Commercial Bank of Dubai doesn't brand its remittance service with a single catchy name the way some rivals do — instead, it's built real-time transfer corridors through partnerships with Thunes and Xpress Money, reachable from the CBD Mobile App. For a mid-sized bank, that's a genuinely capable setup on the corridors it covers. Here's how sending from CBD actually works, and where a dedicated exchange house or app still has the edge.
The real-time corridors, and how they work
Through its Thunes and Xpress Money partnerships, CBD offers real-time remittances to India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Pakistan, with payout to bank accounts, mobile wallets, and cash-pickup locations depending on the destination. Outside these four corridors, a transfer goes by ordinary international SWIFT wire instead.
That structure is worth understanding: CBD isn't running its own remittance rail like a DirectRemit or QuickRemit — it's plugging into established international payment networks, which is how it can offer real-time delivery to specific countries without building the infrastructure itself.
How to send from CBD
- In the CBD Mobile App or CBD online banking, open Transfers → International Transfer.
- For one of the four real-time corridors, select the remittance option and choose the payout method — bank account, wallet, or cash pickup.
- Add the recipient's details, review the rate and fee shown, and confirm.
Receiving into a CBD account from abroad? The sender needs CBD's SWIFT code, CBDUAEAD — our page shows where it goes.
Fees, timing and the exchange rate
CBD's fees for both real-time remittances and standard SWIFT transfers vary by corridor and amount — check the current figure in the app before sending. A standard SWIFT wire (for destinations outside the four real-time corridors) typically follows the usual one-to-three-working-day timeline, subject to the UAE's Saturday–Sunday weekend.
As always, the fee is only part of the cost. The exchange-rate margin is the part that's easy to overlook:
Judge any CBD transfer on the amount that actually lands, fee and rate combined.
CBD vs an exchange house or app
CBD's real-time corridors are a genuine convenience if you already bank there and send regularly to India, Bangladesh, the Philippines or Pakistan. For the sharpest rate on those same routes, though, licensed exchange houses like Al Ansari and LuLu, and apps like Wise, are worth comparing every time — they specialise in exactly this.
Compare the amount received in our live tool, or on a route page like AED to INR and AED to PHP. For the full picture, see the complete guide to international transfers from the UAE.
Transferring with a different bank?
See how other UAE banks run theirs: Mashreq, RAKBank, National Bank of Fujairah, or ADCB.