Send money to Poland from Canada
Read this line before anything else on the page. Grey does not convert into zloty. What reaches Poland is a euro credit into the recipient's Polish IBAN, delivered over SEPA, at PKO Bank Polski, Bank Pekao, mBank or another Polish bank. Their own bank decides what happens after that. Your balance converts once, into euro, at a rate shown to you before you confirm, and transfers from a funded balance typically arrive within minutes.
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The zloty question, answered first
Canada has one of the oldest and largest Polish communities outside Europe. Roncesvalles in Toronto, Mississauga and Hamilton, Oshawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver. Some of it arrived after the war, some during the Solidarity years, some in the last twenty years for work. Almost all of it expects that money sent to Poland arrives as zloty, because that is what Poland uses and because every other route people have used does exactly that.
This route does not. Grey credits euro into a Polish IBAN. The zloty, if your recipient wants zloty, comes from their own bank converting it at their own rate on the day they choose. That is a real cost and it is not Grey's to quote, so nothing on this page will pretend it does not exist.
Said plainly, so there is no room for a misunderstanding at the other end: you send euro, a euro figure lands in a Polish account, and whether it stays euro or becomes zloty is decided in Poland, not in Canada.
For some recipients that is a good arrangement and for others it is the wrong one, and the difference is worth one phone call before you send rather than one difficult conversation afterwards.
Three steps to a Polish IBAN
Sign up
A free account opens in about five minutes with one valid identity document. Worth doing while you are still checking what your recipient's bank will accept.
Fund
There is no Canadian dollar balance to hold on Grey. You hold euro, pounds or US dollars provided by Lead Bank, filled by a client, an employer outside Canada or a transfer you arrange.
Send
Enter the Polish IBAN, read the euro amount with the rate and the fee beside it, and confirm. The SEPA credit typically reaches the Polish bank within minutes.
What a transfer to Poland costs
There is a second cost on this corridor and it belongs to your recipient, not to you. If they want zloty in the end, their Polish bank converts the euro at whatever rate it applies to incoming foreign currency that day. Grey cannot show you that number because Grey is not the one charging it. Ignoring it, though, would make the page dishonest.
So the arithmetic depends entirely on who is at the other end. A contractor in Krakow who already invoices in euro pays one conversion in total and this route is a genuinely good one for them. An aunt in Bialystok who has only ever held zloty pays two, and should be told that before the money moves, not after her bank has taken its cut.
One conversion, and where it happens
One conversion happens on the Canadian side, at the moment you confirm. Grey shows the rate and the fee before that point, and the euro total displayed there is the euro total that settles into the Polish account.
Nothing is revised afterwards. What Grey cannot fix is the second step, if there is one: a conversion into zloty at a Polish bank is that bank's transaction, on its own terms, and the rate belongs to them.
Grey compared with a Canadian bank wire to Poland
A wire from RBC, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, BMO or CIBC can be sent in zloty or in euro, priced as a wire, routed by SWIFT over several business days, at a rate the bank sets inside its own systems. That is the honest comparison: a Canadian bank can deliver zloty and Grey cannot. What Grey offers instead is a euro credit over SEPA with the rate and the fee shown before you agree to either, a transfer trackable from confirmation to settlement, and no ambiguity about which currency lands. Which of those matters more depends entirely on whether your recipient can use euro.
What your recipient in Poland sees
A euro credit arrives on their Polish IBAN through SEPA and appears in their banking app as an incoming payment in euro. No Grey account is needed and nothing has to be claimed.
Euro into a Polish IBAN
PKO Bank Polski, Bank Pekao and mBank all receive the credit on an IBAN, as do other Polish banks. The amount their app displays is in euro, not in zloty.
What happens next is theirs
Holding the euro costs them nothing. Converting it to zloty is their bank's transaction at their bank's rate, and it is worth agreeing between you which of those they intend to do.
A GreyTag alternative
A recipient who opens a Grey account can be paid by GreyTag instead, free and instantly, and hold euro or dollars without a Polish bank being involved at all.
Where the euro comes from
Interac e-Transfer does not leave Canada, so the question here is simply which currency you want to be holding before the euro goes out.
From a client
If you invoice in euro, funding a Polish payment involves the same currency in and out, and no conversion at any point on the Canadian side.
From an employer abroad
Pay from a company outside Canada can land in the balance and sit there until the payment to Poland is due, converting only once on the way out.
From a transfer you arrange
Funding in advance is the simplest approach for anyone paying a Polish contractor or a property cost on a regular date.
Whichever balance you use, the euro amount reaching the Polish account is stated before you confirm and does not change afterwards.
Who sends from Canada to Poland, and whether euro suits them
Contractors and small firms
Developers, studios and engineering firms in Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw who already invoice Canadian clients in euro. For them this is a one conversion route and the right one.
Property and flats
Building fees, renovation costs and taxes on a flat in Poland. Whether euro suits depends on whether the payee accepts it, so ask before the first payment rather than the second.
Elderly parents
The group where the zloty question bites hardest. A parent in Lodz or Bialystok on a zloty pension may be better served by a route that delivers zloty, and it is fair to say so.
Estates and family matters
A notary, a solicitor or an executor settling a Polish estate. Professional accounts are more likely than households to take euro without difficulty, so confirm the currency on the invoice.
Four groups make up most of this corridor, and the euro credit works better for some of them than for others.
Five things worth knowing about the Poland route
Make one call first. Ask your recipient whether their Polish bank will take a euro credit without difficulty, and whether they would rather hold the euro or convert it themselves. Their answer decides whether this route is right for them.
If the answer is yes, this is quick, the cost on the Canadian side is visible in advance, and the euro figure is fixed at confirmation. If the answer is no, and zloty is the only currency that works, choose accordingly. You are better off knowing that now than after the money has landed.
FAQs
Will my family in Poland receive zloty?
No. Grey credits euro into a Polish IBAN. If they want zloty, their own bank converts the euro at its own rate.
Why does Grey not convert to zloty on this corridor?
This route pays euro over SEPA rather than in the local currency. The page says so plainly so nobody is surprised at the Polish end.
Which Polish banks receive the euro credit?
PKO Bank Polski, Bank Pekao and mBank all take it on an IBAN, as do other Polish banks reachable through SEPA.
Can my father's zloty account in Gdansk accept a euro payment?
Most Polish banks can, but the terms vary. Ask him to check with his bank before the first transfer rather than after it.
Who pays for the conversion into zloty?
Your recipient does, through their Polish bank, at that bank's rate. Grey neither performs nor quotes that conversion.
Can I fund my Grey balance in Canadian dollars first?
No. There is no Canadian dollar balance to hold on Grey. You hold euro, pounds or US dollars provided by Lead Bank, then send euro to Poland.
Is this route a good idea for a Polish contractor who invoices in euro?
Yes. If they already invoice in euro, there is only one conversion in total and the euro figure is fixed at confirmation.
How many conversions happen if my aunt wants zloty in the end?
Two. Your balance becomes euro in Canada, then her Polish bank turns the euro into zloty at its own rate.
Can Interac e-Transfer send money to a Polish bank account?
No. Interac e-Transfer is domestic only. A payment to Poland leaves as a euro SEPA credit from your Grey balance.
How fast does the euro reach a Polish IBAN?
Transfers from a funded Grey balance typically arrive within minutes over SEPA. Any conversion into zloty afterwards runs on the bank's own timing.
Does my recipient in Warsaw need a Grey account?
No. They need only their Polish IBAN. The euro appears in their banking app as an ordinary incoming credit.
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