Send money to Luxembourg from Canada
Grey converts your balance into euro once and pays it into a Luxembourg account by IBAN. BGL BNP Paribas, ING Luxembourg and Banque et Caisse d'Epargne are supported. The rate and the fee are on screen before you confirm, and the rate is fixed at that moment. The recipient needs no Grey account.
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A corridor made of work, not of family history
Luxembourg is unlike almost every other European destination Grey serves from Canada. There is no large Luxembourgish community in Toronto or Vancouver and no generational story behind the payments. What there is instead is a small country that administers an enormous amount of the world's fund money, and a steady traffic of Canadians who deal with it.
That means fund administrators, depositaries, transfer agents, audit firms and law firms in Kirchberg and Luxembourg City, invoicing in euro to people and companies in Toronto, Calgary and Montreal. It also means Canadians posted there on assignment, paying rent in Belair or Limpertsberg, a school place for a child, a deposit on an apartment, while their income still arrives from somewhere else. And it means cross-border life: people who work in Luxembourg and live over the border in Arlon, Thionville or Trier, with accounts on both sides.
Grey handles all of it the same way. You enter a Luxembourg IBAN, read the euro figure that will land, and confirm.
Paying a Luxembourg account in three steps
Sign up
Opening a free Grey account takes about five minutes and one valid identity document. Useful if the first invoice has a payment term that has already started running.
Fund
Balances are held 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.
Send
Enter the Luxembourg IBAN and the reference the invoice asks for, check the rate and the fee, and confirm. Transfers typically arrive within minutes.
What it costs to pay euro into Luxembourg
Professional invoices are unforgiving about amounts. A fund administrator billing a quarterly fee expects that figure and not a euro or two less, because a short payment becomes a credit note, an email chain and a delay that outlasts any saving on the transfer.
So the number to compare across providers is the euro arriving, not the headline fee. On a recurring quarterly bill, a rate margin repeats itself four times a year and is never itemized anywhere you would notice.
How the euro rate works on this route
Luxembourg is in the eurozone, so there is one conversion. Your balance goes into euro and euro is credited to the Luxembourg account, with no second conversion waiting at the other end.
The rate shown at confirmation is the rate applied, and it stays fixed while the payment settles. If you have an invoice in front of you, you can send the exact euro figure it asks for and know it will be the figure received.
Grey compared with a wire from a Canadian bank
Paying a Luxembourg invoice by international wire from RBC, CIBC, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank or BMO puts three things outside your control: the wire fee, the exchange rate the bank chooses to apply, and whatever a correspondent bank deducts along the way. The last of those is the awkward one on a professional invoice, because a deduction in transit turns an exact payment into a short one. Grey converts once, shows the rate and the fee before confirmation, and pays the Luxembourg IBAN directly.
What arrives in Luxembourg
Euro, credited to the Luxembourg account as an ordinary transfer, with whatever reference you attached to it.
Luxembourg bank accounts
BGL BNP Paribas, ING Luxembourg and Banque et Caisse d'Epargne are supported. The IBAN routes the payment and the euro is credited to that account.
Timing
From a funded balance, transfers to Luxembourg accounts typically arrive within minutes. SEPA Instant carries the credit where the receiving bank is signed up to it.
GreyTag
Between two Grey users, a GreyTag transfer is free and instant. Handy where a colleague on assignment is being reimbursed rather than invoiced.
How the money gets into your Grey account
The balance is funded in its own currency. Three routes cover most people paying into Luxembourg.
Clients pay you in
Consultants and contractors in Canada can be paid into their Grey account details directly, which keeps euro payments away from a domestic detour.
An employer pays you in
If you are on assignment or working for a company outside Canada, pay can land in the balance in the currency it is issued in.
You fund it yourself
A transfer in from an account you already hold abroad, made well before a payment term expires rather than on the last day.
For quarterly or annual professional fees, most people keep enough in a euro balance to cover the next invoice, so the payment is not waiting on anything to clear.
What Canadians pay for in Luxembourg
Professional and fund service fees
Invoices from fund administrators, depositaries, auditors and law firms in Kirchberg, billed in euro against a reference and a payment term.
Rent and deposits on assignment
A deposit and monthly rent on an apartment in Luxembourg City for someone posted there while their income still arrives from elsewhere.
School and childcare costs
Fees for an international or European school place, and childcare, paid in euro to a Luxembourg account on a term timetable.
Cross-border household costs
Money moved for people who work in Luxembourg but live in Arlon, Thionville or Trier, keeping both sides of a cross-border life funded.
Four things account for most of the money moving on this corridor.
Why this route works on Grey
FAQs
Which Luxembourg banks can Grey pay into?
BGL BNP Paribas, ING Luxembourg and Banque et Caisse d'Epargne are supported. The IBAN routes the euro to the right account.
Can I pay a Luxembourg fund administrator's invoice from Canada?
Yes. You send euro to the firm's IBAN with the reference it asked for, and the amount is fixed at confirmation.
Will a correspondent bank deduct anything before Luxembourg?
Grey converts once and credits the Luxembourg account directly, so the euro figure shown at confirmation is the figure that arrives.
How fast does euro reach a Luxembourg account?
Typically within minutes, when the transfer leaves a funded balance. SEPA Instant is used where the receiving Luxembourg bank supports it.
Can I pay rent on an apartment in Luxembourg City this way?
Yes. Rent goes to the landlord or agent's IBAN as an ordinary euro credit, with the amount shown before you confirm.
I am on assignment in Kirchberg. Which balance suits me?
If you are paid in euro, hold euro and no conversion is needed. Otherwise US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, is usual.
Is the money converted twice before it reaches Luxembourg?
No. Luxembourg is in the eurozone, so there is a single conversion into euro and euro is what is credited.
Does the Luxembourg firm need a Grey account to be paid?
No. It receives an ordinary euro credit into its existing bank account and has no dealings with Grey.
Can I fund a Luxembourg payment in Canadian dollars?
No. Grey does not hold Canadian dollars at all. You hold US dollars, pounds or euro and convert into euro when sending.
Can I attach a payment reference for a Luxembourg invoice?
Yes. You add the reference the invoice specifies, and it travels with the euro credit into the recipient's account.
Is Grey a bank if it credits euro to a Luxembourg IBAN?
No. Grey is a financial technology company whose banking runs through licensed partners. The Luxembourg account sees a standard euro credit.
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