Wise, formerly TransferWise, has been one of the hottest startups to emerge over the last ten years and is considered a market leader in the Fintech sector.. Since inception, it has grown at a staggering pace, seeing its value soar by billions  between each funding round it completed, ultimately resulting in an £8.8bn valuation following Wise’s direct listing on the London Stock Exchange in July 2021 (though this is now down to £5.7bn – more on this below). In its latest quarterly trading report, Wise reported moving £26.4bn in transfer volumes between Oct – Dec 2022 (an average of circa £8.8bn per month). There are currently more than 2200 employees working for Wise.com in numerous offices across 4 continents around the world.

Note: This Wise review for 2023 was updated to reflect the company’s new brand, Wise Money Transfers, and their continuous release of new fee schemes which make some transfer routes cheaper and some more expensive.

Wise, previously known as TransferWise, has definitely come a long way since its inception in 2010 (launched in 2011). It was established by two Estonian Fintech innovators, Taavet Hinrikus, (Skype’s first employee) and Kristo Käärmann, both of whom were working in the UK, and experiencing the high costs of bank-powered international money transfers. Quite early on in their journey to lower the costs of cross border remittances, they received a massive shot of encouragement in the form of two mega-investors who believed in the idea, and jumped on the Wise wagon. These two investors were PayPal’s co-founder, Peter Thiel, as well as Virgin’s founder Richard Branson.

Here is a complete overview of then- TransferWise’s investment rounds, prior to going public in 2021:

In its earlier days, the then Transferwise marketed itself by saying it was the world’s first and only Peer to Peer money transfer provider. The logic was simple – Wise would be able to beat the banks by finding two clients who need to transfer money in opposite directions (say, one client is transferring Pound to Euro, and the other one is exchanging Euros for Pounds). This way, they claimed, the savings would be immense.

What they didn’t take into consideration is how volatile the market is and the fact people normally want to trade money instantly. Similarly, if there are large payments that Wise customers wish to make or there are significant flows into certain currencies (say EUR for example), it is difficult or even impossible to match those flows in the opposite direction. Long story short, Wise dumped this way of marketing themselves, and over recent years has made no reference on their website to the terms “peer to peer money transfer” or “peer to peer currency exchange”. The sheer volume Wise transacts these days (at least £8billion a month) means it will access cheap liquidity from its banking partners.

Questions Raised Over Wise Compliance Protocols?

At the start of 2022, Wise said it made “significant improvements in our controls and security checks that keep your money safe. Unfortunately this meant more transfers being subject to checks, delays or other hurdles”.

The result seems to be an increase in the frequency that supporting documents are requested in order to process a transfer and a significant uptick in the number of Wise accounts to be deactivated. Ultimately, this suggests Wise is either going overboard on its compliance checks, or that they weren’t up-to-scratch in the first place. Whatever it is, it doesn’t paint Wise in a good picture.

Its campaigns were so effective, and so memorable, that even large banks began noticing them. The old slogan “YOUR
BANK IS SECRETLY OVERCHARGING YOU ON INTERNATIONAL MONEY TRANSFER” was adjudicated by The Advertising Standard
Authority, following complaints from these banks.

TransferWise has suffered additional obstacles as a result of its advertising campaigns. In May 2016, the advertising watchdog commanded TransferWise to be more specific about the savings it offers in each route, in comparison to banks, rather than saying that it helps clients save 90% of transfer costs. TransferWise has also been mocked by the AmericanBanker magazine, as the company is now seeking bank funding. Our take on this? TransferWise is catching fire because it is growing at such a rapid pace. As a Branson-backed company, it appreciates any form of attention – positive or negative, and it works out perfectly.

You can’t knock Wise for their transparency either – sure they can be rather punchy with their marketing campaigns but there’s an obvious reason why Wise are happy to publicise their exchange rates and fees online but mainstream banks aren’t. Wise has nothing to hide – no wide spreads or sneaky payment fees.

In a rare piece of negative media, it seems that new fintech Atlantic Money has played Wise at their own game. Atlantic Money has garnered significant media attention for its letter to the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority in which they feel they’ve been delisted from the Wise currency calculator for the pure and simple reason that they were cheaper than Wise on larger-sized transfers. Wise removed Atlantic Money as it was “no longer deemed a legitimate competitor”.

WEF Tech Pioneer in 2015

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year UK 2015

FT’s Boldness in Business Award, 2014

Best European Startup, Europas European Tech Startup Awards, 2013

Its low rates, transparency, great on-boarding process and mind-blowing advertising campaigns have gained it a status as one of the largest payment providers in the world. This is a “startup” that is already moving billions across the globe and fighting with industry giants like Western Union and Moneycorp.

On the whole, there is nothing to be concerned about when you use a Wise account to move money abroad. Wise is as safe as can be. It has a sound financial structure, a solid business model, and it is the absolute epitome of client transparency. After many years of focusing on client acquisition and growth it has turned profit for the last three years and investors are more keen than ever to get on board. The company is now available in more than 71 countries and moved £26bn in the last three months alone, with millions of clients from around the globe and a high level of satisfaction. If there is a concern, it has to be around the recent changes in compliance protocols. Huge numbers of account holders have had their accounts frozen and been unable to access their money. It is taking a significant amount of time for these account holders to then pass the required checks in order to get their money returned. This could be very worrying to existing account holders but new account holders should know from the outset whether they’re able to use the platform or not.

Wise is not a scam, although some people tend to think it is because of the ultra-friendly rates, while in fact, it is one of the most credible companies in this industry.

More recently you may have spotted Wise opening an office in Belgium. The firm took the pro-active decision to gain a European licence in Belgium so even in the event of a no-deal Brexit, where UK financial services firms would lose their ‘EU passporting’ rights, they could continue to offer the same great service. In the end, whilst a deal was made the UK/EU trade deal did not cover financial services, so it was a safe and very smart move indeed.

CEO Kristo Kaarmann’s current investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority has to be highlighted. Whilst we’re well aware of finance magnates managing their finances offshore, it’s not very often they fail to meet their UK tax obligations. It certainly seems an unusual case and one we’ll have to follow closely.

Fees:Wise regularly updates its pricing model in line with the costs it experiences. In each update, some currency corridors become cheaper whilst some corridors increase in price. In recent years, a decision was made by the firm that prices would be based purely on the costs incurred which were relevant to the particular currency/country that were involved in your payment. Rather than subsidising certain routes with income made from other currencies.

So any cost savings Wise / Transferwise can make in Australia for example can be passed onto savings for consumers purchasing AUD. Transferring money from around the world incurs variable fees with Wise but they are as low as under 1 Euro for most destinations from Europe, and less than £1 for transfers from the UK. Payments from the USA are slightly higher at a cost of $4.77, though the US is notorious for having high payment fees – whether you pay by ACH or wire transfer. Just be sure to fully understand the pricing structure for your currency corridor, particularly if you are trading any exotics.

The pricing is so carefully modelled that not only is the size and speed of payment considered, Wise also alters their payment fee depending on where your destination of payment is. So any cheaper payout method the firm can employ, Wise can then pass this saving onto the consumer too.

In November 2022, Wise was even able to remove fees for same-currency transfers of Sterling, Euro, Hungarian Forint and Singapore Dollar. Interestingly, the reasoning provided by Wise as to why they were able to make the move was due to the higher rate of return they had been receiving on the customer deposit balances that they had been investing.

Lars Trunin, UK head of product at Wise, said: “We’re happy to be in a position to pass on the economic benefits from the balances customers are holding with us through these new prices”. In this sense, Wise very much  goes against the grain in the industry and is the only known provider to invest its customers’ deposits, as opposed to simply holding these funds in segregated accounts at major banking institutions. Wise is completely transparent with regards to the banks it holds customer deposits with and the investments it makes and Wise has invested customer deposits into what it regards as low-risk assets – UK and US Government bonds. All information is available from wise.com but it’s something for you to decide if you’re happy with it.

Exchange Rates: Here is the complete fee structure for payments sent in the currency specified below and converted to GBP (note payment fees and spreads can vary slightly depending on where money is being sent so be sure to use Wise.com’s online calculator first):

Currency Sent	Wise.com Fee October 2023 Updated
AUD	0.32% – 0.45%, depending on amount sent + $ 0.66 AUD fixed payment fee.
BRL	2.07-2.14%, depending on the amount sent + R$ 4.26 BRL fixed payment fee.
CAD	0.37% – 0.53%, depending on the amount sent + $ 3.47 CAD fixed payment fee.
CHF	0.28% – 0.42%, depending on the amount sentr + 0.75 CHF fixed payment fee.
CZK	0.34% – 0.47%, depending on the amount sent + Kč 7.39 CZK fixed payment fee.
DKK	0.36% – 0.49%, depending on the amount sent + kr 2.67 DKK
EUR	0.31% – 0.47%, depending on the amount sent + € 0.46 EUR fixed payment fee.
JPN	0.72% of the amount that’s converted + ¥ 91.00 JPY fixed payment fee.
NZD	0.35% – 0.45%, depending on the amount sent + $ 0.41 NZD fixed payment fee.
TRY	1.03% Fee + ₺ 21.78 TRY fixed payment fee.
USD	0.31% – 0.47%, depending on the amount sent + $4.25 USD fixed payment fee.

As Wise, formerly TransferWise, is a completely “online” platform that enables people to send money abroad, it is
often compared to Paypal, one the world’s largest online payment providers.

Destination	Real Exchange Rate	Amount Received for £1,000:
Australia	1 Pound is $AU1.73 AUD	1,707.33 AUD	1,650.30 AUD
UAE	1 Pound is 4.87 AED	4,793.55 AED	4,647.56 AED
Canada	1 Pound is $CA1.71 CAD	1,682.04 CAD	1,630.82 CAD
Switzerland	1 Pound is CHF1.33 CHF	1,323.19 CHF	1,270.00 CHF
Eurozone	1 Pound is €1.14 EUR	€1,135.16 EUR	€1,089.53 EUR

Please note these are simulated prices and not the real rates and mistakes can occur in calculation or in our foreign currency exchange rate feed

The Wise pricing update in 2021 looked to have increased variable fees for a number of currencies when being converted to GBP. The fixed payment fees  came down slightly vs 2020 but it’s the variable fee (processed as a %) which has a much larger impact on the price you have to pay for your transfer.

Compared to 2020, USD saw an increase in both the variable fee/spread and the fixed payment fee. The best rate possible on a USD transfer used to be 0.27% but , in 2021, it moved to 0.31%. The fixed fee of $6.25 was much higher compared to the $1.23 fee in 2020, though it is still some way short of the $40+ US banks charge for international payments and this fixed fee has come back down to $4.25 in the October 2022 update.The 2022 update for Wise money transfers hasn’t seen a huge change to pricing but it has impacted some important corridors. Payments sent from GBP and EUR have become more expensive and bearing in mind a large majority of Wise’s 6 million customers are based in the UK & Europe, this is likely to have a big impact. A payment from EUR to GBP used to be capped at 0.41% but is now capped at 0.47%. A payment from GBP to EUR used to be capped at 0.35% but could now be up to 0.41%.

There has been a notable increase in fees for sending money from TRY, a variable fee of 1.03% replaces the old fee of 0.66% and the fixed payment fee increases from 10.57 TRY to 21.78 TRY.

Despite the changing nature of fees over the last couple of years, the exchange rates offered by Wise currency transfers are among the best in the business, and in no way comparable to other remittance companies (i.e. companies with low minimum transfers used by overseas workers to transfer money abroad to families). For instance Ria Money Transfer and Transfast’s margins are around the 2-3% mark! Their commitment to passing on savings is even shown by the small micro changes they make to payment fees, such as when sending money from EUR where the fixed fee has moved from 0.50 to 0.46. Many firms would not bother with small amendments to fees like this at all.

In some particular countries, Wise is cheaper (for example, the UK), while in Canada and the USA, it is great, but not as cheap as in other countries. Wise is a good option for sending money to/from some traditionally difficult markets for remittance, such as India and Indonesia, where brokers will traditionally charge you a much higher fee.

In some countries, like Brazil, Wise is making strides to reduce the overall cost of transfers but we’re sure Wise hasn’t been able to reduce fees by as much as it would like. These are currencies that are usually more expensive to transfer money from anyway (“exotic”) and at 2.14% the offering from Wise is a little below the 2.5% average in the market. As always Wise tries to give you savings where possible though – a payment from the UK (GBP to BRL) attracts a spread of 1.18%, whereas flip this and make a payment from Brazil (BRL to GBP) and you’ll see a spread of 2.14%. That’s why it’s always worth using the Wise free pricing calculator so you’ll know exactly how much you’ll need to pay.

Q3 2022 – Another Price Hike

Wise has recently raised prices again on the 1st October 2022 when you send money from USD, CHF, CAD, JPY, HUF, MYR, TRY, INR, SEK, PLN, CZK, DKK, NOK and RON to any other currency and when you send money to USD, INR, THB, PHP, IDR, MYR, MXN, PLN, PKR, KRW, VND, MAD and HUF from any other currency.

The reasoning provided by Wise was twofold; firstly, they explain that foreign exchange markets have been more volatile in recent times and that this has made it more expensive for them to buy and sell currencies. Secondly, the increase is required so they can continue to sustainably invest in their payment infrastructure to offer a faster and more convenient service.

Offices: UK (2
Offices) Belgium USA Australia Estonia Hungary Japan UAE Brazil Ukraine Malaysia Singapore

Ways to approach: Email, Chat or Telephone

Translations:  Italian, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian,
Turkish, Japanese.

Accepts Clients: Listed Below.

Currencies Handled:  49 – 21 you can both BUY and SELL + an additional 28 currencies BUY ONLY (i.e.
send money to)

Client Reviews: Love the support team.

Wise has a very unique model when it comes to international money transfers. Other companies are usually more oriented towards a dedicated service and appeal mostly to clients who want to transfer £5,000+, and specifically focus on clients who need to move tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. Wise, however, provides sharp margins to everyone and encourages clients of all sizes to use their system, while not offering dedicated dealers, hedging or any of the “complicated” options for large private clients or business clients.

That creates a situation in which Wise Money Transfers is a great solution for people who want to conduct smaller transfers and is a valid solution for those who need to move large amounts abroad – but not every person who wants to move big volumes is happy to do the entire transaction online.

New on Wise:

• Wise is now supporting the USD / MXN Corridor
• Wise is now accepting Canadian clients
• Wise launches local CAD Wise bank accounts (Feb 2021)
• Wise accepts Interac e-Transfers to fund deals from Canada (2022)
• Wise launches Wise debit card in Canada + Brazil (2022)
• Wise multi-currency account launched in Malaysia (2022)
• Send money to Touch n Go and BigPay eWallets in Malaysia (2022)
• Some more from Indonesia – previously 315m IDR, now 1.39bn (2022)
• Link UK bank account and transfer directly within Wise app (2022)
• Send money to bank cards and Alipay wallet in China (2022)

Clients accepted from: