What’s the most cost effective way to send money to a bank account in Mauritius?

Before we go there, it’s important to mention that if you are here on a temporary basis, you are better off transacting with your credit/debit card for the following reasons:

– Typical currency conversion loss is 2 to 2.5% which is sometimes better that wire transfer rates

– All remittances to Mauritius are taxable unless you are a tax resident outside Mauritius. Card transactions on other hand are not taxed

However some transactions like renting property, renting or buying a car, utilities bill etc may not be possible via cards, which brings us back to the best wire transfer options. We’ve rated each option by convenience and cost effectiveness.

Option 1: Send money to Mauritius from your home bank to a Mauritian bank

• Open a bank account with a local bank
• Exchange your home currency to USD through your home bank (typical conversion loss of 0.75%)
• Your home bank transfers USD/EUR to Mauritian bank (Typical telex fee of 17 USD to 51 USD depending on amount)
• Note: Your home bank may also offer to remit MUR directly, but this will usually turn out to be more expensive, and hence not advisable.
• Mauritian bank converts USD/EUR to MUR with conversion loss between 2-5% + Rs 100 fee

Convenience 5/5, Cost effectiveness: 2/5

Option 2: Remit to Mauritius from a Fintech/Digital Bank to a Mauritian bank

Digital banks like Revolut, Wise (previously called Transferwise), Robinhood have been disrupting the market for the past few years by slashing fees and improving customer experience. Sadly it’s still not cost effective as they don’t directly convert to MUR.

• Sign up for a Revolut` or Wise account online
• Send money to Revolut/Wise via local transfer or through your card
• Revolut/Wise converts to USD at rack rates (typical conversion loss of 0.1 to 0.4%)
• Revolut/Wise sends USD to your bank in Mauritius
• Mauritian bank converts USD/EUR to MUR with conversion loss between 2-5% + Rs 100 fee

Convenience 4/5, Cost effectiveness: 3/5

Option 3: Send money to Mauritius using a crypto exchange to a Mauritian Bank

For those curious about exploring crypto options for transferring, the good news is that it is possible. The bad news is that it’s not as cost effective as it should be yet. Crypto fiat pairs are useful to convert at rack rates/ Unfortunately there is no exchange with MUR-BTC or MUR-ETH pair and it is unlikely there will be anytime soon due to the negligible volume. If you would want to try it, here is the process:

• Open an account with a cryptocurrency exchange like Kraken or FTX account
• Buy Bitcoin or Ethereum via card, your home currency (if supported) or transfer from your existing exchange
• Convert to USDT or USDC and withdraw
• Kraken sends USD to local bank in Mauritius via Etana custody with wire transfer fee of USD 35
• Mauritian bank converts USD/EUR to MUR with conversion loss between 2-5% + Rs 100 fee

Convenience 3/5, Cost effectiveness: 3/5

Conclusion: The biggest conversion loss is caused at the local bank level in converting USD or EUR to MUR. Hence any cost effective solution needs to send MUR directly to the local Mauritius bank.

Option 4: Remit to Mauritius with Card to Card transfer via an online remittance service like Remitly

Remitly is an online remittance service that offers international money transfers to over 135 countries. It’s a public company since 2021.This is how it works:

• Sign up for a Remitly account online
• Send money in home currency to Remitly via debit/credit card
• Remitly converts and sends your home currency to MUR at rack rates (typical conversion loss of 0.1 to 0.4%).
• It manages this by skipping wire transfer (and hence banks) completely and doing card to card transfer. I.e you pay by home country card, and receive money on your debit card in Mauritius.

The only catch is; you will need a visa debit card with the local bank in Mauritius. A mastercard will not work. We tried MCB, and sadly their prepaid Visa debit card has some unpleasant conditions like 0.5% commission for every card top up, and 2% commission when you transfer from card to bank account. For the sake of rating we will consider a visa debit card without these conditions.

Convenience 3/5, Cost effectiveness: 4/5

Option 5: Send money to Mauritius using a Mauritian money changer

The good news is, that there is an unconventional cost effective way of remitting money – through money changers. Fortunately it does not entail transacting in cash. Its possible to bank transfer USD/Euros to them and recieve MUR in return at rates better than those given by the banks. Here are the steps:

• Open a USD / EUR account with your bank in Mauritius. (If you already have a bank account it is as simple as logging into your internet banking and opening a new USD denominated account)
• Transfer USD to your USD account with Mauritius bank using any of the first three options above
• Do a local transfer of USD to a money changer in Mauritius after checking rates with them. Get a local transfer back in MUR to your bank account. Needless to say it has to be a money changer you trust, since it involves transferring money back and forth.

Convenience 3/5, Cost effectiveness: 4/5

Conclusion: Money transfer to Mauritius still has some scope for improvement. We have presented the range of existing options from most convenient to most cost effective.. If you have a better solution then those layed out, we are excited to hear it in the comments section below!