UnionPay customers can now transfer funds from Canada to China without fees through a partnership with Canadian bank CIBC.
Recipients can expect to receive their transfers in renminbi within 24 hours, CIBC said in a Jan. 17 news release.
"This partnership further solidifies CIBC as a leader in the remittance industry by providing fast, secure service with no upfront fees, saving money for our clients and making it easier for their families to receive deposits," Vineet Malhotra, head of CIBC’s alternate solutions and retail solutions groups, said in the release.
The Toronto-based bank has offered its no-fee Global Money Transfer service to Hong Kong since it launched the offering in 2015. It has since extended the service to more than 45 countries, now including China.
The announcement was timed with the approach of the Chinese New Year, which CIBC sees as one of the busiest times of the year for its customers remitting funds to China, Malhotra said.
China receives the highest volume of remittance from Canada compared to any other country, according to World Bank statistics. In 2015, Canada’s total remittances to China ($4.2 billion) made up about a fifth of its total global remittances.
