Here’s what you need in order to send money from Korea to Canada — the recipient details, how fees and exchange rates are applied, the limits that apply to foreign residents, and how long the money takes to land.
Key points
- ✅ Three numbers identify a Canadian account — a 5-digit transit number, a 3-digit institution number, and a 7–12 digit account number
- ✅ The institution number keeps its leading zero. RBC is
003, not3— and chequing and savings aren’t interchangeable either- ✅ The money lands in Canadian dollars (CAD), so the receiving account has to be a CAD one — and the KRW→CAD rate is shown before you confirm
- ✅ If you’re a foreign resident in Korea, the guideline is USD 5,000 per transfer and USD 50,000 per calendar year
If you’re living in Korea with a Canadian bank account still open, this comes up often enough — rent back home, family support, tuition or a student loan, or moving savings across while the rate looks reasonable.
Canadian bank details trip people up because there are three separate numbers to get right, and they tend to arrive in whatever order the recipient happened to read them off. The questions below are the ones that actually come up, in the order you’ll hit them.
1. What details do I need to send money from Korea to Canada?
Six things: the account holder’s name, a 5-digit transit number, a 3-digit institution number, the account number, the account type, and a Canadian address with a postal code.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Account holder name | Exactly as it appears on the account |
| Transit number | 5 digits — identifies the branch where the account was opened |
| Institution number | 3 digits — identifies the bank. Keep the leading zero: 003, not 3 |
| Account number | Usually 7–12 digits, depending on the bank |
| Account type | Chequing or savings — whichever the account actually is |
| Recipient address | Street address, city, province, and postal code |
Where the recipient finds all three numbers. The quickest route is the bottom of one of their cheques — the MICR line. Reading left to right it runs: cheque number, then the 5-digit transit number, then the 3-digit institution number, then the account number. No cheques on hand? Every major Canadian banking app has a “direct deposit info” or “account details” screen listing the same three numbers, and that’s the screenshot worth asking for.
The first number on that line is the cheque number. It’s not part of the account details and it’s never used for a transfer — but it sits where people expect the transit number to be, so it gets copied by mistake more often than anything else on this list.
The institution number is the same at every branch of a bank, so it’s easy to sanity-check:
| Bank | Institution number |
|---|---|
| BMO | 001 |
| Scotiabank | 002 |
| RBC | 003 |
| TD | 004 |
| CIBC | 010 |
The transit number, by contrast, changes from branch to branch — so the recipient still has to supply their own. Credit unions and smaller institutions have their own numbers, listed in the same public directory.
（Source: Payments Canada）
You don’t need an IBAN. Canada doesn’t use them at all, so there’s no field for one — the transit, institution, and account numbers do the whole job.
2. How much does it cost?
The fee depends on how much you’re sending, and you see it before you commit. Enter the amount in the app or on the web, and the fee and the exchange rate for that specific transfer appear on screen.
What you’re paying for is a conversion: won leaves your Korean account, and Canadian dollars (CAD) arrive in the recipient’s. So the total comes down to two things — the transfer fee, and the KRW→CAD rate applied to your money.
The rate refreshes roughly every 10 minutes and locks in the moment your application is completed — so the figure you agreed to is the figure you get, even if the market moves while the transfer is being processed. Because the money arrives as Canadian dollars, the receiving account needs to be a CAD account. Plenty of Canadians hold a US dollar account at the same bank alongside their everyday one, so it’s worth confirming which set of numbers you’ve been given.
3. How long does it take?
Canada takes a little longer than a short-haul destination, and it’s worth planning around rather than being surprised by.
| Stage | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Document review | About 2 hours (longer at peak times) |
| Transfer processing | Average 1 business day, up to 3 business days |
| Credit to the recipient’s account | Up to 2 further business days, depending on the bank |
You’ll get a notification once the transfer completes, and you can track the status any time from the app or the web. Worth knowing: “completed” on your side means the money has left and been sent on — the recipient sees it when their own bank posts it. If the timing matters, ask them to confirm rather than assuming.
One thing that catches people out on this route: Canadian bank holidays aren’t uniform across the country. Alongside the federal ones, each province has its own statutory holidays, so a day that’s a working day in one province may not be one at the recipient’s branch. Add that to the business-day counts above when something has a deadline attached.
The money doesn’t go missing in between. Every transfer is tracked from the moment it leaves, and because it goes direct rather than hopping through intermediary banks there are fewer places for it to sit unexplained. If the recipient details don’t match what the receiving bank holds, the transfer is rejected and returned rather than vanishing — it just costs you time.
4. How much can I send from Korea to Canada?
Most foreign residents in Korea fall under the “foreigner” category. The guideline figures:
| Category | Annual cumulative limit | Per-transfer limit |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign residents | USD 50,000 | USD 5,000 |
| Korean nationals (for reference) | USD 100,000 | USD 100,000 |
Two things that catch people out. The annual count runs January 1 to December 31 — it doesn’t reset on your visa date or your arrival date, and it doesn’t roll over. And the same limits apply whether you’re sending as an individual or as a company.
Larger amounts are possible where there’s documentation behind the payment. A transfer backed by an invoice or a contract — a business payment rather than a personal one — falls under documented remittance, which is handled separately and allows higher amounts.
（Source: MOIN BizPlus）
5. Whose name do I send in, and which Korean account do I pay from?
Both have to be yours. The transfer is made in your own name — the person applying is the person sending — so your ID documents, your contact details, and the Korean account you pay in from all have to belong to you. You can’t send on behalf of a spouse, a friend, or an employer using their money and your account. That’s how Korea’s foreign exchange rules treat remittance, not a MOIN policy.
After you apply, you transfer the won into a dedicated deposit (virtual) account. This step has the most rules attached, and it’s where transfers usually stall:
- Pay from the Korean bank account you registered, using that bank’s mobile, internet, or telephone banking. Simple-payment services such as Toss Pay, Kakao Pay, and PAYCO can’t be used — those payments are automatically returned in full.
- Send from the account you verified with MOIN. You can change the verified account, but only during operating hours.
- Some accounts aren’t eligible: legacy account numbers from before a bank merger, and “lifetime account” services. IBK sole-proprietor accounts may not work either.
- Transfer the exact amount shown, down to the last won, within one hour.
- Bank counter and ATM deposits aren’t accepted.
- Check your own account’s daily and per-transaction caps first. Korean banks apply their own limits, and a large remittance can quietly exceed them.
6. What usually goes wrong?
Five things account for most failed first transfers to Canada, and four of them are about the three numbers.
- Swapping the transit and institution numbers. Count the digits: transit is 5, institution is 3. If a three-digit number has landed in the transit field, they’ve been entered the wrong way round.
- Dropping the leading zero. As far as the form is concerned,
3is not003. Institution numbers are always three characters, zeros included. - Copying the cheque number. It’s the first number on the MICR line, right where you’d expect the transit number to be, and it has nothing to do with the account.
- The wrong account type. Chequing and savings aren’t interchangeable — ask which one the account actually is instead of guessing from the balance.
- Details that don’t match the bank’s records. Use the account holder’s name as the bank holds it, not a shortened version, and give the full address — province and postal code included. Canadian postal codes are six characters in an
A1A 1A1pattern.
Sending somewhere else instead? The recipient details a transfer asks for change from one destination to the next, so it’s worth checking the list before you start.
👉 How to send money from Korea to the UK
👉 How to send money from Korea to the USA
7. Sending Money Abroad from Korea | MOIN International Transfers
Bank fees adding up, but the alternatives feel like a gamble? That’s the gap MOIN is built for.
Why people choose MOIN
- ✅ Your recipient doesn’t sign up for anything — the money lands in their bank account
- ✅ One app, whenever and wherever you need to send
- ✅ Direct transfers with no intermediary bank in the path
- ✅ Compared with a bank’s international transfer fees, you can keep the cost down
- ✅ A lighter load from exchange and fees, so more of what you send arrives
MOIN is a licensed international money transfer service registered with Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance. You can send from Korea to Canada and to countries around the world.
8. Blog-Only Coupon 🎁
A small thank-you for reading. Here’s a coupon that takes the fee down on your next international transfer — Canada, and everywhere else MOIN sends.
<Blog-only coupon>
- Coupon code: MOINEN
- Discount: KRW 3,000 off the transfer fee
- Eligible destinations: all supported countries
- Valid: 15 days from the date you claim it
Get Started with MOIN
MOIN makes international transfers simpler than a bank, and keeps the cost down. Transfers go direct, without intermediary banks, so there’s no cable fee and no intermediary or receiving bank fee to absorb. You can check the estimated arrival time for your transfer in the app.
