Send money to Norway
See today's live rates — and exactly what your recipient receives, after every fee.
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Today's best rates to Norway
As of 10 October 2026, sending £1,000 to Norway, your recipient gets the most with Revolut: 12,631.44 NOK, the best of 4 providers compared.
| Provider | Rate | Fee | Recipient gets | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12.631 0.10% worse | £0 | 12,631.44 NOK | Within 2 days | Send | |
12.648 0.03% better | £4.21 | 12,594.95 NOK | Within 2 days | Send | |
12.311 2.63% worse | £0 | 12,311.44 NOK | Up to 4 days | Send | |
12.288 2.81% worse | £0 | 12,288.30 NOK | 1–2 days | Send |
Money moving from the UK to Norway is a mix of expat life and work: Britons who've moved to Oslo, Bergen or Stavanger for jobs in energy, shipping and tech — one of the highest-wage economies in the world — supporting family or paying their own bills, plus freelancers and firms invoicing Norwegian clients. Whatever the reason, how much arrives depends far more on which provider you use than most people expect: a UK high-street bank typically keeps 2–5% of the transfer in a marked-up rate, so on £10,000 you can lose £300–£400 before an obvious fee. Norway isn't in the EU (it's in the EEA) and doesn't use the euro — it uses the krone — so every transfer converts your pounds to kroner, and getting that conversion right is where the money is won or lost.
How to send money to Norway from the UK
There are three practical ways to move money from the UK to a Norwegian bank account. Nearly all get the money there — the difference is how many kroner arrive after the pounds are converted.
Bank transfer
The most familiar option — and consistently the most expensive, and often the slowest. UK banks mark up the exchange rate by roughly 2–5%, and because Norway is outside the EU, a bank SWIFT wire to a Norwegian account can take 3–5 business days. On £10,000 the markup alone is £300–£400.
Money-transfer provider
Specialists — Wise, Currencies Direct, XE, OFX — exist to beat bank rates. Margins run around 0.2–0.7%, and Wise uses the mid-market rate with a small upfront fee (around £4–£5 to send £1,000). For anyone sending regularly, that's where the saving adds up — and they're usually faster than a bank wire too.
App or prepaid card
Apps like Wise and Revolut are quick for smaller amounts, with peer-to-peer transfers often instant. For a pure transfer into a Norwegian bank account, a dedicated provider usually beats a card — and note Revolut adds around 1% on currency exchanges at weekends on its Standard plan.
What you need to send money to Norway
Norwegian bank details and IBANs
Every Norwegian account uses an IBAN — 15 characters, starting "NO", one of the shortest in Europe (Norway's familiar 11-digit account number sits inside it). You'll need the recipient's full name and their IBAN, plus the bank's BIC/SWIFT code, since Norway is outside the EU's payment area and payments route by SWIFT. Check the IBAN character-by-character — a single wrong digit is a common cause of a delayed or rejected transfer.
ID checks and verification
UK providers are legally required to verify who you are before processing a payment (Know Your Customer, under the Money Laundering Regulations). For a first transfer or a modest amount, expect to provide your name, address and date of birth, plus a photo ID and proof of address. Larger transfers — almost certainly anything over £25,000, and often less — trigger a source-of-funds check (see Tax, below).
How long does it take to send money to Norway?
Because Norway uses the krone and sits outside the EU, your provider converts your pounds and pays kroner into the Norwegian account. How fast that happens depends far more on the provider than on the destination.
Delays are usually caused by one of: missing the provider's daily cut-off, first-time identity verification, weekends or bank holidays in the UK or Norway, or an incorrect IBAN or recipient name.
Fees and exchange rates for UK to Norway
A flat fee is easy to compare — the exchange-rate margin usually isn't, which is why it matters more. Here's where the cost hides.
The exchange-rate margin
The real cost of most transfers. Banks: 2–5% above the mid-market rate. Specialists: typically 0.2–0.7%. On £10,000+ the gap is routinely £250–£400.
Correspondent-bank fees
Because Norway is outside the EU, a bank SWIFT wire can pass through intermediary banks, each deducting a cut en route — so the recipient gets less than expected. Specialists that pay kroner locally usually avoid this entirely.
Card & weekend markups
Watch for ~3% foreign-transaction fees on standard UK debit/credit cards, and weekend markups (Revolut adds about 1% on weekend exchanges on its Standard plan). Judge an offer by the kroner that arrive, not the headline fee.
Is it safe to send money to Norway?
Any UK company handling money transfers must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and must keep customer money in accounts fully segregated from its own ("safeguarding"); on the Norwegian side, banks are supervised by Finanstilsynet. Some smaller firms are only registered as Small Payment Institutions, which aren't required to safeguard your money the same way — so a 30-second check on the FCA Register before you send an unfamiliar firm anything is time well spent.
Invoice / "new bank details" fraud
Rule: if a supplier, contractor or business emails to say their bank details have changed, confirm it by phone on a number you already had, never one from the email. This is the most common way people — and businesses — are tricked into paying a fraudster.
Romance & "urgent need" scams
Rule: be wary of anyone met online who, over time, builds trust and then needs money urgently. Never send to someone you haven't met in person, however convincing the story.
"Better rate" cold-call / clone firm
Rule: a firm that calls out of the blue with an unbeatable rate may be a clone of a real one. Check it on the FCA Register and call back on the number listed there, not the one you were given.
Check the firm is regulated
Rule: FCA-authorised firms must keep your money separate from their own, so it's protected if the firm fails. Look the firm up on register.fca.org.uk before you commit.
Report fraud: Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at actionfraud.police.uk (in Scotland, Police Scotland on 101).
Tax on money sent to Norway
Moving your own money
Sending your own, already-taxed money from the UK to Norway is not a UK taxable event — there's no tax simply for transferring it, and no requirement to report a personal transfer to HMRC. Providers do run their own anti-money-laundering checks, and larger transfers commonly prompt a source-of-funds request. Keep the paperwork that shows where the money came from.
Watch-out: gifts and business income
If it's a gift, it can affect UK Inheritance Tax on your estate if you die within seven years. If the money is untaxed business or freelance income, that income is still subject to UK tax as normal. What the recipient does with the money in Norway is taxed under Norwegian rules, separately from the transfer.
How do most people send money to Norway?
For most expats, families and businesses, the cheapest — and usually fastest — route is a specialist currency company that converts your pounds to kroner and pays straight into a Norwegian account, not a UK high-street bank whose SWIFT wire adds a 2–5% rate markup and can take 3–5 days. For a one-off move, a spot deal is fine; for a large future payment, a forward contract to lock the rate is what sets the specialists apart. Whichever you choose, judge it by the kroner that actually arrive, and confirm the receiving account by phone before you send.
Frequently asked questions about sending money to Norway
A specialist money-transfer provider that converts pounds to kroner at or near the mid-market rate, rather than a UK high-street bank marking up the rate by 2–5% on a slow SWIFT wire. Compare the actual kroner that arrive for your exact amount in the table above.
No. Norway isn't in the EU (it's in the EEA) and uses the Norwegian krone (NOK). Every UK-to-Norway transfer converts your pounds to kroner, and the exchange rate — not just the fee — is where most of the cost sits. Payments route by SWIFT, so the recipient's BIC/SWIFT code matters.
Yes. Every Norwegian account uses an IBAN — 15 characters, starting "NO", one of the shortest in Europe — plus, usually, the bank's BIC/SWIFT code. Check it carefully against details your recipient sent in writing; a single wrong digit can bounce or delay the transfer.
With a specialist provider or app, hours to same day, and peer-to-peer transfers can be near-instant. A traditional bank wire (SWIFT) is the slow option here, typically 3–5 business days. First transfers can take a little longer while your identity is verified.
Not for sending your own money — that's not a taxable event in the UK, and there's nothing to report to HMRC. Gifting money can have UK Inheritance Tax implications if you die within seven years. Untaxed income remains taxable in the UK, and what your recipient does with the money is taxed under Norwegian rules.
Yes. Apps and specialist providers let you save a recipient and repeat or schedule a transfer in seconds, at a tight rate each time — and they avoid the slow, pricey SWIFT wire a bank would use for the same payment.
Our sources & how we keep this current
Last updated: July 2026. The live rates above refresh automatically, and we review the rest of this guide every month — updating it whenever the rules on payments, tax or regulation change.