Sending Money Overseas From Australia: A Business Guide

When an Australian business pays a supplier overseas, the transfer fee is usually the smallest number involved, and in some cases it's zero, which is exactly why so many founders stop looking there. The real cost sits inside the exchange rate your provider gives you, and because it's rarely shown as a separate line, it's easy to pay it for years without noticing.

It isn't a fringe concern either. When the ACCC looked into foreign currency conversion services, it found the big four banks consistently more expensive than many other suppliers for international money transfers, and its 2019 report found that consumers and small businesses who used the most expensive bank to send USD 7,000 would have paid over AUD 500 more than if they had used the cheapest supplier. On a one-off payment that's annoying, but on a monthly supplier run it becomes a line item you'd never accept anywhere else in the business.

This guide is for Australian business owners who pay suppliers or contractors abroad and want to know what each option really costs. I'll walk through the main ways to send money from Australia, what five providers charge according to their own published Australian pricing, and how to decide between them. I should also say where I'm coming from: I run Statrys, which doesn't open accounts for Australian-registered companies, so you won't find it in the comparison below. I'll explain at the end where it does fit, for founders who run their Asian trade through a Hong Kong company.

The Short Version

If you send a few payments a month and want the closest thing to the real exchange rate, a specialist such as Wise Business or Airwallex will usually cost you far less than your bank's built-in margin, while a provider like OFX or WorldFirst makes more sense once you're moving larger amounts or want to lock in rates ahead of time. Your bank is still the simplest route if convenience matters more than cost, but go in knowing that a zero transfer fee doesn't mean the payment is free.

Fees are taken from each provider's published Australian pricing as of November 2026 and can change. "From" figures are minimums; what you pay depends on your plan and the currency you send.

How Australian Businesses Send Money Overseas

There are really two routes, and the difference between them matters more than any single provider.

The first is a bank transfer from your Australian business account, usually called a telegraphic transfer or a SWIFT payment (a message sent through the international network banks use to pass payments to each other). It's familiar and it's already set up, which is its biggest advantage. CommBank, for example, now waives its transfer fee for business payments made online, including through CommBiz, but the conversion still happens at the bank's own exchange rate. Moneysmart also notes that an international transfer can take anything from a few minutes to five business days to arrive, depending on the provider.

The second route is a specialist payment provider or business account built for cross-border payments. These providers typically convert closer to the mid-market rate (the midpoint between buy and sell prices, which is the rate you usually see on Google) and show their fee separately, and many of them route payments through local networks in the destination country, which is usually faster and cheaper than SWIFT. If you want to understand the mechanics in more detail, our guide on how a SWIFT payment works explains what happens between the two banks.

Where the Money Actually Goes

Every international payment carries up to four kinds of cost, and most providers only advertise one or two of them:

• The transfer fee: a flat or percentage charge for sending the payment, often waived online.
• The FX margin: the difference between the rate you get and the mid-market rate, which is usually the largest cost and the one least often shown.
• Intermediary bank fees: charges taken by banks along the SWIFT chain, which can mean your supplier receives less than you sent unless you choose to cover them (an "OUR" payment rather than a shared "SHA" one).
• Receiving fees: charges your supplier's bank may deduct on arrival, which no Australian provider can control.

The FX margin is the one worth doing the sums on. If you pay AUD 50,000 a month to suppliers overseas, every 1% of margin costs you AUD 500 a payment and AUD 6,000 a year, so the gap between a 0.5% margin and a 2.5% margin works out at AUD 12,000 a year on the same payments to the same people. Before you choose anyone, ask for the rate they would give you on a real payment and compare it with the mid-market rate at that moment, because that comparison tells you more than any fee table.

The Main Options Compared

Each provider below publishes its Australian business pricing, and none of them is the cheapest for every payment. What follows is what each one is good at and where it falls short, so you can match it to how your business actually pays people.

CommBank and the Big Four Banks

Your existing bank is the path of least resistance, since there's no new account to open and payments go out from the same place your revenue comes in. CommBank waives its transfer fee for business payments made online (AUD to AUD transfers excluded), covers correspondent bank fees on most cross-currency payments (CommBiz payments in Japanese yen are excluded), and lists delivery in 1 to 3 business days to more than 200 destinations in 30+ currencies. Through NetBank or the CommBank app, you can usually send up to AUD 50,000 a day, and some businesses can raise that to AUD 100,000, subject to approval.

What CommBank doesn't publish is its FX margin, which is built into the exchange rate, and that's where the ACCC's finding about the big four being consistently more expensive bites. If you pay overseas suppliers regularly, I'd at least price one payment with a specialist before assuming the bank is close enough.

Wise Business

Wise Business is built around the mid-market rate with a separate, visible fee, starting from 0.19% per transfer depending on the currency, and there's no monthly fee. The Basic plan is free if you only need to send money, while the Advanced plan, which adds AUD account details with a BSB plus account details in more than 20 currencies so you can get paid, costs a one-off AUD 65 to set up. Fees drop when you send more than AUD 40,000 in a month, and same-currency payments to other Wise users are free.

It suits a business making frequent, smaller payments where transparency matters more than tools like forward contracts. For a closer look, see our Wise Business account review.

Airwallex

Airwallex suits a business that holds and receives foreign currency as well as paying out, since you can keep balances in multiple currencies and pay from them without converting each time. Its Australian fee schedule lists a 0.50% FX margin on major currencies (including USD, EUR, GBP, CNY and HKD) and 1.00% on others, AUD 0 for local transfers, and AUD 10 per SWIFT payment on a shared basis or AUD 30 if you cover all intermediary fees. Payments in CNY carry a 0.10% fee.

The Explore plan costs AUD 29 a month, dropping to AUD 0 if you deposit at least AUD 5,000 a month or hold AUD 10,000 across your balances, so it's worth checking which side of that line your business usually sits on.

OFX

OFX has been doing Australian business FX for a long time, and it's at its best on larger payments and when you want to manage currency risk with forward contracts or limit orders. Its Standard plan is AUD 0 a month, the Full Suite plan is AUD 75 a month for five users with approvals and spend management, and cross-border SWIFT payments cost AUD 10 each. OFX doesn't publish a fixed FX margin for transfers, so you'll need a quote on your own volumes, and for regular large payments that's where the conversation with a dealer earns its keep.

If you're thinking about hedging, our guide to forward exchange contracts explains how locking in a rate works. You can also read our OFX business account review.

WorldFirst

WorldFirst is the most natural fit if your suppliers are in China. There's no account or monthly fee, domestic payments to Australian and New Zealand accounts are free, and other payments start from 0.4%, capped at AUD 15, with an FX margin of up to 0.6% on major currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD and JPY) and from 0.67% on others. You can also pay suppliers on 1688.com directly, for a fee of up to 0.8%, and WorldFirst offers a Full Value Transfer option on USD, GBP and EUR payments so your supplier receives the exact amount you sent (free to payees in the US, UK and EEA, and a fixed AUD 25 elsewhere).

It's business-only, which is the point: the account is built around paying and getting paid as a company. Our WorldFirst business account review goes into more detail, and if China is your main corridor, our guide on how to send money to China covers the currency rules on the receiving side.

How to Choose the Right Provider for Your Business

The right provider depends less on who's cheapest in general and more on how your business pays. These questions usually settle it:

1. How much do you send, and how often? For a handful of small payments, a transparent per-transfer fee wins, but once you're sending tens of thousands a month, the FX margin matters far more than the fee and a negotiated rate starts to pay off.
2. Do you also need to receive foreign currency? If customers pay you in USD or EUR, holding those balances and paying suppliers from them avoids converting twice, which is where multi-currency accounts earn their place.
3. Where are your suppliers? Specialists differ by corridor, so a provider that's excellent for paying the UK may be ordinary for paying Vietnam or China.
4. Do you need to fix rates ahead of time? If you've quoted a customer in AUD and pay a supplier in USD three months later, a forward contract protects your margin, and not every provider offers one.
5. Will it connect to your accounting? Most specialists sync with Xero or QuickBooks, which saves hours of reconciliation every month.

For a wider comparison, including options for personal transfers, see our roundup of the best international money transfer apps.

Rules and Limits When Sending Money From Australia

Australian rules focus on reporting rather than capping what a business can send overseas, so the limits you'll actually meet come from your provider. Banks set daily online limits (CommBank's is usually AUD 50,000 a day through NetBank or the CommBank app), and very large transfers may need to be arranged by phone or come with extra identity checks.

Reporting is handled by your provider rather than by you. Banks and remittance providers must report international funds transfer instructions to AUSTRAC, Australia's financial intelligence agency, within 10 business days, whatever the amount. That's routine and doesn't mean anything is wrong with the payment, but it does mean you should keep invoices and contracts on file so you can explain any payment if asked.

Finally, scams target exactly this kind of payment. If a supplier suddenly emails new bank details, confirm them by phone on a number you already have before sending anything, because, as Moneysmart warns, money sent to a scammer is almost impossible to get back.

Where Statrys Fits

I'm not a neutral party here, so I'll keep this short. Statrys doesn't open accounts for Australian-registered companies, and if your business is an Australian Pty Ltd paying overseas suppliers, one of the providers above is the right place to start.

Where Statrys does fit is for Australian founders who run their Asian trade or services through a Hong Kong company, a structure some founders choose when they buy from China or sell across the region. For a company registered in Hong Kong, Singapore or the BVI, a Statrys multi-currency business account holds 11 currencies including AUD, sends and receives payments in more than 120 countries, and charges FX fees from 0.1%. Hong Kong business account holders can also add local currency account details in Australia, so Australian customers can pay the company in AUD like a local transfer. 96% of our clients were able to open their business accounts within 3 business days.

If you haven't set up the company yet, Statrys also handles Hong Kong incorporation online. A Hong Kong structure has its own Australian tax consequences for a resident founder, so get advice from an Australian tax adviser before you commit to it. Statrys is not a bank, and business accounts are subject to approval.