Wise Group plc (Nasdaq: WSE · LSE: WISE) — research brief (BMC #056)

Prepared 2026-10-09 (America/Chicago). Labels: FACT = stated by Wise (pricing/about pages, results press, Form 20-F, Q1 FY27 results); SECONDARY = third-party press/transcripts; INFERENCE = arithmetic or reasoning by this project from company-stated numbers. Do not invent ARR, valuation, headcount, volume or take-rate figures. All $ figures are as reported in US dollars (Wise reports in USD under U.S. GAAP since its US listing; the 20-F converts at £1 = $1.32 as of 31 Mar 2026). Fiscal year ends 31 March: FY26 = year ended 31 Mar 2026; Q1 FY27 = quarter ended 30 Jun 2026.

Sources (accessed 2026-10-09)

FY2026 results press release, 25 Jun 2026 (SEC 6-K Ex. 99.1): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2099039/000119312526282767/d117224dex991.htm (also owners.wise.com news release)
Annual Report on Form 20-F for FY ended 31 Mar 2026 (filed 25 Jun 2026): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2099039/000119312526282911/d17323d20f.htm
Q1 FY27 results press release, 16 Jul 2026 (SEC 6-K Ex. 99.1): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2099039/000119312526306087/d40450dex991.htm
Wise Owners (investor relations): https://owners.wise.com/
Pricing — send money (UK): https://wise.com/gb/pricing/send-money ; (US): https://wise.com/us/pricing/send-money
Pricing — Wise Business (UK): https://wise.com/gb/pricing/business
About / story: https://wise.com/gb/about
Logo: Simple Icons "wise" glyph (CC0), https://simpleicons.org/?q=wise — brand green #9FE870 used for the tile

Teaching arc

Charge a small, upfront fee on the real mid-market rate (no FX markup) and keep passing cost savings from direct payment-system connections back to customers as lower prices (cross-border take rate 0.64% → 0.52% in FY26 → 0.50% in Q1 FY27) → volume compounds: 18.9M active customers moved $243.5B in FY26 (+31%) with ~70% of new customers arriving by word of mouth → the Wise account (40 currencies, card, balances, Assets) turns a send-money app into daily-money infrastructure: customer holdings $39.0B (+40%), card revenue $391.6M (+40%), net interest income ~$609M (INFERENCE: $806.1M interest income − $196.9M interest expense) so almost half of net revenue is not cross-border → $2.50B net revenue (+19%), 26% income-before-tax margin, and a Nasdaq-primary listing (May 2026); Q1 FY27 net revenue $714.0M (+25%).

Pricing and fee structure (FACT)

Personal send money (UK/US pricing pages): "We only use the live mid-market rate, and a small, upfront fee to cover our costs." Large-amount discount automatically applied once monthly volume exceeds 20,000 GBP (UK) / 25,000 USD (US) or equivalent; resets monthly. Pages promise "Low fees, getting lower — dropping prices until sending money is free." (Per-currency fee tables are rendered dynamically and were not scraped; no per-currency % is claimed for personal transfers other than company-reported averages below.)
20-F: Wise Account features "full transparency on fees, with no hidden fees or exchange rate mark ups. Instead, we offer the mid-market exchange rate and charge a transparent, upfront fee."
Company-reported average cross-border take rate (cross-border revenue ÷ cross-border volume): FY25 0.58% → FY26 0.52% (−6 bps); quarterly 0.64% (Q1 FY25) → 0.51% (Q4 FY26) → 0.50% (Q1 FY27). Segment take rates, Q1 FY27: personal 0.56%, business 0.39%.
Wise Business (UK pricing page): registering free; all-in 50 GBP one-time set-up for every Business feature; sending and converting money "from 0.24%" (fee varies by currency); volume discount above 20,000 GBP; spend with card in same currency free; holding money free; ATM withdrawals free up to 250 GBP/month per account then 2.69% of the excess; receiving domestic payments free in AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, HUF, NZD, PHP, SGD, USD; USD wire/Swift receive 6.11 USD, GBP Swift 2.16 GBP, EUR Swift 2.39 EUR; Wise Interest from 0.26% annual fee; Stocks from 0.59% annual fee (capital at risk).
20-F: "We offer low fees by passing on the benefits of our scale and cost optimization to our customers" and "we continue to pass on efficiency gains and sustainable reductions in our costs to our customers as price reductions, driving our long-term growth and reducing our take rate."
Wise Platform (banks/financial institutions/enterprises): infrastructure sold through API; the 20-F says it "currently generates less than 10%" of Group transaction revenue; long-term aim ">50% of Wise's cross-border volume".

Scale and financials (FACT)

FY26 (year ended 31 Mar 2026; results 25 Jun 2026; 20-F)

Active customers 18.9M (+21%; FY25 15.6M): personal 18.0M, business 0.9M (20-F; Wise Business ~850,000 active customers).
Cross-border volume $243.5B (+31%; FY25 $185.2B): personal $173.0B, business $70.5B. Card spend $43.6B (+37%). Customer holdings $39.0B (+40%; incl. $9.0B Assets under custody). Customer balances $30.0B at year-end.
Net revenue $2,502.8M (+19%; FY25 $2,098.9M): transaction revenue $1,893.6M (cross-border $1,257.0M +17%; card $391.6M +40%; other $245.0M +26%, mostly same-currency transfers), interest income on customer balances $806.1M (+6%; yield fell from 3.9% to 3.0%), interest expense on customer liabilities $(196.9)M. "Almost 50% of net revenue from non-cross border revenue."
Operating expenses $1,912.1M (+39%): transaction expense $513.6M; technology & development $434.3M; servicing $396.6M; marketing & sales $171.8M (+62%); general & administrative $381.9M (+40%); transaction & credit losses $13.9M.
Operating income $590.7M; income before tax $660.4M = 26% margin (company: slightly above 20–25% guided range; margin = income before tax ÷ net revenue); net income $498.7M (−9%). Other income $69.7M includes $63.0M interest on corporate investments.
Medium-term targets (reiterated 25 Jun 2026): net revenue CAGR 15–20% (FY24 base); income before tax margin 15–20% including 20% of interest income above the first 1% yield retained; until additional interest can be paid out to customers, reported margin expected 20–25%. FY27 guidance: net revenue growth around the middle of 15–20% (constant currency), income before tax margin around the top of 20–25%.
Note vs earlier framework: Wise previously guided "underlying income" and "underlying PBT margin" (13–16% for FY26 at Q4 trading update, 13 Apr 2026, in GBP). After the US listing it reports net revenue and income before tax in USD under U.S. GAAP; this canvas uses the new measures.
Capital: $470M bought into Employee Share Trust in FY26; new share purchase programme "expected to be over $500M" announced 25 Jun 2026.

Q1 FY27 (quarter ended 30 Jun 2026; results 16 Jul 2026)

Active customers 11.9M (+21%; business 608k, +28%). Cross-border volume $69.3B (+26%; +24% constant currency; business $21.3B +39%). Customer holdings $41.2B (+31%). Net revenue $714.0M (+25%); transaction revenue $540.9M (+27%); cross-border revenue $349.8M (+22%); card & other revenue $191.1M (+38%); interest income $225.4M; interest expense $(52.3)M. Take rate 0.50%. Instant transfers 77% (70% a year earlier). FY27 guidance re-iterated.
INFERENCE: non-cross-border share of Q1 FY27 net revenue = (714.0 − 349.8) ÷ 714.0 ≈ 51% (SECONDARY: CFO remarks on the earnings call cite 51%).

Infrastructure, licences, cost drivers (FACT, 20-F)

Four elements: (1) global licences, (2) direct connections to domestic payment networks plus local bank/payment partners, (3) in-house technology on a single global stack, (4) global operations/support.
Over 80 regulatory licences (31 Mar 2026); hold money in 40 currencies; card works in 160 countries/territories; three million ATMs. FY26 added direct connections in Brazil and Japan and licence approvals in South Africa, UAE and Thailand.
"Over half of all transactions" in FY26 went through direct connections to domestic payment systems and did not rely on third-party providers; where no direct connection exists Wise uses licensed payment-processing and banking partners.
Over 1,000 engineers; over 4.7M transactions per day; over 8,000 employees from 130 nationalities; 75% of Q4 payments completed under 20 seconds (CEO quote); NPS 69.
Safeguarding: Wise must hold and segregate at least 100% of customer funds in licensed entities (risk factor).
US: conditional OCC application for a national trust bank (WNT) pending; would seek a Federal Reserve master account for direct access incl. FedNow (20-F) — approval not assured.
Cost drivers: payment-network and bank fees plus FX movements in transaction expense; headcount in tech/servicing/G&A; paid + awareness marketing; US-listing preparation (outsourced services +$62.4M in G&A); regulatory costs (20-F).

Customers, channels, partners (FACT)

Three offerings: Wise Account (personal), Wise Business (SMB, 79 countries), Wise Platform (banks/enterprises). Platform partners named: Itaú, Mandiri, Nubank, Monzo (20-F), UniCredit, Raiffeisen Bank, MBSB Bank and Capitec (FY26 results). About page also names Bolt and GoCardless (older page copy).
Marketing: ~70% of new customers in FY26 came from word of mouth (20-F; elsewhere in same filing "around two-thirds"); incremental paid and brand-awareness marketing; marketing & sales expense $171.8M (+62%).
Business integrations: over 15 accounting platforms (Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent); used by 12% of Wise Business customers who hold a balance.

Listing / corporate (FACT)

Founded 2011 (as TransferWise); rebranded Wise in 2021; LSE listing July 2021. Scheme of Arrangement completed 8 May 2026 making Jersey-incorporated Wise Group plc (UK tax resident) the parent; shares admitted to Nasdaq 11 May 2026 (ticker WSE) with the primary listing moved from LSE to Nasdaq; secondary listing retained on LSE (WISE). Files as a foreign private issuer (Form 20-F).
Risk factor (20-F): management identified material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (transaction-level processes, manual journal entries, IT general controls, and U.S. GAAP expertise) and has a remediation plan in progress — context for the cost of becoming a US-listed company; not used as a canvas metric.

What we did NOT use

Per-currency personal fee percentages (dynamic page; not stated statically) and third-party comparison-site fee ranges.
Valuation / market cap, and customer savings claims beyond the company's "saved customers over $3 billion" line.
Pre-US-listing "underlying income" figures except as a historical note.

# Wise Group plc (Nasdaq: WSE · LSE: WISE) — research brief (BMC #056) Prepared 2026-10-09 (America/Chicago). Labels: **FACT** = stated by Wise (pricing/about pages, results press, Form 20-F, Q1 FY27 results); **SECONDARY** = third-party press/transcripts; **INFERENCE** = arithmetic or reasoning by this project from company-stated numbers. Do not invent ARR, valuation, headcount, volume or take-rate figures. All $ figures are as reported in US dollars (Wise reports in USD under U.S. GAAP since its US listing; the 20-F converts at £1 = $1.32 as of 31 Mar 2026). Fiscal year ends 31 March: FY26 = year ended 31 Mar 2026; Q1 FY27 = quarter ended 30 Jun 2026. ## Sources (accessed 2026-10-09) - FY2026 results press release, 25 Jun 2026 (SEC 6-K Ex. 99.1): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2099039/000119312526282767/d117224dex991.htm (also owners.wise.com news release) - Annual Report on Form 20-F for FY ended 31 Mar 2026 (filed 25 Jun 2026): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2099039/000119312526282911/d17323d20f.htm - Q1 FY27 results press release, 16 Jul 2026 (SEC 6-K Ex. 99.1): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2099039/000119312526306087/d40450dex991.htm - Wise Owners (investor relations): https://owners.wise.com/ - Pricing — send money (UK): https://wise.com/gb/pricing/send-money ; (US): https://wise.com/us/pricing/send-money - Pricing — Wise Business (UK): https://wise.com/gb/pricing/business - About / story: https://wise.com/gb/about - Logo: Simple Icons "wise" glyph (CC0), https://simpleicons.org/?q=wise — brand green #9FE870 used for the tile ## Teaching arc Charge a small, upfront fee on the **real mid-market rate** (no FX markup) and keep passing cost savings from direct payment-system connections back to customers as lower prices (cross-border take rate 0.64% → 0.52% in FY26 → 0.50% in Q1 FY27) → volume compounds: 18.9M active customers moved $243.5B in FY26 (+31%) with ~70% of new customers arriving by word of mouth → the Wise account (40 currencies, card, balances, Assets) turns a send-money app into daily-money infrastructure: customer holdings $39.0B (+40%), card revenue $391.6M (+40%), net interest income ~$609M (INFERENCE: $806.1M interest income − $196.9M interest expense) so almost half of net revenue is not cross-border → $2.50B net revenue (+19%), 26% income-before-tax margin, and a Nasdaq-primary listing (May 2026); Q1 FY27 net revenue $714.0M (+25%). ## Pricing and fee structure (FACT) - Personal send money (UK/US pricing pages): "We only use the live mid-market rate, and a small, upfront fee to cover our costs." Large-amount discount automatically applied once monthly volume exceeds 20,000 GBP (UK) / 25,000 USD (US) or equivalent; resets monthly. Pages promise "Low fees, getting lower — dropping prices until sending money is free." (Per-currency fee tables are rendered dynamically and were not scraped; no per-currency % is claimed for personal transfers other than company-reported averages below.) - 20-F: Wise Account features "full transparency on fees, with no hidden fees or exchange rate mark ups. Instead, we offer the mid-market exchange rate and charge a transparent, upfront fee." - Company-reported average cross-border take rate (cross-border revenue ÷ cross-border volume): FY25 0.58% → FY26 0.52% (−6 bps); quarterly 0.64% (Q1 FY25) → 0.51% (Q4 FY26) → 0.50% (Q1 FY27). Segment take rates, Q1 FY27: personal 0.56%, business 0.39%. - Wise Business (UK pricing page): registering free; **all-in 50 GBP one-time set-up** for every Business feature; sending and converting money "from 0.24%" (fee varies by currency); volume discount above 20,000 GBP; spend with card in same currency free; holding money free; ATM withdrawals free up to 250 GBP/month per account then 2.69% of the excess; receiving domestic payments free in AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, HUF, NZD, PHP, SGD, USD; USD wire/Swift receive 6.11 USD, GBP Swift 2.16 GBP, EUR Swift 2.39 EUR; Wise Interest from 0.26% annual fee; Stocks from 0.59% annual fee (capital at risk). - 20-F: "We offer low fees by passing on the benefits of our scale and cost optimization to our customers" and "we continue to pass on efficiency gains and sustainable reductions in our costs to our customers as price reductions, driving our long-term growth and reducing our take rate." - Wise Platform (banks/financial institutions/enterprises): infrastructure sold through API; the 20-F says it "currently generates less than 10%" of Group transaction revenue; long-term aim ">50% of Wise's cross-border volume". ## Scale and financials (FACT) ### FY26 (year ended 31 Mar 2026; results 25 Jun 2026; 20-F) - Active customers 18.9M (+21%; FY25 15.6M): personal 18.0M, business 0.9M (20-F; Wise Business ~850,000 active customers). - Cross-border volume $243.5B (+31%; FY25 $185.2B): personal $173.0B, business $70.5B. Card spend $43.6B (+37%). Customer holdings $39.0B (+40%; incl. $9.0B Assets under custody). Customer balances $30.0B at year-end. - Net revenue $2,502.8M (+19%; FY25 $2,098.9M): transaction revenue $1,893.6M (cross-border $1,257.0M +17%; card $391.6M +40%; other $245.0M +26%, mostly same-currency transfers), interest income on customer balances $806.1M (+6%; yield fell from 3.9% to 3.0%), interest expense on customer liabilities $(196.9)M. "Almost 50% of net revenue from non-cross border revenue." - Operating expenses $1,912.1M (+39%): transaction expense $513.6M; technology & development $434.3M; servicing $396.6M; marketing & sales $171.8M (+62%); general & administrative $381.9M (+40%); transaction & credit losses $13.9M. - Operating income $590.7M; income before tax $660.4M = **26% margin** (company: slightly above 20–25% guided range; margin = income before tax ÷ net revenue); net income $498.7M (−9%). Other income $69.7M includes $63.0M interest on corporate investments. - Medium-term targets (reiterated 25 Jun 2026): net revenue CAGR 15–20% (FY24 base); income before tax margin 15–20% including 20% of interest income above the first 1% yield retained; until additional interest can be paid out to customers, reported margin expected 20–25%. FY27 guidance: net revenue growth around the middle of 15–20% (constant currency), income before tax margin around the top of 20–25%. - Note vs earlier framework: Wise previously guided "underlying income" and "underlying PBT margin" (13–16% for FY26 at Q4 trading update, 13 Apr 2026, in GBP). After the US listing it reports net revenue and income before tax in USD under U.S. GAAP; this canvas uses the new measures. - Capital: $470M bought into Employee Share Trust in FY26; new share purchase programme "expected to be over $500M" announced 25 Jun 2026. ### Q1 FY27 (quarter ended 30 Jun 2026; results 16 Jul 2026) - Active customers 11.9M (+21%; business 608k, +28%). Cross-border volume $69.3B (+26%; +24% constant currency; business $21.3B +39%). Customer holdings $41.2B (+31%). Net revenue $714.0M (+25%); transaction revenue $540.9M (+27%); cross-border revenue $349.8M (+22%); card & other revenue $191.1M (+38%); interest income $225.4M; interest expense $(52.3)M. Take rate 0.50%. Instant transfers 77% (70% a year earlier). FY27 guidance re-iterated. - INFERENCE: non-cross-border share of Q1 FY27 net revenue = (714.0 − 349.8) ÷ 714.0 ≈ 51% (SECONDARY: CFO remarks on the earnings call cite 51%). ## Infrastructure, licences, cost drivers (FACT, 20-F) - Four elements: (1) global licences, (2) direct connections to domestic payment networks plus local bank/payment partners, (3) in-house technology on a single global stack, (4) global operations/support. - Over 80 regulatory licences (31 Mar 2026); hold money in 40 currencies; card works in 160 countries/territories; three million ATMs. FY26 added direct connections in Brazil and Japan and licence approvals in South Africa, UAE and Thailand. - "Over half of all transactions" in FY26 went through direct connections to domestic payment systems and did not rely on third-party providers; where no direct connection exists Wise uses licensed payment-processing and banking partners. - Over 1,000 engineers; over 4.7M transactions per day; over 8,000 employees from 130 nationalities; 75% of Q4 payments completed under 20 seconds (CEO quote); NPS 69. - Safeguarding: Wise must hold and segregate at least 100% of customer funds in licensed entities (risk factor). - US: conditional OCC application for a national trust bank (WNT) pending; would seek a Federal Reserve master account for direct access incl. FedNow (20-F) — approval not assured. - Cost drivers: payment-network and bank fees plus FX movements in transaction expense; headcount in tech/servicing/G&A; paid + awareness marketing; US-listing preparation (outsourced services +$62.4M in G&A); regulatory costs (20-F). ## Customers, channels, partners (FACT) - Three offerings: Wise Account (personal), Wise Business (SMB, 79 countries), Wise Platform (banks/enterprises). Platform partners named: Itaú, Mandiri, Nubank, Monzo (20-F), UniCredit, Raiffeisen Bank, MBSB Bank and Capitec (FY26 results). About page also names Bolt and GoCardless (older page copy). - Marketing: ~70% of new customers in FY26 came from word of mouth (20-F; elsewhere in same filing "around two-thirds"); incremental paid and brand-awareness marketing; marketing & sales expense $171.8M (+62%). - Business integrations: over 15 accounting platforms (Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent); used by 12% of Wise Business customers who hold a balance. ## Listing / corporate (FACT) - Founded 2011 (as TransferWise); rebranded Wise in 2021; LSE listing July 2021. Scheme of Arrangement completed 8 May 2026 making Jersey-incorporated Wise Group plc (UK tax resident) the parent; shares admitted to Nasdaq 11 May 2026 (ticker WSE) with the **primary listing moved from LSE to Nasdaq**; secondary listing retained on LSE (WISE). Files as a foreign private issuer (Form 20-F). - Risk factor (20-F): management identified material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (transaction-level processes, manual journal entries, IT general controls, and U.S. GAAP expertise) and has a remediation plan in progress — context for the cost of becoming a US-listed company; not used as a canvas metric. ## What we did NOT use - Per-currency personal fee percentages (dynamic page; not stated statically) and third-party comparison-site fee ranges. - Valuation / market cap, and customer savings claims beyond the company's "saved customers over $3 billion" line. - Pre-US-listing "underlying income" figures except as a historical note.