WISE revenue reaches $767 million, enters 2023 with Asia-relevant products

• A 33% increase in revenues in FY2022 from FY2021
• Ends 2022 with 15 new partners and four new markets
• Well-positioned to become a leading global payments service provider

Wise Payments continues to adapt to changing consumer demand and market trends, transforming from a money-transfer service into a platform business. Today, it includes financial services for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), wealth management and investment, while fine-tuning its international currency account service.

Its investments in technology run deep into e-wallets, unified payments interface (UPIs), digital verification systems, and the synchronisation process system through Network Time Protocol.

The company has been profitable since 2017, generating revenues of $767 million in the financial year (FY) 2022, a 33% increase from $551.5 million in FY2021. To date, it has over 16 million users worldwide and processes over $6 billion in transfers every month.

Customers worldwide, including those with Wise Account and Wise Business accounts, held a total of $12.6 billion in funds, up by 87% year-on-year as of the first half of FY2023.

Wise Platform also strengthened partnerships with international financial institutions to integrate services, starting with Europe in 2015, the United States (US) in 2019 and Asia Pacific in 2020.

Wise Platform is live with more than 60 bank and non-bank partners across the world, including Monzo in the United Kingdom (UK), N26 in Germany, Shinhan Bank in South Korea, Mandiri in Indonesia, ZA Bank in Hong Kong and Aspire in Singapore.

In 2021, Shinhan Bank became the first South Korean bank to integrate Wise services. This enabled the bank to remove processing inefficiencies and capture end-to-end visibility on funds, resulting in reduced overall costs of processing international transfers.

Integrations and partnerships with business services, such as Xero for auto reconciliation or mass payouts for invoicing or payroll in multiple currencies, promotes customer stickiness and gives Wise access to a larger customer base.

As part of its growth and expansion strategy, Wise established straightforward pricing with a wider product offering and improved seamless customer experience. Around 52% of transfers made through Wise globally are instant—completed in less than 20 seconds—bringing greater speed and convenience. The company achieved an average Net Promoter Score of 71 for its services in 2022.

Wise customers in Singapore have been able to sign up for their accounts online since 2016. Users are authenticated instantly today by using the identity verification platform of the Singapore government, MyInfo Singpass. Instant verification is only done for individuals for now, but Wise is looking for better ways to onboard businesses through Singpass. Business accounts are currently available in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

As of the second quarter of FY2023, the company had 300,000 active business customers, an increase of 31% from the same period last year with 230,000. In India, it incorporated UPI in their system, allowing for real-time transfers from international senders.

Wise also plugged into the rise of e-wallet adoption in Asia, enabling customers to send funds to 11 mobile wallet platforms here including Touch ‘n Go in Malaysia, GrabPay in the Philippines and ShopeePay in Indonesia. Integration with e-wallets is critical as more young customers and those who remain unbanked prefer to conduct their daily transactions using digital wallets instead of bank accounts. 

Wise ended 2022 with 15 new partners and four new markets: Israel through credit card company Max, Turkey through partnership with Birlesik Odeme and Fibabanka, the United Arab Emirates with neobank Wio and Hong Kong with ZA Bank.

In Singapore, Tiger Brokers and GoTrade were added for wealth management and investment features. Tiger Brokers rolled out a new service with Wise Platform that enables investors to transfer funds from a trading account to an overseas bank account in both Singapore and US Dollars.

Surendra Chaplot, global head of product at WISE said: “Moving money in and out of investment portfolios can be slow and expensive for customers, especially when transacting in a foreign currency. With this integration, Tiger Brokers users will have a faster and cost-effective way to move funds between their bank accounts and trading accounts with no exchange rate markups.”

Wise is also working with wealth management partners in the US such as AvidXchange, Ramp, Brex, and Firstbase. In the UK, Wise has partnered with Wagestream and Onfolk.

Wise ended 2022 with the launch of International Received, that allows international bank transfers without going through the Swift infrastructure, making transfers to customers’ accounts faster and more convenient.

Sixty partnerships forged by Wise are now spread across six continents, covering banks, business services, and investment platforms.

The company entered 2023 with the launch of Assets in Singapore. Assets premiered in the United Kingdom in September 2021 as an investment product with 3.22% projected annual yield as of February 2023. The fund allows customers to invest at least SGD 1 directly from their account without withdrawal fees, hidden charges and lock-up periods, giving them greater control and transparency over their money.

Along with Assets, Wise is also rolling out QR code for payments in Singapore on the Android operating system and will be on iOS soon.

The company established its first partnership in Indonesia with Bank Mandiri. Wise Platform’s Payouts application processing interface allows Bank Mandiri’s 16 million customers to make fund transfers in five currencies.

As the world continues to digitalise, Wise is well-positioned to become a leader in changing the way payments are made by building a loyal customer base to establish itself in the payment industry.