Wise is different from other institutions in the UK, like building societies, credit unions and UK-authorised banks that are required to participate in a financial protection scheme like the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
The FSCS is legally obliged to pay back customer funds to eligible customers up to the maximum compensation to the value of up to 85,000 GBP, or 170,000 GBP for joint accounts in case these institutions are not able to pay back the money they lend from their customers.
Regulation requires that we safeguard your money instead. We keep your money separate from the money we use to run our business.
Learn more about protection schemes and safeguarding money.
Where is my money held?
Keeping in line with FCA regulations, Wise uses two approaches to safeguard your funds. We deposit your funds at banking institutions and invest them in government backed liquid assets, primarily government bonds.
At Wise, we believe in transparency. That’s why it’s important for you to know where customer funds are held.
Here’s how Wise safeguarded UK customer funds, as of the end of January 2023:
| Type | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Cash Deposit | ADYEN N.V. | Netherlands |
| Cash Deposit | AS LHV Pank | Estonia |
| Cash Deposit | BARCLAYS BANK PLC | United Kingdom |
| Cash Deposit | CITIBANK N.A. | United Kingdom |
| Cash Deposit | JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A | United Kingdom |
| Cash Deposit | Silicon Valley Bank UK Ltd | United Kingdom |
| Government Bond | EU, US and UK Governments | United Kingdom |
The information outlined in this table is accurate as of 31 January 2023.
Keep in mind: The financial institutions listed above aren’t responsible for managing the funds within Wise’s safeguarding accounts, or for ensuring that the correct amount of money is being safeguarded. That responsibility belongs to Wise, as an authorised Electronic Money Institution.
Why do you invest safeguarded funds?
The amount we decide to invest is driven by cost and risk, and can go up or down over time. Regardless of the method used to safeguard your money, Wise will always be able to return all your funds upon request — unless we were to become insolvent. Although this event is unlikely, if this were to occur, the process of returning your funds would not be instant and some may go towards an administrator’s fees.
Cost: For currencies where there are negative interest rates, there is a cost associated with holding your money in a bank account. At Wise, we aim to keep our costs low, so we can pass on any savings to you.
Risk: Holding money with banks carries risk. In order to mitigate our risks, we invest your money in safe and low-risk assets like bonds.
We only invest in high-quality liquid assets. These are investments that are classified by the FCA as low risk and highly liquid. This means that we invest your money primarily in obligations of developed governments such as Germany, UK, US, etc.