Western Union stops all money transfers from Canada to Cuba

Western Union has announced it is unable to operate money transfer services to Cuba from countries other than the United States, effective February 26, 2020. ion was made due to the unique challenges of operating remittance services from countries outside of the United States to Cuba, according to a statement to CBC Toronto made by the company.

Canadian banks also allow transfers to Cuba. A customer service agent with one of them, RBC, confirmed that its clients can transfer up to USD 2,500 online, with the recipient's full information, but there's a fee of USD 13.50, plus another fee of USD 20 by the international transfer agent, JP Morgan. The person receiving the money then also has to pay a fee in Cuba.

The company's decision hits hard for people who send money to Cuba, since their options are already limited, as some companies don't allow transfers to that country, due to a US trade embargo that's been in place since 1960, and ones that do, charge considerably more money than Western Union, according to CBC.ca.