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Wise Reviews

London, England

4.5/ 5

2 reviews

Wise, formerly known as TransferWise, is a leading Estonian-British financial technology company specializing in international money transfers and global financial services. Headquartered in London, the company was founded in January 2011 by Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus. The founders, both Estonian expats living in London, were motivated by their personal frustrations with the high fees and poor exchange rates charged by traditional banks for cross-border transactions. They developed a peer-to-peer system that allows users to send money at the mid-market exchange rate with transparent, low-cost fees. The company rebranded from TransferWise to Wise in February 2021 to reflect its expansion beyond simple remittances into a comprehensive financial ecosystem. Today, Wise offers three primary product lines: the Wise Account, Wise Business, and Wise Platform. The Wise Account allows individuals to hold balances in over 40 currencies, spend globally using a multi-currency debit card, and receive payments via local account details for various countries. Wise Business provides similar international banking tools tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises, including mass payment features and integration with accounting software. Wise Platform enables other banks and enterprises, such as Monzo, Google Pay, and Interactive Brokers, to integrate Wise’s infrastructure into their own services. Wise operates as a public company and is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker WISE. It achieved a significant milestone by opting for a direct listing in July 2021 rather than a traditional IPO. Financially, the company has shown robust growth; for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, Wise reported a consolidated revenue of approximately £1.05 billion and a profit before tax of £481.4 million. As of 2024, the company serves over 16 million active customers and processes approximately £10 billion in cross-border transactions every month. With a workforce of over 5,000 employees distributed across global offices in London, Tallinn, New York, Singapore, and other major hubs, Wise continues to challenge the traditional banking sector. The company's mission is "money without borders," focusing on making international finance instant, convenient, transparent, and eventually free. Unlike traditional banks, Wise does not lend out customer money, instead maintaining liquidity through a network of local bank accounts worldwide to minimize the need for actual cross-border currency movement. This infrastructure allows Wise to offer transfers that are significantly faster and cheaper than the traditional SWIFT network, positioning it as a dominant player in the global fintech landscape.