Euro from Ireland into a Romanian bank account
Romania runs on the leu, and Grey does not convert to lei. What leaves your euro balance in Ireland arrives as a euro credit in your recipient's Romanian IBAN through SEPA, typically within minutes. Their own bank decides what happens next. Read the next section before your first transfer, because this arrangement suits some households in Romania and not others.
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Who this route works for, and who it does not
Romanians are one of the largest communities in Ireland and they are not only in Dublin. Meat processing in the midlands, care work around Cork, construction in Drogheda and Dundalk, hospitality in Galway and Ennis. The money that goes home from those jobs almost always has a name on it: a parent, a mortgage, a term fee.
Here is the part other services leave until the confirmation screen. Grey does not convert euro into lei. Your transfer lands in the Romanian account as euro, through SEPA, the same way any European payment would. Banca Transilvania, BCR and BRD Societe Generale take it as an ordinary credit, and your recipient needs no Grey account to receive it.
That is good news if the person in Romania already holds euro. Romanian banks commonly let a customer keep a euro account alongside the leu one, and many families do, because savings, rent on newer apartments in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca and private school fees are often priced in euro anyway. It also suits anyone who would rather choose their own moment to convert.
It is the wrong route if they need an exact number of lei on a fixed date. A utility bill, a hospital payment or a loan instalment in lei has to be converted by their bank at that bank's rate, and you will not see that rate in Grey. Before you send anything, ask which IBAN they want you to use and whether that account holds euro. One message saves a bad surprise at the other end.
Sending your first euro transfer to Romania
Open the account
A Grey account is free and opens on your phone in about five minutes with a valid identity document. Nothing about the Romanian side needs to be organised at this stage.
Put euro on it
Move euro into your Grey balance by SEPA transfer from AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, An Post Money, your credit union or Revolut. It sits in euro until you send it.
Send to the IBAN
Enter the Romanian IBAN, check the euro figure and the fee on the confirmation screen, and send. With euro already on the balance, the credit typically reaches the Romanian bank within minutes.
What a euro transfer to Romania costs
The cost you cannot see from Ireland is the second one. If the person in Romania turns that euro into lei, their bank applies its own rate and may charge for doing it. That happens on their side, after the money has landed, and no provider crediting euro into a Romanian IBAN can quote it for you in advance.
So ask them once what their bank did with the first transfer, and weigh that against what a service converting to lei would have delivered. For a household that keeps euro anyway, the question never comes up. For one that converts every cent on arrival, it is the whole calculation, and you are better off knowing early.
The euro figure is fixed when you confirm
If a conversion is involved on your side, for example when you hold dollars or sterling on Grey and want euro to go to Romania, the rate appears before you confirm and is fixed at that moment. The euro that leaves your balance is the euro that reaches the Romanian IBAN.
What no provider can fix is what happens after arrival. If the receiving account holds euro, nothing further happens at all. If your recipient converts to lei, the leu amount depends on their bank on that day. It is why families on this route usually agree an amount in euro rather than promising a number of lei.
Grey beside the SEPA payment your Irish bank already offers
Be straight about it. A plain euro payment from your AIB or Bank of Ireland app to a Romanian IBAN moves the same euro along the same SEPA rails, and on this corridor Grey is not doing something your bank cannot. What Grey adds is everything around it: a balance you can hold in euro, sterling or dollars, one place to pay Romania and the other countries your family has scattered to, saved recipients so the monthly payment is a few taps, tracking from confirmation to settlement, and GreyTag, which is free and instant if the person in Romania is also on Grey. If you only ever move euro to one Romanian IBAN, your bank will manage that. If you are juggling more than that, Grey is the tidier place to do it from.
What your recipient sees in Romania
A euro credit on the statement, arriving through SEPA like any other European payment. No collection point, no reference code to read out over the phone, no Grey account needed on their side.
Straight to the IBAN
Banca Transilvania, BCR, BRD Societe Generale and other Romanian banks are reached with the IBAN alone. The credit shows in euro, not in lei.
How quickly it lands
Sent from a euro balance you have already funded, the credit typically reaches the Romanian IBAN within minutes. Where SEPA Instant is available it settles in under 10 seconds, at any hour.
If they convert it
Turning the euro into lei is their decision and their bank's rate. Some keep the euro, some convert the day it lands, some split the difference.
Moving euro from an Irish bank onto Grey
Funding is the step people underestimate. Set it up properly once and every later payment to Romania is a two minute job.
Save Grey as a payee
Add your Grey euro details to your Irish banking app once. After that a top up is the same as paying any other beneficiary on your list.
Move it early
If the money is expected in Romania at the end of the month, put it on Grey a few days before rather than on the morning it is due.
From another Grey user
Someone else on Grey can send you a balance by GreyTag, free and instant, and you can pass it straight on to the Romanian account.
Save the IBAN the first time you use it, along with a note of whether that account holds euro. From then on the monthly transfer to Romania is confirm and send.
What goes from Ireland to Romania
Parents at home
A monthly amount to a mother or father in Iasi, Constanta or a village outside it, usually the same figure each time so the household can plan around it.
A flat or a house
Instalments on an apartment in Bucharest or Cluj-Napoca, or building work on a family house. Property in Romania is frequently priced in euro, which makes this the most natural use of the corridor.
College and school
Term fees, rent for a student in Timisoara or Brasov, and the top ups in between. Agree the figure in euro with whoever is actually paying the bill.
Paying a business in Romania
An Irish company paying a Romanian developer, agency or supplier. Invoices issued from Romania to Irish clients are commonly denominated in euro, so the credit matches the invoice exactly.
Four patterns cover most of the money on this route, and all four assume euro arriving in the account rather than lei.
Reasons to use Grey between Ireland and Romania
Ask the question this page has been pointing at: does the Romanian account you are about to pay hold euro, or only lei?
The answer decides whether this route is the right one for you. If they hold euro, or they are comfortable converting when it suits them, the transfer is straightforward and lands in minutes. If they need lei on a deadline, at least you now know where the second conversion happens and who sets the rate. Either way, nobody at the Romanian end has to open an account or learn a new app to receive the money.
FAQs
Will my family in Romania receive lei or euro?
Euro. Grey credits euro into the Romanian IBAN through SEPA, and turning it into lei is a matter for your recipient's own bank.
Does Grey convert euro into Romanian lei before the money arrives?
No. There is no leu conversion inside the transfer, so the amount credited at Banca Transilvania or BCR shows on the statement in euro.
What should I ask my recipient before the first transfer to Romania?
Ask whether the Romanian IBAN they gave you belongs to a euro account or a leu account, because that decides what happens on arrival.
Who does this Ireland to Romania route suit?
Recipients who already hold euro or prefer to choose their own moment to convert, and anyone paying euro priced rent, school fees or property costs.
Who should think twice about sending euro to a Romanian account?
Anyone whose recipient needs an exact number of lei on a fixed date, because the receiving bank sets that conversion rate rather than Grey.
Which Romanian banks can Grey reach from Ireland?
Banca Transilvania, BCR, BRD Societe Generale and other Romanian banks, all reached with the IBAN alone and no Grey account on their side.
How long does a transfer from Ireland to Romania take?
Typically minutes from a funded euro balance, and under 10 seconds where SEPA Instant is available at the receiving Romanian bank.
How do I put euro on Grey from an Irish bank account?
Send a SEPA transfer from AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, An Post Money, a credit union or Revolut, and the euro sits ready for Romania.
Is Grey cheaper than my Irish bank's own SEPA payment to Romania?
Not necessarily on the euro leg, because both run through SEPA. Grey adds saved recipients, end to end tracking and balances in other currencies.
Does my recipient in Romania need a Grey account?
No. The euro arrives in their existing Romanian bank account as an ordinary SEPA credit, the same as any other European payment they receive.
Can I send to Romania if part of my income is in dollars?
Yes. Hold dollars in the USD account provided by Lead Bank, convert to euro on Grey, then send that euro to the Romanian IBAN.
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