Guide to CNY transfers

Here you will find answers to the most common questions about Chinese Yuan (CNY) transfers, whether you are sending CNY to or from China.

Note: CNY is the same as Renminbi (RMB).

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Sending to CNY

What types of transfers can I send to CNY?

We support both personal and business customers sending CNY to China. The delivery method available depends on the type of sender and recipient. Refer to the respective help pages to see specific information on the methods.

Due to Chinese regulations, only individuals with a Chinese National ID card and business recipients with a CNY-denominated account in Mainland China can receive CNY. 

How much can I send?

Sending via UnionPay

• You can send up to 33,000 CNY per transaction

Sending via Alipay

• You can send up to 50,000 CNY per transfer

• Each recipient can receive between 300,000—600,000 CNY per year and there may be monthly frequency limits depending on the transfer purpose.”

Sending via Weixin

• You can send up to 50,000 CNY per transfer

• Each recipient can receive 500,000 CNY per year

Learn more about Alipay recipient limits

For bank transfers (Business sending to business in China)

• Unlimited, but depending on the currency you are sending from there might be limits imposed

How long does it usually take for the money to arrive?

When you set up your transfer, we will always give you an estimate on how long your transfer will take, depending on the transfer partner you chose. 

Learn more about how long transfers take

Why was my transfer delayed or cancelled?

Your transfer may be delayed or cancelled if your recipient doesn't complete verification or card binding which is prompted by Alipay (72 hours) and/or WeChat (48 hours).

Your transfer may also be delayed when we need more information about your transfer purpose (requested by the local authorities).

If your transfer is cancelled, your money will automatically go back to you within 3 working days.

Sending from CNY

When sending CNY from China:

• you can set up a bank transfer from your Chinese bank account or

• send from your Alipay app.

Regulatory requirements apply when you are using this product. Wise is collaborating with a licensed third party payment provider (regulated by the People’s Bank of China) in China to provide this service. Learn more about our terms of use

Tip: Watch this video to learn how to set up your first from-CNY transfer

(This video is currently only available in English)

Who can send money from CNY? 

You can send money from CNY if:

• You're not mainland Chinese

  • If you’re from Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macau you're eligible to send from CNY

• You're working or have worked in China before

• You have a valid tax record issued by the China tax authority

If you're sending CNY with Wise for the first time, we’ll need to verify you. This can take 1- 2 working days. You only need to be verified once — we only request documents for your first transfer, or new tax records when you've hit your limit.

Keep in mind that sending from CNY is only available for personal accounts.

Learn more about getting verified when sending from CNY

Who can receive transfers that are paid from-CNY? 

Due to regulations, you can only send CNY from China to another account you own. 

This can be your bank account outside of China, or your Wise Account. You can add CNY to your Wise balance by following these steps.

How much can I send? 

The limits are different depending on how you send.

China bank app

If you're sending CNY from your China bank app, the maximum you can send in one transfer is 300,000 CNY.  

Alipay

If you are sending CNY from Alipay, the maximum you can send in one transfer is 50,000 CNY.

Aside from the single transfer limit, Wise also adheres to China’s regulations and applies a limit on how much you can send out of China. This is known as overall limit and it's calculated based on: 

• Your annual income

• The amount of tax you have paid in China

• The number of years you've paid taxes on, proven through tax record(s) submitted. 

In general, your overall limit is the amount of salary you've earned in China after deducting the amount of tax paid in China.

Does this limit expire?

There is no expiry date for the limit. When you reach the limit, you'll be prompted to upload a new tax record when you set up your next transfer. Your limit will be increased after Wise has verified your newly uploaded tax record, and you will receive an email on your new overall limit too.

Note for Skyremit users: the amount you send via Skyremit will also impact your remaining balance and the limit on how much you can send out via Wise and vice versa. 

How can I determine my sending limits?

Your remaining limit is the amount left after deducting both your successful and unfunded transfers from your total limit. For example, if your total limit is 100 CNY, and you’ve sent 50 CNY with an additional unfunded transfer of 20 CNY, your remaining limit would be 30 CNY.

If there are any unfunded transfers that you don't intend on funding, you can cancel them, and the corresponding amount will be added back to your remaining limit. The limit is based on the amount you transfer to Wise, not the amount that we send out (converted by Wise after deducting the fees from the amount transferred).

How can I pay for my CNY transfer? 

After submitting your verification information and documents, you'll see 2 methods to pay Wise — bank transfer or Alipay. We'll review your information and documents after we've received your payment.

When paying by bank transfer:

1. We'll give you a set of unique bank account details for you to transfer CNY to, from your bank app in China. 

2. Go to your Chinese banking app and send a local CNY bank transfer to the provided details.

   • Refer to this step-by-step guide that has screenshots for how this works on your Chinese mobile banking app. Note: the recipient bank's branch must be 拉卡拉-备付金账户.

The account you're paying to is a unique ACS account created for you by our licenced partner in China. These are safeguarding accounts that third party payment providers are required by regulation to open with the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).

You can only send CNY from an account that's in your name. If the money is sent from an account that doesn’t match with the name on your Wise account, we'll refund it automatically. 

Due to the recent payment system migration in China, there have been some bank specific changes:

• Bank of China: you'll need to select another entry point on the homepage of the app to send to the ACS account Wise has provided you with, even if you successfully sent from Bank of China before. Follow the Bank of China guide to do this.

• ICBC: ICBC may error out when you make the transfer from ICBC to Wise, but actually the payment was successful. You just need to check your ICBC transaction history to confirm money was debited.

• China construction bank: if you get an error, try removing the spaces in the recipient name i.e. the name on the account that we set up for you to receive CNY

When paying with Alipay:

1. Complete the payment from Alipay

   • If you set up the transfer on our website, you can use your Alipay app to scan the QR code that we display on our payment screen.

   • If you set up the transfer on our mobile app, you'll be redirected to your Alipay app on your phone. For Android users, you'll be redirected to a browser before being prompted to open Alipay. 

2. Return to Wise and select that you've paid for the transfer.

For your first payment from Alipay to Wise, you'll be prompted to enter your China card number. We only collect this once. This doesn't have to be the bank card you're paying from.

How long does it usually take for the money to arrive?

It usually takes 0-1 working days for your money to reach us.

Bank transfers and Alipay payments are both processed 24/7.

Once we receive your money, we'll convert it and send it out. Conversion can take up to 2 working days. Transfer speeds also depend on the currency and country you're sending to.

We'll always give you an estimate on how long your transfer will take when you set up a transfer.

Note for Skyremit users: your Alipay payment will reach us the following business day after you sent the payment. If you've submitted a tax record to Skyremit, then you're considered a Skyremit user.

Which banks can I send CNY from? 

• If paying with a bank transfer, the following is a list of banks that you can send CNY from.

• If you're paying with Alipay, you can pay from any bank that Alipay accepts.

This is not an exhaustive list. If your bank is not in this list, try setting up a new recipient and look for 支付机构备付金集中存管账户 in the list of banks. They may still support this transfer.

Why did my transfer to Wise bounce back?

There could be a few reasons for this:

• You might have added the wrong recipient details for the bank transfer from your China bank account to Wise. Check the payment screen on Wise to see if you have added the correct recipient details.

• You might have sent the money from someone else’s account in China. The money has to come from your own account. We're unable to accept funds paid from an account that isn't yours. 

I’ve cancelled my payment, how long will my refund take?

It usually takes 0-3 working days to get your money back to you. We’ll let you know when we’ve refunded your money.