Wise
Cross-border payments and multi-currency accounts · United Kingdom
Wise, founded in London in 2011 as TransferWise, lets 19 million people and businesses send money abroad at low fees, hold 40 currencies and spend them with a Wise card, and sells its payment network to banks through Wise Platform; it earns transfer fees, card fees and interest on customer balances.
What makes it different
Most transfers arrive in under 20 seconds.
75%Payments completed instantlyQ4 FY2026
Instant delivery across borders, once a bank-only promise taking days, is what Wise competes on alongside price.
How big it is
How big is Wise?
$2.5BNet revenueFY2026
$243.5BMoved across bordersFY2026
8,805Employees2026
How it makes money FY2026
Half comes from transfer fees, a quarter from interest.
- Cross-border transfer fees50%$1.3B
- Net interest income on customer balances24%$0.6B
- Card16%$0.4B
- Other10%$0.2B
How the business works
Cut transfer prices. Keep the balances.
- 1Local payment systems
- 2Money at 0.52% fees
- 3$39B customer balances
Direct links to domestic payment systems let Wise keep cutting fees, which brings more customers whose balances earn interest income.
Who owns it
- Kristo Käärmann (co-founder, CEO)18.2%
- Baillie Gifford & Co9.63%
- Orbis Investment Management5.2%
CEO: Kristo Käärmann
Who it competes with
Key moments
- 2011TransferWise is founded
- 2015Expands to the US and Australia
- 2016First bank uses the Wise API; business product launched
- 2017Multi-currency account launched
- 2018First non-bank directly connected to UK Faster Payments
Sources
Every number on this page comes from Wise's own reports.
Full profile
The rest of the story is in the app.
What Wise tracks16 metrics
Active customers
Cross-border volume
Cross-border take rate
Results, quarter by quarterwith a chart
Revenue
Profit
Margin
Where the money comes from5 regions
Europe (excluding UK)
United Kingdom
Asia-Pacific
The full timeline15 moments
2019
2023
2026
Wise vs Revolutside by side
Revenue
Profit
People
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