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Wise: Fintech’s customers surge on back of payment deals boom

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Money transfer firm Wise dealt a crushing blow to the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, after announcing plans to transfer its primary listing to the US.
Money transfer firm Wise dealt a crushing blow to the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, after announcing plans to transfer its primary listing to the US.

Customers at fintech platform Wise have jumped 20 per cent over the last year as the firm continues to make deals with top financial clients.

In a quarterly trading update, the money transfer firm revealed that cross border volumes had surged 24 per cent, or 27 per cent on a constant currency basis, to £37.8bn.

Meanwhile, Wise account balances grew by 26 per cent to £16.2bn, while increased adoption of the firm’s accounts led to a 39 per cent increase in card and other revenue.

Wise said it continued to expect underlying income growth of 15-20 per cent in the full financial year on a constant currency basis, but reported growth is expected to be on the lower end of the range thanks to foreign exchange headwinds.

“This quarter saw us take another step closer to achieving our mission, most notably through extending the availability of Wise to even more customers,” said Wise’s co-founder and chief executive Kristo Käärmann.

The firm expanded its offering in Brazil throughout the quarter, going from offering Wise just to individuals to including micro-businesses. The move comes as the firm works towards integrating with Brazil’s payment system, PIX.

Last month, the firm also announced a “milestone” deal to handle foreign exchange payments for Morgan Stanley’s corporate clients.

The money transfer firm said Morgan Stanley will become the first major investment bank to offer “high speed cross border” payments through its platform business. 

The deal signalled a push from the fintech to win more top financial clients alongside its traditional money transfer offer, which allows personal users and businesses to send money overseas.

“Additionally, we announced that Wise will soon power faster and cheaper international payments for Standard Chartered’s cross-border payment service, SC Remit,” noted Käärmann.

“Given their scale, entering into relationships with such leading global institutions represents important milestones in our journey as we move closer towards achieving money without borders.”