Yahoo Finance The top 5 Canadian banks for international travellers
The busy spring travel season is right around the corner, and Canadians pay a lot for things like travel costs, insurance, and withdrawing cash during their trip.
Ratehub looked at how Canada’s five biggest banks compare when it comes to fees, charges, and exchange rates for foreign cash withdrawals.
In its scenario, the study compared how much it would cost a Canadian to take out $100 USD and €100 euros from an ATM.
If you bank with Scotiabank (BNS.TO), your cost will be the lowest. You can expect to save between $3 and $5 CAD on each cash withdrawal in the U.S. and Europe. That’s because Scotiabank is a member of the Global ATM alliance — a network which allows members’ clients to withdraw cash from other bank ATMs without a fee.
For example, in the U.S, Scotiabank customers have access to over 15,000 Bank of America ATMs. In Europe, they can use BNP Paribas or Deutsche Bank ATMs, depending on the country. In the U.K., they can use Barclays ATMS.
CIBC (CM.TO) comes in second place because its clients can use a CIBC Visa Debit card to get to an ATM in the Plus Network.
Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is next because it has a similar arrangement with Mastercard.
Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) has an agreement through the Visa Plus network, but its higher fees put it in fourth place.
If you bank with TD Bank (TD.TO), you pay the most because of its above-average foreign exchange administration fee. TD charges 3.5 per cent during a foreign currency withdrawal, while other financial institutions charge 2.5 per cent.
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