Sending Singapore dollars to Malaysia: what it really costs

The cost of a transfer is the fee plus the exchange-rate margin. A worked example, the World Bank's corridor average for Q3 2025, and a one-step way to compare.

By Money Malaysia

Published 25 Oct 20263 min read
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When you send Singapore dollars home, the fee on the screen is only part of the price. The rest is hidden in the exchange rate you are given.

Fee plus margin: the two parts of the price

  • The fee is the charge the provider shows you.
  • The margin is the difference between the mid-market rate (the middle rate, before any markup) and the rate you are offered. It is built into the rate, so no line on the screen shows it.

A provider can advertise "no fee" and still take its cut through the margin.

A worked example

These are round numbers made up to show the arithmetic. They are not a quote from any provider.

Say you want to send an amount that is worth RM1,000 at the mid-market rate.

  • Fee: RM25 (2.5%)
  • Margin: RM15 (1.5%)
  • Total cost: RM40, which is 4%
  • Amount that lands: RM960
Sending RM1,000 of value: where it goes
Worth RM1,000 at the mid-market rate
  • Fee RM25
  • Rate margin RM15
  • Lands in your account RM960
Total cost RM40, which is 4% of RM1,000. Illustrative round numbers, not a provider quote.

The one-step way to check any provider: cost = (what the mid-market rate would give you minus what actually lands) divided by what the mid-market rate would give you. In the example, RM1,000 minus RM960 is RM40, and RM40 divided by RM1,000 is 4%.

What the World Bank measures

The World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide tracks the cost of sending money between countries. For Singapore to Malaysia in the third quarter of 2025 (prices collected 19 to 25 August 2025), sending S$260, the equivalent of US$200, cost 4.59% on average: an average fee of S$7.71 plus an average exchange-rate margin of 1.62%, about S$11.92 in all. The cheapest services in the table sat between 0.65% and about 1%.

Cost of sending S$260 from Singapore to Malaysia
Total cost as a share of the amount sent. Shorter is cheaper.
Corridor average, Q3 20254.59%
Cheapest services, top of the 0.65% to about 1% rangebest value1.00%
Source: World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide, Singapore to Malaysia corridor, Q3 2025.

Prices change every quarter, so treat these as a yardstick, not a quote.

How to compare, step by step

Compare any transfer in four steps
  1. Look up the mid-market rateFind the current mid-market rate from a rate source you trust. Our SGD to MYR page shows the Bank Negara Malaysia rate, which is a close yardstick but is not the same thing.
  2. Ask for the ringgit that will landGet a quote for the same S$ amount, with the fee included, from each provider.
  3. Work out the gapSubtract the quote from what the mid-market rate would give you, then divide by the mid-market figure.
  4. Compare the percentagesThe lowest percentage is the cheapest transfer for that amount on that day.
Do this on the day you send. Fees and margins move.

Check the rate on our SGD to MYR rate page. It shows Bank Negara Malaysia's rate, and its notes explain why a bank's rate differs from it. For sending money to other countries from Malaysia, see our guide on sending money overseas.

Before you send

  • Compare the amount that lands, not the fee line.
  • Check more than one quote on the same day.

The other two parts of this series are the tax guide and EPF or CPF. The full set is on the Johor to Singapore money rules page.

Sources: World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide, Singapore to Malaysia corridor; Bank Negara Malaysia exchange-rate data via our SGD to MYR page.

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