Wise

Wise, formerly TransferWise, is an Estonian-British financial technology company headquartered in London that focuses on international money transfers and business finance. It was founded in January 2011 by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus and rebranded from TransferWise to Wise on 22 February 2021, together with a new website domain, to reflect a product range that had grown beyond money transfer. Wikipedia records the company as serving 160+ countries.

As of 2023 the company organises its offering into three products: the Wise Account, which lets customers hold, send, receive and spend money and optionally earn interest (with FDIC insurance up to $250,000 on deposits via partner banks, and BlackRock as partner for interest-bearing accounts); Wise Business, for cross-border business transfers; and Wise Platform, which lets banks and businesses embed Wise's cross-border money management capabilities. Wise states it is not a bank because it does not lend out customer money. In the United States it operates as a Money Service Business registered with FinCEN rather than an FDIC-insured bank, with its multi-currency card program issued by sponsor banks (Lead Bank and Community Federal Savings Bank) under Visa licensing.

The consumer proposition centres on mid-market exchange rates, transparent fees, local account details in multiple currencies (IBANs, sort codes, routing numbers and others), a multi-currency debit card usable in 150+ countries and at 2 million ATMs, and speed — the company's site states that over 70% of transfers arrive in under 20 seconds. Customer funds are held in safeguarded, separate accounts, and the company says it runs 7 million fraud checks per day and offers 24/7 customer support.

Founding story

Taavet Hinrikus, an early Skype employee, moved from Estonia to London around 2006 and found banks typically deducted at least 5% on transfers, much of it hidden in the exchange rate. Kristo Käärmann, then a Deloitte management consultant, lost roughly £500 plus a £15 fee transferring his Christmas bonus to Estonia. The two, who met at a party in 2007, set up an informal mirrored-transfer arrangement — Hinrikus moved euros within Estonia while Käärmann moved pounds within the UK — using the mid-market rate and avoiding international fees. The arrangement spread among Estonian expats via Skype chat and became TransferWise in 2011; the founders quit their jobs and self-funded for a year before raising seed capital.

Business model

Wise charges transparent transfer and currency-conversion fees while passing through the mid-market exchange rate, rather than embedding a margin in the rate. Fees are described by the company as covering the direct costs of moving money, servicing customers and platform investment; fee discounts are offered on transfers over 20,000 GBP or equivalent. Additional revenue-linked products include the multi-currency debit card, business accounts, an opt-in interest/assets product (Wise Assets, offered with BlackRock as partner for interest-bearing accounts), and Wise Platform, which licenses cross-border infrastructure to banks and businesses.

Transaction-based fees on international transfers and currency conversion, plus card and account-related services and platform partnerships with banks and businesses. Reported revenue was £177.9m for the year to March 2019, £302.6m to March 2020, £421m to March 2021, and £1.0 billion for 2024, with 2024 operating income of £262.3m and profit of £354.6m.

Traction

Company materials cite 18.9 million customers, businesses and banks using Wise, 60 million app downloads, and 100,000s of new customers weekly; the Google Play listing cites 16 million+ customers, 145+ countries and 45+ currencies, with 50M+ downloads. Historic figures: 6 million customers and $37 billion in cross-currency transfers in fiscal 2019; 8 million customers and $58 billion in fiscal 2020; 10 million customers and $74 billion in fiscal 2021, with about $6 billion processed monthly and 1.6 million debit cards issued as of July 2021. In the final quarter of 2021 Wise reported 4 million transacting customers, £150m of revenue and nearly £21bn of transaction volume. FY2024 figures include £1.0bn revenue, £354.6m profit, £14.9bn total assets and 5,499 employees.

Latest developments

Wikipedia records that in June 2024 Wise said customers may have been affected by a data breach at partner bank Evolve Bank & Trust; in March and April 2025 it opened new offices in London, Tallinn and Singapore; and in June 2025 it announced plans to move its primary listing from London to the U.S. In June 2026 the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that Wise platforms were suspected of involvement in around £432m of suspicious transactions across 30 European countries, after which Belgian prosecutors said Wise was under investigation over suspected money laundering via its accounts. The company's site advertises a Wise Assets variable rate of 3.32% based on 7-day performance as of 05/08/2026.