Sending euro from Ireland to Belgium
Ireland and Belgium share the euro, so nothing on this route is converted. What you enter is what lands at BNP Paribas Fortis, ING Belgium, KBC Bank or any Belgian IBAN, usually within minutes over SEPA. The fee sits on the screen before you confirm, and the recipient pays nothing to receive it.
EUR
EUR
-
Trusted by 3M+ people around the world
GOOGLE PLAY •22K REVIEWS
APP STORE • 12K REVIEWS
Two very different reasons euro leaves Ireland for Belgium
The first is Brussels itself. Irish staff at the European institutions, people working for trade bodies, consultancies and law firms in the European quarter, and the families who keep a flat there for the length of a posting. Rent, school fees and household bills move back and forth constantly, and always in euro.
The second is freight, and it is the larger flow. When Irish exporters shifted away from the land bridge through Britain and onto direct sailings to Zeebrugge and Antwerp, a lot of Irish food, drink and pharmaceutical companies ended up with Belgian hauliers, forwarders and customs agents on their payables ledger. Those invoices carry due dates and Belgian account details, and they do not wait.
Both sides of this are euro payments in and out, which means no conversion anywhere on the route. The figure you type in Dublin is the figure credited at BNP Paribas Fortis, ING Belgium or KBC Bank, and nobody in Belgium needs a Grey account to receive it.
From an Irish balance to a Belgian account in three steps
Set the account up
Opening a Grey account is free, takes roughly five minutes and needs one valid identity document. After that Belgium is one of more than 80 countries you can pay.
Fund it in euro
Send euro across from AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, An Post Money or a credit union by SEPA transfer. It sits on the balance as euro, unchanged, until you use it.
Pay the Belgian IBAN
Enter the IBAN from the invoice or the message, check the fee, confirm. SEPA usually has it at BNP Paribas Fortis, ING Belgium or KBC Bank within minutes.
The cost of a Belgian payment, in full
That fee is shown on the confirmation screen beside the amount the Belgian account will receive. A forwarder invoicing an Irish exporter for 2,400 euro expects 2,400 euro, and a SEPA credit does not lose anything to a correspondent bank on the way, which is precisely what an international wire can do.
An exchange rate only comes into it if the money starts somewhere other than euro. Dollars in your USD account, provided by Lead Bank, or pounds on your GBP balance, are converted once, in Ireland, at a rate you see and accept before the payment is released.
What is fixed at the moment you confirm
Where both ends are in euro, what confirmation fixes is the amount. You type a figure, the fee appears next to it, and that figure is what the Belgian account is credited with. Nothing is converted on arrival and nothing is revised afterwards.
If you are funding out of dollars or pounds, the rate is locked when you confirm, not when the payment settles. A customs agent's invoice does not care what the pound did overnight.
For anyone matching payments to invoice lines, that is the useful part. The number in the accounts payable system and the number credited in Brussels or Antwerp are the same number.
Grey next to an ordinary transfer from your Irish bank
A SEPA payment from an Irish bank to a Belgian IBAN is neither slow nor exotic, and it would be dishonest to suggest otherwise. What it does not do is show you the charge before you commit to it, and it does not hold a funded balance for you, so every payment starts from your current account on the day. For an exporter clearing a run of Belgian freight and customs invoices, that means the timing depends on the bank rather than on you. On Grey the euro is already sitting there, the fee is visible before you release each payment, and the Belgian forwarder and a supplier outside the euro area are handled in the same place rather than two.
What the person or firm in Belgium sees
A euro credit on their own account, shown the way a domestic Belgian payment is shown. No Grey account, no app, no charge at their end to receive it.
Any Belgian IBAN
BNP Paribas Fortis, ING Belgium and KBC Bank are all covered, as is any other Belgian bank with an IBAN.
SEPA Instant where available
Where SEPA Instant applies it settles in under 10 seconds, at any hour of any day. Otherwise a standard SEPA payment typically arrives within minutes of you releasing it.
GreyTag between Grey users
If your contact in Brussels or Antwerp is also on Grey, GreyTag moves the money free and instantly, in any currency.
Funding ahead of a Belgian due date
Freight invoices and Brussels rent have one thing in common. They arrive with a date on them, and the work is making sure the balance is ready before that date rather than on it.
Weekly top-up
Exporters shipping on a regular sailing usually move a set amount across each week and release invoices against it as they come in.
Payment by payment
For a household in Brussels, moving across the rent and a bit over is simpler than holding a float you do not need.
From a currency you already hold
Dollars or pounds on the balance convert once and pay the Belgian account without a separate transfer out of your Irish bank.
Once a Belgian haulier, landlord or supplier is saved, paying them again is a matter of picking the name and entering the amount from the invoice.
What Ireland pays Belgium for
Freight, forwarding and customs
Hauliers, forwarders and customs agents handling Irish exports through Zeebrugge and Antwerp, invoicing in euro with short payment terms.
Living in the European quarter
Rent, deposits, school fees and household bills for Irish people posted to Brussels, paid from an Irish account while the posting runs.
Suppliers and equipment
Belgian food processing machinery, packaging and chemical suppliers invoicing Irish plants, where the euro figure has to match the purchase order.
Family and study
Belgians living in Dublin or Cork sending money home, and Irish students on exchange in Leuven, Ghent or Louvain-la-Neuve.
Four patterns cover most of it, and they belong to quite different people: a logistics manager in Cork, a civil servant in Brussels, a plant engineer, a student.
Why Irish senders use Grey for Belgium
Freight invoices, customs charges and Brussels rent all share a property. Somebody at the other end has already written down what they are owed, and a payment that lands light means an email, a reconciliation and a delay on the next load.
On a euro to euro route that does not happen. Grey shows the fee before you release the payment, delivers by SEPA to BNP Paribas Fortis, ING Belgium, KBC Bank or any Belgian IBAN, and asks nothing of the person receiving it.
FAQs
Is my money converted when I send from Ireland to Belgium?
No. Both countries use the euro, so the amount you enter is credited to the Belgian IBAN unchanged, with the fee shown separately.
Which Belgian banks can Grey pay from an Irish account?
BNP Paribas Fortis, ING Belgium and KBC Bank, plus any other Belgian bank with an IBAN. The recipient needs no Grey account.
Can I pay a Belgian haulier or customs agent from Ireland?
Yes. Freight, forwarding and customs invoices are ordinary euro payments to a Belgian IBAN, with the fee shown before you release each one.
How long does a payment from Ireland take to reach a Belgian bank?
Typically within minutes from a funded balance. SEPA Instant, where it applies, settles in under 10 seconds and runs 24 hours a day.
Will anything be deducted before it reaches BNP Paribas Fortis?
No. It travels as a SEPA credit rather than an international wire, so no correspondent bank takes a cut along the way.
Do I need a business account to pay Belgian suppliers?
No. Grey pays Belgian bank accounts from an ordinary account, with the fee shown against each invoice before you confirm it.
How do I get euro onto the balance from my Irish bank?
Use a SEPA transfer from AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, An Post Money or a credit union. It stays in euro until sent.
Can I pay a Belgian invoice using dollars or pounds I already hold?
Yes. A USD account provided by Lead Bank and a GBP balance convert once, in Ireland, before the euro reaches the Belgian account.
What details do I need for a payment to Brussels?
The Belgian IBAN and the recipient's name. Grey shows the fee and the euro figure the Belgian account will receive before you confirm.
Can I send to a Belgian account outside Irish banking hours?
Yes, from a funded balance. SEPA Instant runs 24 hours a day, so an evening payment to Antwerp does not wait for the next working day.
Does my recipient in Belgium pay anything to receive it?
No. The euro arrives as a standard credit on their Belgian account and Grey charges them nothing at that end.
Get digital banking
at your fingertips
