Sending money from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh: the payments stack
Sending SAR 750 from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh cost 10.2% of the amount on average in Q3 2025, across 9 services in the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide survey. Payouts in Bangladesh typically run over BEFTN (Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network), NPSB (National Payment Switch Bangladesh); between now and the end of 2027 there are 7 weekdays when banks in Saudi Arabia are closed but Bangladesh keeps paying out, so the payout balance has to be funded before them.
| Average cost to send | 10.2% of SAR 750 (Q3 2025, World Bank RPW) source |
| Money transfer operators | 7.7% across 6 services |
| Banks | 15.2% across 3 services |
| Collect in Saudi Arabia | sarie (Instant Payment System), SARIE (Saudi Arabian Riyal Interbank Express, RTGS) |
| Pay out in Bangladesh | BEFTN (Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network), NPSB (National Payment Switch Bangladesh), BD-RTGS |
What it costs to send SAR 750
The World Bank surveyed 9 services sending from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh from 21 August 2025 to 2 September 2025. The average total cost, fees plus the FX margin, was 10.2% of the amount sent; money transfer operators averaged 7.7% and banks 15.2%. source
Bank and operator averages are worked out from the survey's provider types.
The send side: Saudi Arabia
- No person can operate a payment system or provide payment services in the Kingdom without a SAMA licence (Law of Payments and Payment Services, Royal Decree M/26, Article 4). source
- The Implementing Regulations (13 June 2023) apply to anyone providing payment services from an establishment in the Kingdom, holding itself out as providing them there, or inviting, inducing or marketing to persons in the Kingdom. source
- A Micro PI must not provide payment services cross-border to persons outside the Kingdom and must stay under an average monthly payment value of SAR 10 million; a provider above SAR 10 million a month is a Major PI (Article 42). Money remittance, where funds are received without a payment account being created, is listed among the services that do not constitute payment services (Article 7). source
Licences, sponsor banks, collections, ramps and KYC providers: sending from Saudi Arabia.
The payout side: Bangladesh
| Payout partner | What it does in Bangladesh | Source |
|---|---|---|
| dLocal · our guide | Payouts V3 pays BDT to bank accounts (account number, branch code, address and phone) and to bKash and Nagad wallets for B2C, B2B and P2P flows, identifying beneficiaries by their 17-digit National Identity Card number. | source |
| TerraPay · our guide | Its API lists bKash, Rocket and Nagad as Bangladesh wallet endpoints; for Bangladesh bank transactions only the NPSB scheme is allowed for quotes, and routing numbers are required. | source |
| Thunes · our guide | Its money transfer API pays BDT in Bangladesh to bank accounts over NPSB and BEFTN (BEFTN credits T+1 when sent before the bank cut-off), to mobile wallets and for cash pickup. | source |
| Nium · our guide | Pays BDT to all banks in Bangladesh same day between 07:30 and 22:00 local time, Sunday to Thursday, and to bKash and Rocket wallets in real time 24x7, up to BDT 50,000 per wallet payout. | source |
| BRAC Saajan | FCA-authorised payment institution offering money transfer operators and wallets a single API for payouts to Bangladesh by cash pickup, bank transfer, instant transfer and wallet transfer, built on its own correspondent banking partnerships. | source |
| bKash | MFS wallet endpoint: remittances reach bKash accounts through authorised and listed foreign banks, MTOs and exchange houses settling via banks in Bangladesh, and recipients through legal channels get the 2.5% government incentive. | source |
Licensing, local banks, stablecoin ramps, FX and KYC in Bangladesh: launching payments in Bangladesh.
Payout rails in Bangladesh
| Rail | Operator | What matters for payouts | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEFTN (Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network) | Bangladesh Bank | Interbank credit and debit transfers, including foreign and domestic remittances and payroll, cleared in processing sessions and settled on a deferred net basis on banks' accounts at Bangladesh Bank; entries that fall on a weekend or holiday settle on the next business day. | source |
| NPSB (National Payment Switch Bangladesh) | Bangladesh Bank | Interbank switch for ATM, POS, QR, internet banking fund transfers (IBFT) and interoperable bank and MFS transfers. Individual IBFT is capped at Tk 3,00,000 per transaction and Tk 10,00,000 a day, and corporate IBFT at Tk 5,00,000 per transaction and Tk 25,00,000 a day; Bangladesh Bank removed the cap on the number of daily IBFT transactions in April 2022, and banks may set lower limits. | source |
| BD-RTGS | Bangladesh Bank | Real-time gross settlement launched in October 2015 for high-value transfers of Tk 1,00,000 or more between customers; government payments and inland foreign currency transactions (six currencies) have no minimum. | source |
Holiday gaps to plan for, to December 2027
Weekdays when one side of the corridor is closed. On the 7 dates when Saudi Arabia is closed and Bangladesh is open, the payout balance has to already hold enough to cover them. On the 12 dates when Bangladesh is closed, instant rails may still pay out.
| Date | Saudi Arabia | Bangladesh | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 16 Dec 2026 | Open | Victory Day | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 25 Dec 2026 | Open | Christmas Day | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Thu 31 Dec 2026 | Open | Bank holiday (annual closing) | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 22 Feb 2027 | Founding Day | Open | Prefund Bangladesh the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Fri 5 Mar 2027 | Open | Jumatul Wida (last Friday of Ramadan) | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 8 Mar 2027 | Eid al-Fitr holiday for financial institutions (29 Ramadan) | Open | Prefund Bangladesh the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Tue 9 Mar 2027 | Eid al-Fitr (1 Shawwal) | Open | Prefund Bangladesh the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Wed 10 Mar 2027 | Eid al-Fitr (2 Shawwal) | Eid-ul-Fitr | Both closed |
| Thu 11 Mar 2027 | Eid al-Fitr holiday for financial institutions (3 Shawwal) | Open | Prefund Bangladesh the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Fri 26 Mar 2027 | Open | Independence and National Day | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Wed 14 Apr 2027 | Open | Bengali New Year (Pohela Boishakh 1434) | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 17 May 2027 | Eid al-Adha (11 Dhu al-Hijjah) | Eid-ul-Azha | Both closed |
| Tue 18 May 2027 | Eid al-Adha (12 Dhu al-Hijjah) | Open | Prefund Bangladesh the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Wed 19 May 2027 | Eid al-Adha holiday for financial institutions (13 Dhu al-Hijjah) | Open | Prefund Bangladesh the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Thu 20 May 2027 | Eid al-Adha holiday for financial institutions (14 Dhu al-Hijjah) | Buddha Purnima | Both closed |
| Wed 16 Jun 2027 | Open | Ashura | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Thu 1 Jul 2027 | Open | Bank holiday (half-yearly closing) | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Thu 5 Aug 2027 | Open | July Mass Uprising Day | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Wed 25 Aug 2027 | Open | Janmashtami | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Thu 23 Sep 2027 | Saudi National Day | Open | Prefund Bangladesh the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Thu 16 Dec 2027 | Open | Victory Day | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 31 Dec 2027 | Open | Bank holiday (annual closing) | Bangladesh banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
Full calendars: Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. Size the buffer with the corridor runway calculator.
Funding the corridor
- Official working days for ministries, financial institutions, SAMA and the stock exchange are Sunday to Thursday, with Friday and Saturday as the weekly holiday (Royal Order of June 2013). source
- Bank remittance centres work Sunday to Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday is a weekly holiday and Saturday is an optional working day for branches with SAMA's no-objection. source
- Under the Post-Fund modality the Bangladeshi bank pays out taka first and takes reimbursement in foreign currency from its foreign counterpart within the time frame of their tie-up, not more than T+2 days; the Pre-Fund modality (formerly EFT) is the prefunded route. source
- Bangladesh Bank's RTGS schedule from September 2025 runs customer taka transfers from 10:00 to 17:00 and interbank taka transfers to 17:15, with foreign currency transfers from 10:00 to 16:00 (customer) and 16:30 (interbank). source
- Since September 2026 (FEPD-2 Circular No. 05), foreign currency remittances received through exchange houses and IMTOs can also be credited to Personal Foreign Currency and Non-resident Foreign Currency Deposit accounts. source
Running the corridor
Polynopsis shows every balance on both sides of this corridor in one live position: the collection accounts in Saudi Arabia, the payout partners and banks in Bangladesh and any stablecoin in between. It warns before the Bangladesh balance runs dry, holidays included. See how it works.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to send money from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh?
The World Bank's survey put the average total cost of sending SAR 750 at 10.2% in Q3 2025, across 9 services. Money transfer operators averaged 7.7%.
Which rails pay out in Bangladesh?
Local payouts run over BEFTN (Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network), NPSB (National Payment Switch Bangladesh), BD-RTGS.
When do I need to prefund Bangladesh payouts ahead of holidays?
Between now and December 2027 there are 7 weekdays when Saudi Arabia is closed and Bangladesh is open, the first on Mon 22 Feb 2027. The payout balance has to cover those days before they start.
Related corridors
Sources
- World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide dataset · World Bank
- Holidays and Working Hours (financial institutions and RTGS, 1447H to 1450H) · Saudi Central Bank
- SAMA announces official holidays and working hours for banks and RTGS until 2029 · Saudi Gazette
- Holidays of Bank/FIs 2026 · Bangladesh Bank
- DOS Circular Letter No. 20: List of holidays for the year 2026 · Bangladesh Bank
Know where all your money is.
Polynopsis gives cross-border payment teams one live position across every bank, payout partner, exchange and wallet, including money in flight, and warns before a corridor runs dry.
About Polynopsis
Polynopsis is liquidity management software for cross-border payment companies. The name joins poly, many, and synopsis, a seeing together: one live view of money spread across many banks, payout partners, exchanges and stablecoin wallets, including money in flight, with a warning before any corridor runs dry.
Why it is called Polynopsis · About Polynopsis · Glossary · Corridor runway calculator