Deep Dive: Wise – Building a World of Money Without Borders: By Sam Boboev

Finextra

5 hours ago

Wise (formerly TransferWise) has quietly become one of fintech's biggest success stories, transforming how people and businesses send money across borders. From humble startup origins in 2011, Wise now moves over £145 billion internationally each year for 15+ million customers – at a fraction of the cost charged by banks. In doing so, Wise saved its users an estimated £2 billion in fees in FY2025 alone. It's a rare fintech that's both fast-growing and profitable, pursuing a bold mission encapsulated in its slogan: 'Money without borders – instant, convenient, transparent and eventually free.' This deep dive explores why Wise matters today – covering the massive market it's tackling, its journey and products, the technology and regulatory infrastructure under its hood, its recent financial performance, competitive landscape, and what customers and leadership are saying.
A Massive Market Ripe for Disruption
Moving money internationally has long been notorious for high costs and hassle. Over £22 trillion crosses borders each year, projected to reach £28 trillion by 2027 as globalization drives more migration, remote work, and global commerce. By Wise's own 2025 estimate, the number may be as high as £32 trillion annually. Historically, this market was dominated by big banks and legacy remittance providers relying on an antiquated correspondent banking network. International transfers often meant 'expensive, slow and inefficient service, reliant on outdated infrastructure,' as Wise's 2023 report bluntly puts it. Banks and incumbents like Western Union layered on fees and hidden exchange rate markups – profiting from customers' lack of transparency. The result: sending money abroad could cost 5-8% in fees (often not obvious upfront) and take days to arrive.
Wise was founded to change this status quo. Its vision of 'Money Without Borders' is about making moving money 'as cheap, fast, and convenient as sending an email,' in the words of its co-founder. Wise's core innovation was using technology and clever account structures to eliminate intermediaries and hidden fees, giving users the real mid-market exchange rate and charging only a low upfront fee. As we'll see, this strategy is forcing the industry to evolve. Today, many fintechs and even banks are racing to offer cheaper, easier cross-border payments – yet traditional banks remain Wise's primary competitors, still handling the majority of cross-currency transactions. A growing field of digital challengers (from neobanks like Revolut to PayPal's Xoom and others) are also carving out niches. But Wise has a head start in scale, efficiency, and trust – built over a decade of singular focus on solving this problem.
From Startup to Public Company
Wise's origin story is a personal one. In 2011, two Estonian friends living in London – Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus – grew frustrated with the 'massive problem' of bank fees on international transfers. They started TransferWise that year to help people send money abroad at the true exchange rate. The concept resonated: by 2014, having raised a $58 million Series C to expand globally, TransferWise launched in the US and Australia. The company hit major milestones quickly. It reached its first £1 billion transferred (cumulative) in 2014, and by 2017 was profitable with over £1 billion being moved every month through its platform – a rarity in fintech. Importantly, Wise also became an innovator in financial infrastructure early on. In 2016 it gained direct access to the UK's Faster Payments network (the first tech company to do so), showing a knack for working with regulators to improve speed and cost.
Over time, TransferWise broadened its offerings beyond person-to-person remittances. In 2016 it launched its first business accounts for SMEs to send money internationally on better terms. By 2018 it rolled out a borderless multi-currency account and debit Mastercard, enabling customers to hold money in multiple currencies and spend it via card in different countries with low fees. The company's global footprint also expanded: it opened offices around the world (10 offices by 2019, including a European hub in Belgium to navigate Brexit) and set up an Asia-Pacific hub in Singapore in 2017. In 2021, reflecting its broadened mission, TransferWise rebranded to 'Wise.' That same year, Wise went public via a direct listing on the London Stock Exchange – notably, London's largest tech listing ever at the time. The listing valued Wise at ~$11 billion, signaling its arrival as a major fintech player.
Today, Wise is truly international: over 6,500 employees ('Wisers') across 20+ offices serve customers in 170+ countries. Yet the company insists it's 'still solving only a fraction of the problem'. As CEO Kristo Käärmann wrote, 'Twelve years ago we set out to solve the massive problem people and businesses face in sending money around the world… While we're nowhere near mission complete, 16 million people and businesses are now helping us get closer every day.' In the next sections, we'll examine how Wise is attempting to fulfill that mission through its products and underlying infrastructure.
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Source: Wise Annual Reports FY2023–FY2025; Wise.com product pages and blog; CEO and executive statements from Wise reports; and Wise investor reports highlighting key metrics. All data and quotes are from official Wise materials.
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