transfer stays inside Canada. Grey converts your balance to euro and delivers it to the German IBAN by SEPA.
Can I track a payment to a supplier in Stuttgart?
Yes. Every transfer is encrypted and trackable from confirmation to settlement, so a supplier chasing a remittance can be answered directly.
Get digital banking
at your fingertips
