Wise (formerly TransferWise) is a financial technology company founded in London in 2011 with a clear mission: to make international money transfers cheap, fair, transparent and simple. It served 18.9 million active customers and moved $243.5 billion in cross-border transfers in fiscal year 2026, the year ended 31 March 2026. All figures on this page were checked in September 2026.
In this article we examine the statistics that matter most: the user base, revenue, profitability, valuation, customer balances and transfer volumes, to give a clear picture of Wise’s growth, its position in the global cross-border payments market and its impact on traditional banking.
One thing to read the figures with. From FY2026 Wise reports in US dollars under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, rather than in sterling under International Financial Reporting Standards, following its move to a primary listing on NASDAQ. It has stopped publishing the sterling measures it used before, including underlying income, underlying profit before tax and gross profit, and it did not publish sterling comparatives for FY2026. The tables below therefore run in pounds up to FY2025 and switch to dollars from FY2026. Where a FY2026 figure carries a growth rate, the comparative is Wise’s own restated dollar figure for FY2025, not the sterling number in the table above it.
Wise at a glance
The headline figures for FY2026, the year ended 31 March 2026, unless stated otherwise. Growth is measured against Wise’s restated US dollar figures for FY2025, not against the sterling figures it reported at the time:
- Active customers: 18.9 million, up 21%;
- Cross-border volume: $243.5 billion, up 31%;
- Net revenue: $2,502.8 million, up 19%;
- Income before tax: $660.4 million, a margin of 26%;
- Customer holdings: $39.0 billion, up 40%, of which $30.0 billion in cash balances;
- Cross-border take rate: 0.52%, down from 0.58%;
- Employees: over 8,800;
- Market capitalisation: $11.83 billion at the close on 25 September 2026.
Overview
The business was founded in 2011 by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, two Estonian entrepreneurs, to move money internationally without the high fees, hidden costs and slow processing of traditional banks. It was originally TransferWise and rebranded to Wise in 2021.
The group is now headed by Wise Group plc. That is not a rename of Wise plc: it is a newly incorporated Jersey company, registered number 160362, inserted as the new parent through a scheme of arrangement that took effect on 8 May 2026, with shareholders receiving one Wise Group plc share for each Wise plc share. The UK operating company, Wise Payments Limited, still exists as a subsidiary.
Today, Wise operates a comprehensive financial ecosystem built around three core products:
- Wise Account (consumer): the multi-currency account for individuals, including expats, freelancers, travellers and remote workers. Customer balances reached $30.0 billion at the end of FY2026, and total customer holdings including Wise Assets reached $39.0 billion;
- Wise Business: a multi-currency account for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and growing businesses operating internationally, with 572,000 active business customers in the fourth quarter of FY2026 and business cross-border volume growing faster than personal;
- Wise Platform: a business-to-business offering that puts Wise’s payment rails inside banks and fintechs. Named partners include Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, Nubank, UniCredit, Raiffeisen Bank International, Monzo, N26 and Bank Mandiri, with Capitec in South Africa and MBSB Bank in Malaysia added during FY2026. Wise management said at an investor conference in September 2026 that Platform accounts for about 6% of cross-border volume, and that it expects roughly 10% within three years.
A major milestone came in May 2026, when Wise moved its primary listing to NASDAQ under the ticker WSE, keeping a secondary listing in London (LSE: WISE). Shareholders approved the move on 28 July 2025, the court sanctioned the scheme on 27 April 2026, and trading began on NASDAQ on 11 May 2026. The London shares sit in the equity shares (transition) category of the Official List. The aim is deeper access to US capital markets alongside Wise’s expansion in the US.
Here are some key corporate facts about Wise:
| Item | Detail |
| Founded | January 2011 (incorporated 31 March 2010) |
| Founders | Kristo Käärmann (chief executive) and Taavet Hinrikus |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Parent company | Wise Group plc, incorporated in Jersey, registered number 160362 |
| First listing | 7 July 2021, London Stock Exchange direct listing |
| Primary listing | NASDAQ (ticker: WSE), from 11 May 2026 |
| Secondary listing | London Stock Exchange (LSE: WISE), equity shares (transition) category |
| Sector | Financial services, fintech, cross-border payments |
| Employees | Over 8,800 at 31 March 2026 |
| Currencies held in a Wise Account | 40 or more |
| Regulatory licences held | Over 80 at 31 March 2026 |
| Reporting currency and basis | US dollars under US GAAP, from FY2026 |
| Financial year | 1 April to 31 March |
Data as at 31 March 2026 unless stated. Source: Wise Group plc FY2026 results of 25 June 2026 and the FY2026 annual report on Form 20-F.
Wise users
Wise categorises an active customer as a distinctive user who has successfully executed at least one cross-currency transaction within the given year. It is worth distinguishing Wise’s two customer segments: Wise Account (personal) is designed for individual use, including expats, freelancers, remote workers, and frequent travellers, while Wise Business is intended for SMEs and growing businesses operating internationally.
Wise has delivered sustained double-digit growth in active customers. The base grew from 12.8 million in FY2024 to 18.9 million in FY2026, more than 6 million in two fiscal years, reflecting both wider global reach and growing adoption of multi-currency accounts as an alternative to a bank.
Wise publishes an annual active customer count and a separate quarterly one, and they are not the same base. The 18.9 million is the annual figure for FY2026. The quarterly count for the fourth quarter was 11.29 million, of which 10.72 million personal and 572,000 business. Wise does not publish a personal and business split of the annual figure, so that cell is marked as not published rather than filled with a derived number.
| Fiscal year | Active customers (m) | Personal (m) | Business (m) | YoY growth |
| 2026 | 18.9 | Not published | 0.572 | +21% |
| 2025 | 15.6 | 15.13 | 0.47 | +22% |
| 2024 | 12.8 | 12.175 | 0.625 | +28% |
| 2023 | 10.0 | 9.4 | 0.52 | +35% |
| 2022 | 7.4 | 7.0 | 0.41 | +23% |
| 2021 | 6.0 | 5.7 | 0.3 | +28% |
| 2020 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 0.19 | n/a |
Figures are for each fiscal year ended 31 March. The total column is Wise’s annual active customer count. For FY2026 Wise does not publish a personal and business split of that annual figure, so the personal cell is marked as not published and the business cell shows the fourth-quarter active count of 572,000, which is a different base. The FY2024 business figure reflects a methodology change and is not comparable with the years either side. Source: Wise trading updates and annual reports.
Key observations from this growth trajectory:
- 4x customer growth in 6 years: from 4.7 million (FY2020) to 18.9 million (FY2026), a 4x expansion despite operating in a sector typically dominated by entrenched banks;
- Consistent growth: Wise has delivered 21% or better annual customer growth in every year in the table;
- Wise Business acceleration: quarterly active business customers reached 572,000 in the fourth quarter of FY2026 and 608,000 in the first quarter of FY2027, up 28% on the year, growing faster than the personal segment;
- Pandemic-era inflection: customer growth accelerated meaningfully during 2020-2022 as more workers went remote and cross-border financial flows increased, a structural shift that has persisted post-pandemic.
Wise revenues
Wise earns money from three streams: cross-currency conversion fees, which are the largest, Wise Account services such as card transactions and ATM withdrawals, and interest income on customer balances held in segregated accounts. Interest has become a substantial contributor, reflecting both central bank rates and the growth in customer holdings.
The definitions are worth setting out, because Wise used several. Under the old sterling reporting, revenue meant fees only, and interest sat above it in a separate line, which is why gross profit could legitimately exceed revenue. For FY2025 the figures were revenue of £1,211.9 million, interest income on customer balances of £594.3 million and benefits paid to customers of £161.2 million, giving total income of £1,645.0 million.
The table below tracks revenue, fees only, on a consistent basis to FY2025. In FY2026, reporting in dollars, Wise’s headline measure became net revenue, which is transaction revenue plus interest income on customer balances minus interest paid to customers. That came to $2,502.8 million, up 19% from a restated $2,098.9 million in FY2025, made up of $1,893.6 million of transaction revenue, $806.1 million of interest income and $196.9 million of interest paid out. It is a different measure from the sterling revenue line, which is why the table stops where it does.
| Fiscal year | Revenue (£m) | YoY growth |
| 2025 | 1,211.9 | +15% |
| 2024 | 1,052.0 | +24% |
| 2023 | 847.1 | +51% |
| 2022 | 559.9 | +33% |
| 2021 | 421.0 | +39% |
| 2020 | 302.6 | n/a |
Revenue means fee income only, under IFRS and in sterling, and excludes interest income on customer balances, which Wise reported on a separate line. The series stops at FY2025 because Wise switched to US dollars under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States for FY2026 and published no sterling comparative. Source: Wise annual reports.
Revenue per active customer
Revenue per active customer, calculated as fee revenue divided by annual active customers, rose through to FY2023 and has fallen since. That decline is deliberate: Wise has been cutting its cross-border take rate, which went from 0.58% in FY2025 to 0.52% in FY2026 and to 0.50% in the first quarter of FY2027, trading revenue per customer for faster acquisition and market share.
On a fee-revenue basis the figure was £77.69 in FY2025, down from £82.19 in FY2024 and £84.71 at the FY2023 peak. The pattern matches Wise’s stated strategy of putting margin into lower prices to penetrate a global cross-border payments market it sizes at £32 trillion. For FY2026 the comparable calculation on the new basis is net revenue of $2,502.8 million across 18.9 million customers, or about $132 per active customer, which is not comparable with the sterling figures because net revenue includes interest.
| Fiscal year | Revenue per active customer (£) | YoY change |
| 2025 | 77.69 | -5.5% |
| 2024 | 82.19 | -3.0% |
| 2023 | 84.71 | +12.0% |
| 2022 | 75.66 | +7.8% |
| 2021 | 70.17 | +9.0% |
| 2020 | 64.38 | n/a |
Calculated by dividing fee revenue in millions of pounds by annual active customers in millions, for each fiscal year. The decline from FY2023 reflects Wise’s deliberate reduction of cross-border take rates to drive volume and market share, not weakening unit economics. The series stops at FY2025 because of the change of reporting currency and basis. Source: Wise annual reports and trading updates.
Key observations on revenue per active customer trends:
- Up around 21% since FY2020: fee revenue per customer went from £64.38 to £77.69, with the peak at £84.71 in FY2023;
- The compression is intentional: the cross-border take rate fell to 0.52% in FY2026 and 0.50% in the first quarter of FY2027, prioritising volume and acquisition over revenue per customer;
- The mix is shifting away from transfers: customer holdings reached $39.0 billion in FY2026, and Wise reports that almost half of net revenue now comes from sources other than cross-border transfers;
- Reinvesting margin into price: Wise’s approach is to put margin back into lower prices to compound long-term growth rather than to maximise near-term revenue per customer.
Revenue by region
Across all years analysed, Europe (excluding the UK) is consistently the primary source of Wise revenue, accounting for roughly one-third of total revenue. The United Kingdom is disaggregated in this geographic analysis to highlight the substantial impact that domestic UK revenues have on the overall total, a reflection of Wise being headquartered in London with deep market penetration in the British remittance market.
Three trends stand out over the period:
- UK share declining: the UK fell from 24.0% of revenue in FY2020 to 18.7% in FY2025. UK revenue keeps growing, it is simply growing more slowly than the international markets;
- Asia-Pacific accelerating: the region rose from 15.7% in FY2020 to 21.8% in FY2025, the fastest-growing share. The drivers are direct integrations with domestic payment systems, expansion in Singapore, Australia and Japan, and the migration of cross-border flows towards Asian corridors;
- North America steady: the US and Canada held around 20% of revenue throughout.
For FY2026 the picture is not directly comparable, because Wise now reports by net revenue, which includes interest, and reports the United States as a segment rather than North America. On that basis the split was Europe excluding the UK $713.2 million, the United Kingdom $586.3 million, Asia-Pacific $515.9 million, the USA $365.2 million and the rest of the world $322.2 million, out of $2,502.8 million. The United Kingdom sits above the USA on this measure partly because its segment carries a large share of interest income, so the ranking is not a straight read of market share.
| Fiscal year | Europe (ex-UK) | United Kingdom | North America | Asia-Pacific | Rest of the world |
| 2025 | 30.5% | 18.7% | 19.6% | 21.8% | 9.5% |
| 2024 | 30.8% | 19.3% | 20.4% | 20.6% | 9.0% |
| 2023 | 32% | 19% | 21% | 20% | 8% |
| 2022 | 33.2% | 22.2% | 20.9% | 18.1% | 5.6% |
| 2021 | 32.4% | 22.8% | 21.3% | 17.2% | 6.3% |
| 2020 | 31.2% | 24.0% | 20.8% | 15.7% | 8.3% |
Geographic revenue breakdown as a percentage of total revenue, by fiscal year ended 31 March. The FY2025 row is derived from the FY2025 annual report: Europe excluding the UK £369.6m, Asia-Pacific £263.8m, North America £237.2m, the United Kingdom £226.2m and the rest of the world £115.1m, on total revenue of £1,211.9m. There is no FY2026 row because Wise now reports by net revenue, which includes interest, and reports the United States rather than North America as a segment. Those FY2026 figures are given in the text above. Source: Wise annual reports.
Wise profitability
Wise is solidly profitable. Most of the distance between gross profit and profit before tax is administrative expenses: banking and customer-related fees, technology, employee costs and continued expansion of the product range. In FY2025 those grew 25% to £768.6 million, which is Wise reinvesting margin into growth rather than maximising near-term profit. Smaller items below the gross profit line make up the rest.
Under the old sterling reporting, Wise calculated gross profit from total income, which is revenue plus interest income on customer balances minus benefits paid to customers, less cost of sales and credit losses. That is why gross profit is larger than the revenue line in the previous section. For FY2025: total income of £1,645.0 million, less cost of sales of £328.1 million and credit losses of £9.1 million, gives gross profit of £1,307.8 million. Profit before tax was £564.8 million.
For FY2026 there is no gross profit figure, because US GAAP presentation does not use that line and Wise does not disclose one. The published measures are income before tax of $660.4 million, a margin of 26%, and net income of $498.7 million.
| Fiscal year | Gross profit (£m) | Gross profit YoY | Profit before tax (£m) | PBT YoY |
| 2025 | 1,307.8 | +20% | 564.8 | +17% |
| 2024 | 1,092.4 | +71% | 481.4 | +228% |
| 2023 | 638.0 | +73% | 147.0 | +234% |
| 2022 | 369.0 | +41% | 44.0 | +7% |
| 2021 | 261.0 | +35% | 41.0 | +105% |
| 2020 | 194.0 | – | 20.0 | – |
Gross profit and profit before tax are the reported IFRS figures in sterling from Wise’s consolidated statement of profit or loss. The FY2025 figures come from the FY2025 annual report published on 5 June 2025: cost of sales £328.1m, net credit losses £9.1m, administrative expenses £768.6m, income tax expense £148.1m and profit for the year £416.7m. The series stops at FY2025 because the US accounting presentation has no gross profit line and Wise publishes none for FY2026. Source: Wise annual reports.
Key observations from Wise’s profitability trajectory:
- Profit transformation since FY2020: profit before tax grew from £20 million to £564.8 million across the five years to FY2025, a 28-fold expansion. Gross profit grew from £194 million to £1,307.8 million over the same period, close to seven-fold;
- FY2023-FY2024 inflection: profitability accelerated significantly in FY2023 and FY2024 as higher central bank interest rates substantially boosted interest income on customer balances, which Wise retains a portion of (the “first 1% yield” of customer deposits). This effect has partially normalised as central banks have cut rates;
- The old underlying measure: through FY2025 Wise’s preferred measure was underlying profit before tax, which excluded interest income above the first 1% yield retained on customer balances. It was £282.1 million in FY2025, up 17%, on underlying income of £1,362.3 million, a margin of 21%. Both measures were discontinued with the move to US GAAP;
- What replaced it: Wise now guides on income before tax margin, which was 26% in FY2026. For FY2027 it has guided to net revenue growth around the middle of a 15% to 20% medium-term range on a constant-currency basis, and an income before tax margin around the top of a 20% to 25% range, assuming no material change in central bank rates or in the interest it pays customers.
Wise valuation
Between 2016 and 2021, the company formerly known as TransferWise was considered a unicorn, meaning a private company valued at over $1 billion, due to its rapid growth and successive funding rounds. The company rebranded from TransferWise to Wise in February 2021 and, separately, completed a direct listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: WISE) on 7 July 2021 at an initial valuation of about £8.75 billion.
A second milestone came in May 2026, when Wise moved its primary listing to NASDAQ under the ticker WSE while keeping a secondary listing in London. Since the debut the shares have traded between $10.36 and $17.47, and the market capitalisation stood at $11.83 billion at the close on 25 September 2026.
| Date | Valuation | Event or context |
| 25 September 2026 | $11.83 billion | Market capitalisation at close, NASDAQ primary listing |
| 11 May 2026 | Not published | Trading begins on NASDAQ under WSE, primary listing moves from London |
| 30 April 2026 | About $10.7 billion | London market capitalisation before the move |
| 15 November 2024 | $10.72 billion | London listing |
| 16 November 2023 | $9.05 billion | London listing |
| 30 December 2022 | $6.95 billion | London listing, after the fintech sector correction |
| 31 December 2021 | $10.46 billion | First year end after the London direct listing |
| 7 July 2021 | £8.75 billion | London direct listing debut |
| 29 July 2020 | $4.68 billion | Secondary share sale, private |
| 21 May 2019 | $3.2 billion | Secondary share sale, private |
| 2018 | $1.6 billion | Valuation reported while private |
| 2 November 2017 | $1.3 billion | Series E funding round, private |
| 25 May 2016 | $1.1 billion | Series D, reached unicorn status |
| 25 January 2015 | $900 million | Series C funding, private |
Valuations before 2021 are funding round valuations. Figures from 2021 onwards are market capitalisations. Wise was listed only in London and quoted in pence until May 2026, so the dollar figures for those years are conversions published by market data providers at the exchange rate of the day, and the 2021 debut is given in pounds as Wise reported it. Wise published no market capitalisation for the NASDAQ debut. Market capitalisation moves daily, so check NASDAQ or the London Stock Exchange for the live figure.
Key observations from Wise’s valuation history:
- From nothing to nearly $12 billion in 15 years: one of Europe’s most successful fintech stories, from a 2011 startup to a dual-listed public company;
- The 2021 LSE direct listing: Wise chose a direct listing (rather than a traditional IPO) on the LSE, a novel approach for a UK fintech that allowed early employees and investors to sell shares without a traditional underwriting process. The opening day valuation was £8.75 billion, one of the larger UK technology debuts of that year;
- 2022 fintech sector correction: like most fintech peers (PayPal, Block, Adyen), Wise’s share price declined significantly during the 2022 market correction, the market cap fell to under $7 billion before recovering through 2023-2024 as profitability improved and interest income surged;
- The May 2026 NASDAQ move: this was a change of primary listing rather than a capital raise, reflecting Wise’s push to align its share trading with its growing US operations;
- Where it trades now: at $11.83 billion on 25 September 2026, against FY2026 net revenue of $2,502.8 million and net income of $498.7 million, Wise trades on a trailing price to earnings ratio of about 24 and a price to sales ratio of about 4.7. Those are multiples typical of a high-growth, asset-light fintech rather than of a bank.
Wise customer balances
Customer balances have grown quickly, reflecting both the larger customer base and the adoption of the Wise Account as a primary multi-currency account rather than an occasional transfer service. At the end of FY2025 total balances reached £17.1 billion, up 29% from £13.3 billion, and more than eight times the £2 billion held in FY2020. Total customer holdings, which add the money invested in Wise Assets, were £21.5 billion.
In FY2026, reported in dollars, customer balances reached $30.0 billion and total customer holdings reached $39.0 billion, the latter up 40% from a restated $27.8 billion. The difference of roughly $9 billion is assets under custody, which do not sit on Wise’s balance sheet. By the first quarter of FY2027 holdings had reached $41.2 billion.
This matters for the revenue line. Balances generated interest income of £594.3 million in FY2025 under the old sterling reporting. In FY2026 they generated $806.1 million, of which $196.9 million was paid back to customers as interest on the Wise Account, leaving $609.2 million retained, about a quarter of net revenue. How much is paid out depends on the currency and on whether the customer has opted into an interest-paying product, so the share retained varies from year to year.
| Fiscal year | Customer balances (£bn) | YoY growth |
| 2025 | 17.1 | +29% |
| 2024 | 13.3 | +24% |
| 2023 | 10.7 | +57% |
| 2022 | 6.8 | +84% |
| 2021 | 3.7 | +85% |
| 2020 | 2.0 | n/a |
Customer balances are the amounts held in Wise Accounts and exclude money invested through Wise Assets, the Interest and Stocks products, which is not recognised on Wise’s balance sheet. Adding Wise Assets gives total customer holdings, which were £21.5 billion in FY2025. The series stops at FY2025 because of the change of reporting currency and basis. Source: Wise annual reports and trading updates.
Key observations on Wise’s customer balance growth:
- Balances grew 8.5 times in five years: from £2 billion in FY2020 to £17.1 billion in FY2025, far outpacing the roughly threefold growth in active customers over the same period. Customers are holding money with Wise, not just passing it through;
- Wise Account adoption is the underlying driver: as of FY2025, Wise reported that roughly half of personal customers and 60% of business customers used more than one product beyond core money transfers, such as the Wise Account, the debit card or Wise Assets;
- Wise Assets adds to the total: the Interest and Stocks products are available to some residents of the UK, the EEA, Switzerland, Australia, Singapore and, new in FY2026, Brazil. Interest invests in a money market fund, Stocks in an index-tracking fund;
- Strategic implication: balances are now central to how Wise makes money, with $39.0 billion in holdings at the end of FY2026. Its attempt to go further into US banking infrastructure did not succeed, however: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency denied Wise’s national trust bank charter application on 21 July 2026, and the Federal Reserve master account that plan depended on did not follow.
Average Wise deposit size
Segmenting by account type is the only way to read deposit size sensibly, since Wise serves two very different customers: the Wise Account for individuals and Wise Business for SMEs and corporates.
In the years it can be measured, the average business balance ran roughly 16 times the average personal one, reflecting larger transaction sizes and working capital needs. The series is short because it can only be computed where Wise published both a balance split and a matching customer count. It stops after FY2023: the FY2024 business customer count was restated on a new methodology and no longer reconciles with the balances, and from FY2025 Wise no longer publishes the split at all.
| Fiscal year | Average personal balance (£) | Average business balance (£) |
| 2023 | 606 | 9,615 |
| 2022 | 500 | 8,049 |
Calculated by dividing the personal or business balance by the corresponding number of active customers in each fiscal year. Both rows reconcile to the total balances in the previous section. Later years are not shown because the FY2024 business customer count was restated and from FY2025 Wise stopped publishing the balance split. Source: Wise annual reports.
Wise transfer volumes
Cross-border volume is Wise’s most important operational metric, reflecting both the customer base and the value each customer moves. In FY2025 Wise handled £145.2 billion for 15.6 million active customers, up 23%, or 25% at constant currency. In FY2026, reported in dollars, volume reached $243.5 billion across 18.9 million customers, up 31% from a restated $185.2 billion in FY2025. The first quarter of FY2027 added a further $69.3 billion, up 26% on the same quarter a year earlier.
| Fiscal year | Total volume (£bn) | Personal (£bn) | Business (£bn) | YoY growth |
| 2025 | 145.2 | 106.4 | 38.8 | +23% |
| 2024 | 118.5 | 87.2 | 31.3 | +13% |
| 2023 | 104.5 | 76.6 | 27.9 | +37% |
| 2022 | 76.4 | 56.9 | 19.5 | +40% |
| 2021 | 54.4 | 42.1 | 12.3 | +30% |
| 2020 | 41.7 | 33.4 | 8.3 | n/a |
Cross-border volume includes all currency conversions processed through the Wise platform. The FY2025 total and personal figures are as reported, with business derived as the residual. The series stops at FY2025 because of the change of reporting currency and basis. Source: Wise annual reports and trading updates.
Key observations on Wise’s transfer volume growth:
- Volume grew 3.5 times in five years: from £41.7 billion in FY2020 to £145.2 billion in FY2025, then $243.5 billion in FY2026 on the new reporting basis;
- Business is outpacing personal: summing Wise’s quarterly disclosures for FY2026 gives roughly $70.5 billion of business volume against $173.0 billion personal, with business growing faster in every recent quarter;
- Average volume per customer: total volume per active customer was about $12,900 in FY2026, from $243.5 billion across 18.9 million customers;
- The market is enormous by comparison: Wise sizes global cross-border payments at £32 trillion, roughly $42 trillion at recent exchange rates, so at $243.5 billion it handles under 1% of the flows it addresses.
Bottom line
Wise is a global financial technology company specialising in international money transfers, multi-currency accounts and cross-border payments infrastructure. Founded in 2011 by the Estonian entrepreneurs Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, originally as TransferWise, it has built its position on transparent pricing and direct integration with local payment systems, letting customers send and hold money internationally well below bank rates. Käärmann was still chief executive in September 2026. Hinrikus left the business in December 2021 and retains a shareholding through an investment vehicle.
FY2026 was the year the company changed shape. It moved its primary listing to NASDAQ in May 2026 under a new Jersey parent company, began reporting in dollars under US GAAP, and posted net revenue of $2,502.8 million and income before tax of $660.4 million on $243.5 billion of cross-border volume across 18.9 million active customers. Customer holdings reached $39.0 billion.
Not everything went its way. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency denied Wise’s application for a US national trust bank charter on 21 July 2026, and the Federal Reserve master account that the plan relied on did not materialise. Wise says the decision does not affect its normal operations, which run on money transmitter licences in 48 states and four territories, and that it intends to apply again under a different framework.
The figures in this article come from Wise’s FY2026 results of 25 June 2026 and its first quarter FY2027 trading update of July 2026.
FAQ
How many customers does Wise have?
Wise reported 18.9 million active customers for FY2026, the year ended 31 March 2026, up 21% on the year. That is the annual count, meaning anyone who made at least one cross-currency transaction during the year. Wise also publishes a quarterly count, which was 11.29 million in the fourth quarter of FY2026 and 11.9 million in the first quarter of FY2027.
How much money does Wise move?
Wise moved $243.5 billion in cross-border transfers in FY2026, up 31% from a restated $185.2 billion, and a further $69.3 billion in the first quarter of FY2027. That works out at roughly $12,900 per active customer over the year. Wise sizes the global cross-border payments market at £32 trillion, so it handles under 1% of the flows it addresses.
Is Wise profitable?
Yes, and consistently. Wise reported income before tax of $660.4 million in FY2026, a margin of 26%, and net income of $498.7 million. Under the previous sterling reporting, profit before tax grew from £20 million in FY2020 to £564.8 million in FY2025. For FY2027 Wise has guided to an income before tax margin around the top of a 20% to 25% range.
How much is Wise worth?
Wise Group plc had a market capitalisation of about $11.83 billion at the close on 25 September 2026. That puts it on a trailing price to earnings ratio of about 24 and a price to sales ratio of about 4.7 against FY2026 results. It listed in London in July 2021 at around £8.75 billion and moved its primary listing to NASDAQ in May 2026.
How much does Wise charge?
Wise does not publish a single rate, because the fee depends on the currency pair, the amount and how you pay. The useful aggregate is the cross-border take rate, which is total cross-border revenue divided by total volume: it was 0.52% in FY2026, down from 0.58% in FY2025, and 0.50% in the first quarter of FY2027. Wise has been cutting it deliberately to win volume.
Is Wise available in my country?
Probably, yes. Wise publishes a list of the places it cannot serve: Afghanistan, Belarus, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, the Republic of South Sudan, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Venezuela, plus the Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Everywhere else it describes itself as available in most countries.
Is Wise regulated?
Yes, through a different entity and regulator in each region. The main ones are Wise Payments Limited, authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an electronic money institution under firm reference 900507. Wise Europe SA is authorised as a payment institution by the National Bank of Belgium and passported across the European Economic Area (EEA). Wise US Inc. is registered with the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and licensed as a money transmitter in 48 states and four territories. Others include ASIC in Australia, the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority for Wise Assets Europe, the Kanto Local Financial Bureau in Japan, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Customs and Excise Department in Hong Kong. The full list is on the Wise regulatory page.
Is Wise safe and insured?
Wise is not a bank, and the protection depends on where you are and which product you use.
In the United Kingdom, Wise safeguards customer money rather than holding it as a deposit: it keeps funds separate from its own, in cash at regulated banks and in short-term government bonds, and does not lend it out. Ordinary balances are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Money invested through Wise Interest and Stocks is a separate matter: those are investment products provided by Wise Assets Limited and are FSCS eligible up to £85,000 if the firm fails, which is protection against the firm, not against the investment falling in value.
In the European Economic Area, funds are held by Wise Europe SA under the same safeguarding approach, with no deposit guarantee scheme, because it is not a bank.
In the United States, the position is conditional. Customers who opt into interest on their US dollar balance have that money swept to a partner bank, JPMorgan Chase as at September 2026, where insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) passes through to the customer, up to $250,000. Money in the transfer service, and US dollar balances where the customer has not opted in, is not FDIC insured and is protected by segregation instead.
Wise applied for a US national trust bank charter, which would have changed this, but the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency denied the application on 21 July 2026. Wise says it intends to apply again.





