Send money to Lebanon from Canada: the channels and their real cost

To send money to Lebanon from Canada, the total cost recorded on 23 October 2026 ranges from about 2% to 9% of the amount for CAD 100, and from about 2% to 5% for CAD 1,000, fees and exchange rate included. The money arrives in US dollars, as cash from an agent or in a mobile wallet. A bank wire costs CAD 15 to 50 in fixed fees for CAD 1,000, before the bank’s exchange margin and intermediary bank fees.

This guide compares services without recommending any of them. For three amounts, on the same day, it shows what you pay and what your relative receives, then explains how to check that a service is allowed to operate in Canada and in Lebanon.

The total cost, recorded on 23 October 2026

• Remitly: standard price, as deduced from the structure of the quote (CAD 3.99 fee for cash pickup, CAD 1.99 for a mobile wallet, rate of 0.6999 US dollars per Canadian dollar). New customers get a time-limited offer: no fees on the first three transfers and a boosted rate on the first CAD 500. It is not counted in the table.
• Sendwave: CAD 1.99 fee whatever the amount, rate of 0.69795. Debit card only; the recipient collects the cash from a Whish Money agent.
• Taptap Send: no fee from Canada, according to the company; the cost is in the rate (0.698 on its public calculator). The app shows the final price before you send.
• Western Union: fees of CAD 4.99, 5.99 and 7.99 depending on the amount, rate of 0.696329. Paying by credit card costs CAD 8, 21 and 38, plus any cash advance fee charged by the card issuer. One of the payment methods offered, which our reading of the calculator identifies as Interac e-Transfer, gets a slightly better rate (0.7006). In Lebanon, Western Union transfers are collected in dollars at OMT, which keeps a 2% cash-handling fee: this is the last row of the table.

How the data was recorded

• Same day, same hour: every quote was taken on 23 October 2026 between 7:38 and 7:44 a.m., Montreal time, on the companies’ public price calculators, without an account or login.
• Same amounts: CAD 100, 500 and 1,000 sent, paid by debit card unless stated otherwise, received in US dollars.
• Total cost: we compare the US dollars received with what you would have got at the Bank of Canada reference rate, with no fee. Example: you pay CAD 104.99 and your relative receives USD 69.63; at the reference rate, CAD 104.99 is worth USD 74.88; the total cost is therefore 7.0%.
• Reference rate: the Bank of Canada daily average rate for 22 October 2026, USD 1 = CAD 1.4021, so CAD 1 = USD 0.7132 (the 23 October rate had not yet been published at the time). The Bank of Canada states that its rates are indicative only and are published each business day by 16:30 ET.
• Not recorded: MoneyGram, Ria and WorldRemit, whose calculators require an anti-bot check; Whish Money Canada, which publishes no price list for transfers from Canada; banks, which do not publish their exchange rate. Prices change without notice: run the quote again on the day you send.

Our method applies to this data. Did you pay a different price for a transfer to Lebanon? Submit it: the next update will take it into account.

The channels available in Canada

• Transfer apps and websites (Remitly, Sendwave, Taptap Send, WorldRemit, Western Union online, among others): you pay by card or from your bank account; your relative collects dollars from an agent in Lebanon or receives them in a mobile wallet.
• Western Union at an agent location: more than 3,500 locations in Canada, according to the company. You can also start the transfer in the app and pay cash at the counter (the same price as paying by debit card in our data). The limit is CAD 7,500 per transfer to Lebanon, according to Western Union.
• Whish Money Canada: the company has been on the federal registry since 9 June 2025. According to Whish’s FAQ, you can send and receive money directly between Whish Money branches in Canada and Lebanon; its price list shows topping up a Whish wallet from a US or Canadian bank as free. Whish publishes neither the list of its branches in Canada nor its exchange rate for these transfers: ask how many dollars will be received before you pay.
• Bank wire: to a bank account in Lebanon, in US dollars. See the next section. Wise also offers sending US dollars to a bank account in Lebanon by international wire (Wise page); the cost depends on the receiving bank and was not recorded.

In Montreal, as everywhere in Quebec, a business that transfers funds for remuneration must also hold an operating licence (section 3 of the Money-Services Businesses Act). Revenu Québec keeps the public register of these licences. On its Canadian website, Western Union states Quebec licence No. 12404.

Bank wires: the published fees

The major banks publish a fixed fee for an international wire sent to another institution. For CAD 1,000, according to their price lists in force on 23 October 2026:

• Desjardins: CAD 15 for an international SWIFT transfer, in AccèsD or by phone.
• CIBC: CAD 30 per wire of CAD 10,000 or less, at a banking centre.
• National Bank: 0.34% of the amount (minimum CAD 20, maximum CAD 70), plus a CAD 20 transmission fee outside Canada and the United States, so CAD 40 for CAD 1,000 (price guide in force since 15 February 2026).
• Scotiabank: 0.2% of the amount (minimum CAD 30, maximum CAD 100), plus a CAD 15 international destination fee, so CAD 45 for CAD 1,000 (September 2026 booklet).
• RBC Royal Bank: “starting at” CAD 45, in branch.
• BMO: CAD 40, plus a CAD 10 communication charge (fees in force since 2 June 2026).
• TD Canada Trust: CAD 50 in branch (document in force since 5 March 2026).

On top of these fees come three costs that banks do not quote in advance: their own exchange rate to convert your Canadian dollars, correspondent bank fees deducted from the amount sent, and any fee charged by the receiving Lebanese bank. None of the price lists consulted mentions Lebanon. The low-fee online transfer services of CIBC, BMO and National Bank do not include Lebanon among their published destinations; National Bank then refers customers to a SWIFT wire in branch. Before sending, ask your bank whether it accepts the destination, and ask your relative whether their account in Lebanon lets them withdraw or use the dollars received.

Check a service before you send

In Canada, every money transfer service serving clients in Canada must be registered with FINTRAC, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. The Money Services Business Registry is public, updated monthly and downloadable. Search for the name, then check the number and the status: only “Registered” counts; “Expired”, “Ceased” or “Revoked” do not.

Note: registration is not a licence. FINTRAC writes that registration “does not indicate that FINTRAC endorses or licenses the business”. It only shows that the business has met the legal requirement to register. FINTRAC cannot help you recover blocked funds either.

Registrations found in the registry on 23 October 2026, all with the status “Registered”:

• Western Union Financial Services (Canada), Inc.: M08938050;
• Whish Money Canada, Inc. (Calgary): C100000616;
• Remitly Canada Inc.: M15481516;
• Taptap Send Payments Canada Inc.: M21060579;
• WorldRemit Inc., WorldRemit Central Inc. and WorldRemit West Inc., trading as WorldRemit, Zepz and Sendwave: M11556765, M19255682 and M19043501;
• MoneyGram Payment Systems Canada Inc.: M08923802;
• Ria Telecommunications of Canada Inc. (Montreal): M09756621;
• Wise Payments Canada Inc.: M15193392.

OMT is not on the registry under its own name: in Lebanon, OMT is the agent of Western Union, which is the registered service in Canada. Likewise, a local shop that sends transfers on behalf of a company should be able to tell you under which name and number that company is registered.

In Lebanon, the Banque du Liban publishes the list of electronic payment services providers allowed to carry out transfers. It includes OMT, BOB Finance, Cash United, Whish Money, MTM and Purpl, among others, with the type of transfers each may handle (internal, external or both).

On the Lebanese side: currency, collection, documents

• Currency: every service in our data pays out US dollars. The Western Union calculator rejects Lebanese pounds for a transfer from Canada.
• Collection at OMT (Western Union): in dollars only, with valid ID and the 10-digit tracking number (MTCN). OMT keeps a 2% cash-handling fee, shown on the receipt; it states that transfers received in its OMT Pay app are free (we have not checked whether a Western Union transfer from Canada can be paid into it).
• Collection with Whish: cash from an agent, or into the Whish wallet. Whish’s price list shows 1% to withdraw dollars from a wallet over the counter or at a cash machine, and a maximum balance of USD 3,000 for an individual account. Taptap Send, for its part, states that its recipients pay no cash-out fee and that receipts via Whish are capped at USD 5,000 a month.
• From USD 1,000 in cash: under Banque du Liban Basic Decision No. 13769 of 14 November 2025 (Basic Circular No. 3), as in force since 30 June 2026, the provider must verify identity and keep a copy of the ID for each cash transaction, and have a customer identification form completed (RF1-A). Proof of the source of funds is only required from USD 10,000 a month, or if there are suspicions. A CAD 1,000 transfer, about USD 700, stays below this threshold.

Sources

• FINTRAC, “Money Services Business Registry”, page modified on 7 October 2026; downloadable version (CSV) accessed on 23 October 2026.
• FINTRAC, “Conducting transactions with a money services business”, accessed on 23 October 2026.
• Banque du Liban, “List of Electronic Payment Services Providers”, document of January 2026, accessed on 23 October 2026.
• Banque du Liban, Basic Circular No. 3 and Basic Decision No. 13769 of 14 November 2025, amended by Intermediate Decision No. 13815 of 4 May 2026, in force since 30 June 2026.
• Bank of Canada, “Daily exchange rates”, USD/CAD rate for 22 October 2026, accessed on 23 October 2026.
• Money-Services Businesses Act (Quebec), chapter E-12.000001, up to date as of 12 August 2026.
• Western Union Canada, “Send Money to Lebanon” and price estimator, data as of 23 October 2026.
• OMT, “Western Union International Money Transfer”, accessed on 23 October 2026.
• Whish Money, “Fees & Commissions”, FAQ and “Add & Transfer”, accessed on 23 October 2026.
• Remitly, “Send money to Lebanon from Canada” and its calculator, data as of 23 October 2026.
• Sendwave, “Send money to Lebanon from Canada” and its calculator, data as of 23 October 2026.
• Taptap Send, “Send money to Lebanon” and its calculator, data as of 23 October 2026.
• Wise, “Send money to Lebanon”, accessed on 23 October 2026.
• Bank price lists, accessed on 23 October 2026: Desjardins, “Virement international” (in French); CIBC, banking fees and service charges; National Bank, price guide (in French) (15 February 2026); Scotiabank, Day-to-Day Banking Companion Booklet (September 2026); RBC, Additional Account Services; BMO, Agreements, Bank Plans and Fees (2 June 2026); TD Canada Trust, About Our Accounts and Related Services (5 March 2026).

Checked on 23.10.2026. Price data as of 23.10.2026: it will be recorded again at each update of the series.