TD Bank FX Fees: What Every Canadian Business Owner Should Know

TD Bank is Canada's second-largest bank by assets, and it's the go-to for hundreds of thousands of Canadian businesses. If you're one of them, you've probably converted currency through TD — paying suppliers in USD, receiving payments from American clients, or funding a US-dollar account.

And if you checked your statement afterward, you probably saw no line item for an FX fee. That's because TD doesn't charge a visible foreign exchange fee. Instead, they embed a markup directly into the exchange rate — and that markup can cost your business far more than you realize.

How TD's FX Markup Actually Works

Here's the mechanism. At any given moment, there's a mid-market exchange rate — the real rate at which currencies trade on global markets. You can check it on Google, XE, or Bloomberg. It's the rate banks use when they trade with each other.

When TD converts currency for you, they don't give you the mid-market rate. They add a spread — a markup on top of the real rate — and give you a worse rate. The difference between the mid-market rate and TD's rate is their profit.

For example, if the mid-market USD/CAD rate is 1.3600:

• TD might offer you 1.3400 when buying USD (you get fewer US dollars)
• Or 1.3800 when selling USD (you pay more Canadian dollars)

That 1.5% to 2.5% gap? That's the fee. It just doesn't look like one.

TD's Commercial vs. Retail FX Rates

TD offers different rates depending on your account type and relationship:

Retail Banking Customers

If you're converting currency through a personal or basic business account, you're getting TD's posted retail rate. These rates are published on TD's website, but they're updated infrequently — sometimes only once or twice per day. The retail spread is typically 2% to 3% above mid-market, which is the worst rate TD offers.

Commercial Banking Clients

Businesses with TD commercial banking relationships can sometimes negotiate better rates. If you're doing significant volume (typically $500K+ annually in FX), your relationship manager may offer "preferred" rates. These are better — usually 1% to 2% above mid-market — but still far from competitive.

TD Direct Investing / TD Waterhouse

If you hold USD investments, conversions within TD Direct Investing accounts carry their own spread, often around 1.5%. The notorious "Norbert's Gambit" workaround exists specifically because these fees are so high.

Real-Dollar Impact on Your Business

Let's put actual numbers on this. Say your business converts $50,000 CAD to USD each month — a modest amount for any company with US suppliers or clients.

| TD Rate Type | Typical Spread | Annual FX Cost | |---|---|---| | Retail posted rate | 2.5% | $15,000 | | Commercial negotiated | 1.5% | $9,000 | | FX specialist / fintech | 0.2–0.5% | $1,200–$3,000 |

That's a difference of $6,000 to $13,800 per year — on just $600,000 in annual conversions. Scale that up and the numbers get painful fast.

And this doesn't account for wire transfer fees. TD charges $30–$80 per outgoing international wire on top of the FX markup. That's a double hit: you pay the visible wire fee and the invisible FX spread.

The "No Fee" Marketing Problem

TD, like all Big Five banks, benefits from a convenient ambiguity. When they say there's "no fee" on foreign exchange, they're technically correct — there's no separate fee line item. But the markup is the fee. It's just embedded in the rate.

This matters because most business owners compare banks by looking at published fees. TD looks competitive because the FX cost is invisible. In reality, a $30 wire transfer fee is nothing compared to the $750 FX markup on a $50,000 conversion.

If you want to understand how this works across all major banks, read our breakdown of the hidden cost of FX at Canadian banks.

How to Check What TD Is Actually Charging You

Here's a simple audit you can do right now:

1. Pull your last 3 months of TD statements — find every currency conversion
2. Note the date and amount of each conversion
3. Look up the mid-market rate for that date on XE.com or Google Finance
4. Compare TD's rate to the mid-market rate
5. Calculate the spread — that's your real FX cost

Or skip the spreadsheet and run a free FX audit with Loop. Upload your bank statements and we'll calculate your exact markup across every conversion — in minutes, not hours.

Alternatives to TD's Foreign Exchange Rates

You don't have to accept TD's posted rates. Canadian businesses have several options:

Negotiate with TD directly. If you're converting more than $500K annually, call your relationship manager and ask for better rates. Most businesses never ask — and banks count on that.

Use an FX specialist. Companies like Wise, OFX, and Cambridge Global Payments offer business accounts with spreads of 0.2% to 0.7% — a fraction of TD's markup. We compare these options in detail in our guide to the best FX alternatives for Canadian businesses in 2026.

Batch your conversions. Instead of converting small amounts frequently (where spreads are worst), consolidate into larger, less frequent conversions. Read our 5 strategies to cut FX costs for more on this.

Open a USD account. If you receive and pay in USD, holding a USD account at TD (or elsewhere) avoids unnecessary round-trip conversions.

The Bottom Line

TD Bank is a great bank for many things. But foreign exchange isn't one of them — at least not at posted rates. The convenience of converting currency through your existing TD account comes at a steep premium that most business owners never see.

The first step is knowing what you're actually paying. Once you see the real number, the decision to optimize becomes obvious.

Run your free FX audit now → See exactly how much TD's exchange rates are costing your business — and how much you could save.