Remitbee launches money transfer service to Bangladesh

While Bangladesh is only 1.49% the size of Canada in terms of landmass, there are 125 million more residents in the small South Asian country than in Canada. There are also several thousand Bangladesh residents who emigrate to Canada each year, strengthening the ties between the two countries. To better serve the growing population of Bangladeshi Canadians, we have recently added Bangladesh to the list of countries you can remit money to using our online money transfer service. We offer some of the lowest CAD to BDT exchange rates and electronically transfer the funds directly into your loved ones’ bank accounts.

Bangladesh Immigrants in Canada

There are over 100,000 people in Canada who have either emigrated from Bangladesh or can trace their genealogy back to Bangladesh in recent generations. Each year there are between 2 and 4 thousand new Bangladeshi immigrants to Canada, with the largest communities residing in Toronto or Montreal. In fact, between 2006 and 2018, there were almost 41,000 new immigrants to Canada from Bangladesh. Remitbee is excited to be able to support this community by electronically transferring funds from Canadian bank accounts directly into Bangladesh bank accounts safely and quickly.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh was officially born as a country in 1971, though it has been inhabited for thousands of years. Before gaining independence, it was under British rule for 200 years and was known for producing bamboo, sugar cane, spices, tea, cotton, textiles. The current country was partially founded to defend and preserve the native language, known as Bangla. The word “desh” means country, making the name “Bengla country“ in the native tongue.

Dhaka is the capital and largest city in Bangladesh, with more than 21 million residents, making it nearly 20 times the size of Ottawa. It is situated along the Buriganga River and contains hundreds of mosques and even more rickshaws. The next largest cities are Chittagong, Khulna, Rājshāhi, Comilla and Shibganj. None of these cities come close to the size of Dhaka however, although the population across the country is increasing slowly but steadily.

Islam is the primary religion of Bangladesh, with more than 88% of the residents identifying as Muslim. The rest mainly practice Hinduism, with less than 2% of Bangladeshi people practicing Christianity, Buddhism or other local religions. Because of this, the majority of holidays celebrated in the country are Islamic or secular. The biggest secular holiday celebrated is Pawhela Boishakh, or New Year’s Day.

This day is marked by cultural shows, sweets and family gatherings where people dress in cultural outfits. As the Bangla language is very important to the country, Ekushey, or National Mother Language Day, is celebrated every February 21 in remembrance of those who died to defend the language and found the country. In a similar vein, Independence Day is celebrated on March 16 to celebrate independence from Britain, and Victory Day is celebrated on December 16. Eid-ul-Fitr is widely celebrated in Ramadan each year as well, with a feast marking the end of a long fast.

Partner Banks in Bangladesh

There are a number of large banks in Bangladesh that we can now transfer money to. The largest bank in Bangladesh is HSBC, followed by Dutch-Bangla Bank, Sonali Bank and Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL). Grameen Bank is another large bank headquartered in Dhaka that had 2,500 branches in 2017 spread across the country.

Send money to Bangladesh with Remitbee

As long as you have your loved one’s bank account and personal information, you can initiate a transfer from your phone or computer in a matter of minutes.

We will take care of the rest.

Just verify the Canadian Dollar to Bangladeshi Taka exchange rate, double-check the information and initiate the transfer, then you can sit back and relax.

Sign up here