Q4 2023 Mission Update: Price

Our average price stayed at 0.67% in Q4 2023.

Overall, this quarter we

• 😞Increased fees on sending USD to countries outside the USA when using the SWIFT messaging network
• 🥳Decreased fees when receiving funds from abroad in India

Why did the average price remain unchanged in Q4?

As part of our mission, we charge as little as possible for sending money. Our average fee is 0.67% – a fraction of what some banks typically charge you.

At Wise, we constantly review our fees because we never forget it’s your money, not ours. The money you send, spend, hold with us - we want to offer you the best deal we can. So, when our costs go down, so do your fees.

Over the last three years, we have reduced our average fee from 0.72% to 0.67%, a 0.05% point decrease. It may not sound like much, but doing this wasn’t easy. We are constantly searching for ways to reduce the cost of trading currencies, work with more efficient partners and make our product easier to use. When we achieve this it means our costs go down which enables us to drop fees for you.

However, there are times where we need to increase our fees. In Q4, fees increased because the cost of sending USD to countries outside the USA when using the SWIFT messaging network went up. We know this is disappointing news and we’re sorry about that.

Throughout 2023, it has been challenging for us to lower our fees. This was due to the rising costs of improving certain aspects of Wise. A big one was our investment in the teams who respond to your queries, and run the necessary compliance checks in order to complete your transfer. We did this to provide a speedier, and more convenient service to you. However, we’re already working on bringing the cost of running Wise down, and are constantly assessing so that even if our average fee isn’t dropping, we’re still as fair and cheap as possible.

But it wasn’t all bad news…

In Q4, we improved how we verified customers. This lowered our cost when receiving funds from abroad in India, and we passed these savings directly to customers.

And throughout 2023, we lowered fees when sending from BRL, JPY and to ILS, BRL, CLP, INR, MYR, TRY.

And remember.. it's your money, not ours

As central bank rates have increased we are working on ways for customers to earn a fair return on the money they hold with Wise.

Meet Wise Interest:

Customers in the UK, 10 countries in Europe and Singapore can turn on Interest to invest in a fund backed by government assets and earn a return that follows the central bank interest rate. Customers can earn a variable return of 4.70% on GBP, 5.10% on USD and 3.65% on EUR while continuing to be able to send and spend as normal.
Capital at risk. Current rates do not guarantee future growth.

Variable rate is based on 7 day performance for UK based customers as of 5th December 2023. Rates are after Wise and fund manager fees. For the full 5 year past performance of funds, please visit our website.

In the USA:

For our customers based in the US, we’ve increased the annual percentage yield (APY) customers can earn on their USD balance, and our interest feature is now available for GBP and EUR balances too. Eligible customers* can now earn 4.85% APY on their USD balance (up from 4.33%), as well as 3.22% on their GBP and 2.29% on the EUR balances. Customers who opt into to our interest feature also benefit from the added security of up to $250,000 in passthrough FDIC insurance on Eligible Balances combined from our Program Bank(s).**

*The interest feature is not currently available to New York and Alaska customers.
**The current Program Bank is JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., see Appendix 1 of the Program Agreement for the most updated list of Program Bank(s). Eligible customers must opt in to the interest feature. Participants will have the balance of their USD funds held in their Wise Account “swept” into a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insured interest-bearing account at one or more participating banks (each, a “Program Bank”) that will hold and pay interest on the deposit funds. For a complete list of Program Banks, please see Appendix 1 of the Program Agreement. For more information on FDIC insurance coverage, please visit www.FDIC.gov. Customers are responsible for monitoring their total assets at each of the Program Banks to determine the extent of available FDIC insurance coverage in accordance with FDIC rules. The Program is not intended to be a long-term investment option, checking or savings account, investment contract or security.

For customers opted in to receive interest on EUR and GBP balances, the FDIC passthrough insurance provided by our program bank is for up to the equivalent of $250,000 in total for your USD, EUR and GBP combined balance amounts (collectively, the “Eligible Balances”).