How to Send Money Out of Malaysia: Transfers Abroad for Expats

Sending money home from Malaysia is easy, and as a foreigner you don’t need anyone’s permission. Here’s how expats do it, what it costs, and how to get your savings out when you leave.

This guide is for expats on an Employment Pass, MM2H, DE Rantau or a similar pass who want to send money home, pay bills overseas or move their savings out. In it you’ll find:

• The pros and cons of Wise, bank transfers and transfers to Singapore, when to use each one, and step-by-step instructions.
• A real cost comparison on sending RM10,000.
• The limits you might run into, and what to do with a large sum.
• A checklist for getting your money out when you leave Malaysia.

All exchange rates here are from 19 October 2026, when RM4.08 bought about US$1.

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Can Foreigners Send Money Out of Malaysia?

Yes, and you don’t need anyone’s approval. If you don’t have Malaysian PR, Bank Negara Malaysia’s rules let you change ringgit into foreign currency “for any purpose” at a licensed bank. (Verified October 2026.)

There’s no yearly cap either. The only catch is that banks look closely at big transfers, so be ready to show where a large sum came from.

This works the same whatever pass you’re on, whether it’s an Employment Pass, MM2H, DE Rantau or a dependant pass. Being a tax resident doesn’t change it.

What Changes If You Have PR

PR holders who live in Malaysia have a couple of extra rules. If you have no ringgit loans in Malaysia, nothing changes and you can invest abroad as much as you like. (Verified October 2026.)

If you do have ringgit loans here, you can only convert RM1 million a year to invest overseas, and you’d need Bank Negara’s approval for more. Ask your bank whether your loans count.

The cap only covers investments, like shares or property abroad. Sending money to family or paying a bill overseas isn’t affected.

Which Method Should You Use?

For most expats, Wise is the cheapest option for everyday transfers of up to RM30,000 a day. For a big one-off sum, a bank transfer is usually easier.

What you’re sending	Use	Why
Regular money home, up to RM30,000 a day	Wise	Mid-market rate and a fee under 1% (RM69.73 on RM10,000 to US dollars)
A large one-off sum, such as savings or a property sale	Bank telegraphic transfer	No app limit, and the branch checks your documents before sending
Up to RM3,000 a day to Singapore	PayNow-DuitNow	Arrives instantly at a Singapore mobile number, straight from your banking app
Cash for someone without a bank account	Western Union	Cash pickup at an agent

Whichever you pick, you’ll need a Malaysian bank account in your own name. If you haven’t got one yet, here’s how to open a bank account in Malaysia.

How to Send Money With Wise

Wise is the expat favourite in the forums for sending money home. It changes your ringgit at the real mid-market rate and shows you the fee up front, which is usually under 1%. It’s licensed by Bank Negara Malaysia through its local company, Wise Payments Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (Verified October 2026.)

Use Wise when you’re sending money home regularly, paying bills abroad or moving anything up to RM30,000 a day.

Pros:

• You get the mid-market rate, and the fee is usually under 1%.
• It was the cheapest option we checked, about US$36 better than CIMB on RM10,000 sent to the US.
• You see the fee, the rate and exactly what arrives before you pay.
• It’s all done in the app, which tells you when the money should land.

Cons:

• You can only send RM30,000 a day.
• Your Wise account can’t hold more than RM20,000 at a time.
• You have to pay from a bank account in your own name.

Here’s how it works:

1. Download the Wise app, open a personal account and verify your ID.
2. Add the bank details of the person you’re sending to.
3. Type in how much ringgit you want to send. You’ll see the fee, the rate and exactly what arrives.
4. Pay from your Malaysian bank account by FPX or bank transfer.
5. Follow the transfer in the app, which tells you when it should land.

Tip: Always pay Wise from an account in your own name. Expats in the forums say transfers got cancelled, and some Wise accounts closed, after paying from an employer’s or partner’s account.

Wise Limits

The Wise limit that matters for most people is RM30,000 a day. That’s how much ringgit you can send into other currencies each day. (Verified October 2026.)

There are a few other limits, but each one only affects some people:

• 13 transfers a month, to up to 7 people: only matters if you send lots of small payments.
• RM5,000 a month: only for Visit Pass (Temporary Employment) holders.
• RM20,000 balance: a Wise account with a Malaysian address can’t hold more than RM20,000 at once. This caps what sits in your account, not what you send.
• Your bank’s FPX limit: you pay Wise from your bank, so your bank’s daily online limit applies too. Raise it a day early, because forum users say a new limit can take a few hours to kick in.

If a payment would push your Wise balance past RM20,000, Wise won’t add it. Your own top-ups get refunded, and money from other people goes to a ringgit bank account you’ve linked in the app. So if a salary or sale money is coming into Wise, link that account first.

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How to Send a Bank Telegraphic Transfer

A telegraphic transfer (TT) is an international bank transfer from your Malaysian bank. The fee is small: CIMB charges RM10 through CIMB Clicks, or RM10 to RM30 at a branch depending on the currency, plus 8% service tax. (Verified October 2026.)

Use a bank transfer when you’re sending a big one-off sum that’s over Wise’s daily limit, or you’d rather have branch staff help with it.

Pros:

• It goes straight from your Malaysian bank, so there’s no new app or account to set up.
• The limits are much higher: RM50,000 a day online at CIMB, and more at a branch.
• Branch staff check your documents before a large transfer goes out.
• You can pay every bank’s fee yourself, so the full amount arrives.

Cons:

• The exchange rate is about 2% worse than the mid-market rate. On RM10,000 to the US, that meant about US$36 less than Wise.
• Other banks along the way can take a cut unless you pay extra to cover them.

To send a TT online:

1. Log in to your bank’s app or website and find the foreign telegraphic transfer option.
2. Enter the person’s name, bank, SWIFT code and account number (or IBAN if they’re in Europe).
3. Pick who pays the other banks’ fees (see below).
4. Check the rate your bank offers against a Wise quote for the same amount.
5. Confirm, and save the reference number in case the money gets held up.

CIMB lets you send up to RM50,000 a day online, or RM200,000 if you’re a CIMB Preferred customer. For more than that, go to a branch. If you have HSBC Premier, CIMB Preferred or something similar, ask your relationship manager for a better rate.

Intermediary Bank Fees

Your money can pass through one or two other banks on the way, and each one can take a cut. When you send, you choose who pays:

• SHA: you pay your bank’s fee and the person you’re sending to pays the rest. This is usually the default.
• BEN: the person you’re sending to pays all the fees, taken out of the money.
• OUR: you pay all the fees, so the full amount arrives. It costs extra, and CIMB calls it OUR Fullpay.

Pick OUR when an exact amount has to land, like a tuition bill or a rental deposit.

How to Send Money to Singapore

Sending to Singapore is easier. PayNow-DuitNow lets you send up to RM3,000 a day from your Malaysian banking app to a Singapore mobile number, and it arrives instantly. CIMB, Maybank and Touch ‘n Go were among the Malaysian members when it launched. (Verified October 2026.)

Use it when you’re sending a small amount to someone in Singapore.

Pros:

• The money arrives instantly.
• It works from the banking app you already have, with nothing to sign up for.
• You see the exchange rate before you confirm.

Cons:

• It only works for Singapore, so use Wise or a TT for the UK, US or Australia.
• You can only send RM3,000 a day.

To send, open your bank’s app, enter the person’s PayNow mobile number, then check the rate and confirm.

Other Licensed Apps

Wise isn’t the only app you can use. Two others that work from Malaysia:

• Instarem: run in Malaysia by Nium Sdn. Bhd., which is licensed by Bank Negara Malaysia. It’s handy for a second quote to compare with Wise, but you can only send RM4,000 per transfer.
• Western Union: use it when the person you’re sending to doesn’t have a bank account, because they can pick up cash at an agent. It also sends to bank accounts, but compare its rate with a Wise quote first.

Before you try any other app, look it up on Bank Negara Malaysia’s list of licensed money services businesses. Also make sure it’s not on the central bank’s Financial Consumer Alert list.

Fees and Exchange Rates

We checked quotes for sending RM10,000 to a US bank account on 19 October 2026. Wise delivered US$2,432.40 and a CIMB online transfer delivered US$2,396.76, so Wise came out about US$36 ahead. The gap was even bigger for Australian dollars.

Sending RM10,000 to	Wise (paid from your bank)	CIMB Clicks TT	Extra you get with Wise
US dollars (USD)	US$2,432.40 after a RM69.73 fee	US$2,396.76 after RM10.80 in fees, at 4.1678	About US$36
British pounds (GBP)	£1,826.91 after a RM68.08 fee	£1,794.75 after RM10.80 in fees, at 5.5658	About £32
Australian dollars (AUD)	A$3,488.47 after a RM63.58 fee	A$3,421.31 after RM10.80 in fees, at 2.9197	About A$67

Rates move every day, so get fresh quotes before you send. The gap between Wise and the banks stays about the same, because it comes from the bank’s markup on the rate.

Exchange Rate Markup

Banks make most of their money on the exchange rate, not the fee. On 19 October 2026, CIMB sold US dollars at 4.1678 ringgit, about 2.1% worse than the mid-market rate of 4.08, and HSBC Malaysia’s rate was 4.1727. (Verified October 2026.)

On RM10,000, that 2% works out to about RM200, or 20 times CIMB’s RM10 fee. It never shows up as a fee on your receipt. To spot it, compare the bank’s rate with the one on Google or in the Wise app.

Service Tax

Since 1 July 2025, there’s an 8% service tax on transfer fees, so a RM10 fee is really RM10.80. CIMB says it may charge the tax separately afterwards, even if it waives the fee. (Verified October 2026.)

The tax is only on the fee, not on the money you’re sending.

How to Send a Large Amount

If you’re moving a big sum, like your savings or the money from a property sale, your bank will want to know where it came from. At CIMB, branch transfers of up to RM50,000 to close family or for education don’t need paperwork, but anything bigger does, up to the RM200,000 branch limit. (Verified October 2026.)

Here’s the easiest way to do it:

1. Call or visit your branch and ask what documents they need for your amount.
2. Gather proof of where the money came from (see the list below).
3. Ask for the bank’s exchange rate, and push for a better one if you’re a premier or preferred customer.
4. Get a Wise quote the same day to compare.
5. Show your documents and send it as one transfer.

What counts as proof depends on where the money came from:

• Salary and savings: recent payslips, your employment contract, your EA form (the yearly pay statement from your employer) and bank statements.
• A property sale: the sale and purchase agreement and proof the sale went through.
• An inheritance: the grant of probate or letters of administration.
• Business income or dividends: dividend vouchers, company accounts and your tax filings.

Tip: Don’t split a big sum into lots of small transfers to dodge the checks. Banks call this structuring, and their anti-money-laundering systems are built to catch it. Expats in the forums say they’ve had accounts frozen for trying it.

How to Move Your Money When You Leave Malaysia

If you’re leaving Malaysia for good, the main thing to remember is to close your bank account last. Your final pay, EPF savings and any MM2H deposit all get paid into it, and some take weeks. Work through these steps in order.

Step 1: Get Tax Clearance

Your employer has to tell the tax office (LHDN, also called HASiL) you’re leaving by filing Form CP21 at least 30 days before you go, if you’ll be away for more than three months. They then have to hold back anything they still owe you, like your last salary or a bonus, for up to 90 days unless the tax office clears it sooner. (Verified October 2026.)

So ask HR to file it as soon as you resign. Employers file it online through e-SPC on MyTax, and the earlier it’s in, the less chance your final pay gets stuck after you’ve gone.

Our guide to income tax in Malaysia for foreigners covers your final tax return.

Step 2: Withdraw Your EPF

Foreign workers can take out their EPF (KWSP) savings through the Leaving the Country Withdrawal. EPF says to apply as soon as you get your Check-Out Memo or your work pass is cancelled, and it pays the money into your bank account. (Verified October 2026.)

Make sure the passport details EPF has match the ones your bank has, or the payment can fail. If you renewed your passport in Malaysia, update both before you apply. Then keep the account open until every payment has landed.

Step 3: Release Your MM2H Fixed Deposit

To get your full MM2H fixed deposit back, you have to cancel your pass first. You do this at the One Stop Centre for MM2H at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) in Putrajaya. (Verified October 2026.)

MOTAC asks you to bring:

• Passports: the original passports for you and all your dependants.
• Pass stickers: the original MM2H pass stickers in those passports.
• Termination letter: a letter from you, as the main applicant, saying you want to cancel.
• Approval letter: the original or a copy of your MM2H approval letter.

Check with your bank which release letter it needs before it frees the deposit. On the Lowyat forums, expats describe the order as cancel the pass, get the bank letter, then transfer. Our guide to the Malaysia retirement visa covers MM2H’s current terms.

Step 4: Get Your Rental Deposit Back

Landlords can take weeks to return a deposit, and you might be gone by then. Before you move out, sort it one of two ways:

• Use it as rent: agree in writing that the deposit covers your last month or two.
• Give them a ringgit account for the refund: a Malaysian account you’re keeping, or your Wise ringgit account details.

Our guide to renting an apartment in KL covers how deposits work.

Step 5: Send the Balance and Close Your Account

Once your EPF and final pay are in, go to a branch to close your account. Keep your Malaysian SIM active until then, because most banks send login codes by SMS to a Malaysian number.

At the branch, send whatever’s left abroad and ask for a letter confirming the account is closed. If you’d rather keep the account open for late payments, keep your Malaysian number going too.

Tip: A month before you leave, write down every payment you’re still owed (final salary, bonus, EPF, deposit, car sale) and which account each one goes to. Don’t close that account until they’ve all arrived.

Carrying Cash Out of Malaysia

You can take as much foreign cash out of Malaysia as you like, but ringgit notes are capped at the equivalent of US$10,000. If you’re carrying more than US$10,000 in total, declare it to Customs on Customs Form No. 7 when you leave. (Verified October 2026.)

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If you don’t declare it, or get the declaration wrong, you could face a fine of up to RM3 million, up to 5 years in prison, or both. Some forum posts still mention “Form 22” or a RM10,000 ringgit limit, but the current rules are Form No. 7 and US$10,000.

Cash is usually the pricier way to move money anyway, since money changers’ rates are worse than Wise’s. Your bank back home may also ask where the cash came from.

Common Mistakes and Pitfalls

Most problems expats run into come down to timing and paperwork, not Malaysia’s rules. Watch out for these:

• Paying Wise from someone else’s account: Wise expects the money to come from an account in your name.
• Closing your bank account too early: your EPF, final salary and deposit refund all get paid into a Malaysian account.
• Filing CP21 late: with the 30-day notice and the 90-day hold, a late filing can leave your final pay stuck.
• Splitting a big sum to dodge checks: it can get your account frozen.
• Only comparing fees: a RM10 transfer can still cost you 2% in the exchange rate.
• Leaving too much in Wise: payments that would take you over RM20,000 won’t be added, so move money out regularly.
• Going by old cash rules: the form is now Customs Form No. 7, and the limit is US$10,000.

Sending money the other way? See our guide to transferring money to Malaysia.

Read more: Best Ways to Send Money Abroad

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a limit on how much money I can send out of Malaysia?

Not if you’re a foreigner without Malaysian PR. You can change ringgit for any reason through a licensed bank. The limits you’ll actually hit come from your bank and your app, like Wise’s RM30,000 a day.

Do I pay tax on money I send abroad?

No, Malaysia doesn’t tax the transfer itself. You only pay 8% service tax on the fee, so a RM10 bank fee comes to RM10.80.

Can I keep using Wise after I leave Malaysia?

Yes. Just update your address in the app when you move. The RM20,000 balance limit only applies to accounts with a Malaysian address.

Do I need to declare a bank transfer to Customs?

No. Customs only wants to know about cash and similar instruments worth US$10,000 or more that you carry across the border. Bank and app transfers get checked by your bank instead.

Do Americans have to report Malaysian bank accounts?

Yes, if all your foreign accounts together were worth more than US$10,000 at any point in the year. You file an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) by April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15. (Verified October 2026.) Taxes for Expats can handle US returns and FBARs for Americans abroad.

Can I send money home if I’m on a temporary work permit?

Yes. Wise limits Visit Pass (Temporary Employment) holders to RM5,000 a month and 5 people in their home country. A bank TT or another licensed remittance company can send more.