How to get down to business with Wise

In a recent report we ran, we found that 56% of small to medium sized businesses are put off the idea of going international. The main reason for half of them? Big banking and all the hurdles they’d have to jump. Well, lucky for you, we don’t think you should need to be an Olympic hurdler just to put your business on the map. That’s why we introduced the Wise Business account.

But let’s rewind for a second, before we get into this article, here’s a quick sneak peak into what it can do:

• No high rates, no hidden charges, no monthly fees
• Pay employees, invoices and vendors across the globe
• Get paid with local bank details in 10 currencies at a faster rate
• Step up your invoice game with easy-to-use templates
• Manage expenses, bills and cash flow from one place with your team
• Move your money between currencies at the real-time exchange rate without tear inducing conversion fees
• Pay for things both online and in-store across the globe

Have we caught your attention? Are you enticed? Are you rolling your eyes at these questions? Either way, here’s a few things you may want to know about our account before you hop on the Wise bandwagon.

To the business page!

Getting paid

Let’s talk about pricing. That’s right, we’re diving straight in. Running a business can be expensive enough without you having to worry about hidden fees and lack of transparency.

If business is going well, you shouldn’t be held back as a result. That’s why the more you send with us, the more you’ll save. What is this sorcery? It’s pretty simple. The higher the amount you send above 100,000 GBP or your currency equivalent, the cheaper your transfer will be. To calculate what you’d save, use our trustycalculator.

Now here comes the Wise card. With our account you're eligible for a debit card that can help you pay and get paid like a local across the world. Handle business expenses, spend online and in-store and sit back while we handle the currency conversion for you.

If you’re a Richard Branson 2.0 you can also set up multiple business accounts for all your businesses and keep everything under the same login with the ability to send money between accounts both business and personal.

Adding employees to your account

You can add multiple employees to the business account and manage all of their access rights. To keep things easy, we’ve created 5 different roles for you to pick from:

• The Viewer can view the account, connect to accounting software, and download all of the statements.
• The Employee can spend with their own Wise business cards with spending limits that you set and view all of their own activity, nobody else's.
• The Preparer can set up single payments for approval, view the account, and download statements.
• The Payer can make and manage payments, convert between different balances, and download statements.
• The Admin, AKA the big boss, can view and manage everything, add and remove team members, and spend with a business card.

When you add employees to your business account you can also remove them, and don’t worry, if you have a personal account with us, they won’t be able to see anything that goes on there. So there’ll be no company-wide emails announcing your recent Twilight book series purchase.

Making life easier with accounting software

When the word “accounting” comes up in a meeting, it's usually followed by a sigh, a “please don’t ask me about this” face. (That being said, if your accountant responds with either of the above we suggest you have a chat.)

But accounting can be hassle-free...we promise. We’ve integrated our business accounts with Xero and QuickBooks accounting software to turn that “sigh” into a “high five.”

Handle everything from number crunching, to bills, to VAT returns, to invoicing and expenses.

Batch payments

This section will be short but sweet.

If you have to make regular batch payments, we have a tool setup that allows you to make multiple payments in one go by uploading a .CSV file, handling up to 1,000 transfers. So you can get money sent out to freelancers, customers, investors, employees and suppliers with ease.

What on earth is an API and how do I use it?

An API essentially allows you streamline your workflows by connecting your software with ours using tokens. (An API token is a unique identifier that an app or website can use to access the API of other companies.)

So you can automate payments, connect your business tools, and manage your business on your terms.

Connect to the platforms you used, use the platforms we use or build whatever you need to manage your finances. There’s no subscriptions, no extra costs and it only takes a few minutes to get your API tokens.

So there you have it. A little insight into how you can power your business with Wise. For more information, you and your reading specks can take a trip here.