Image credit: TransferWise
London-based fintech company TransferWise is rebranding by removing “transfer” from its name and just be “Wise”.
For customers, they’ll be able to access their exact same account via wise.com, using their current email and password; new account creation won’t be needed, claims the company. In a few weeks, the company will start to redirect transferwise.com to wise.com.
“TransferWise to Wise”
The fintech company was launched in 2011 by Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus. Both co-founders wanted to stop the global practice of banks and brokers charging extortionate hidden fees, resulting in expensive, slow international payments.
Kristo Käärmann, CEO and co-founder of TransferWise, recollects, “We named our idea ‘TransferWise’ – because our early customers were ‘wise’ to know their banks were charging hidden fees in exchange rate markups.”
“Today our name catches up with who we’re already building for – a community of people and businesses with multi-currency lives. Wise is for all of us who live, work, travel, or support family around the world. It’s for those of us who want to cut out the middlemen that hold us back from being truly borderless,” adds Käärmann. “Our logo has changed, and our apps will be renamed. But our icon – the fast flag – remains as a symbol for money without borders. Beyond that, you’ll notice some new colours, words, and designs.”
According to the company, “The new Wise brand is public from 22nd February 2021 and visitors of the website can opt-in to go to wise.com. We’ll be moving customers over to the new Wise domain over the course of the week, with 3rd March the date in which all new visitors to TransferWise will be automatically redirected to Wise.”
Notably, all traffic will be redirected from transferwise.com to wise.com, from 3rd March 2021, claims the company.
The numbers game
Wise provides customers with a lower-cost alternative to traditional means of moving money internationally. In July 2020, when Wise launched its secondary share sale, it reached a $5B (approx €5.47B) valuation.
Since its inception exactly 10 years ago, the company has provided service to 10 million customers, sent monthly cross-border payments of €5B, and claims to have helped customers save about $1.5B (approx €1.23B) every year in reduced fees compared to using legacy banks.
The fintech’s product suite includes the borderless account and debit card, its money transfer service, and its Application Programming Interface (API) for larger enterprises and bank partnerships.
As per the company, its 2020 financial year saw 70% growth in annual revenue to £302.6M (approx €332.5M) and claims it was the fourth year in a row that TransferWise has posted a profit.
In December, last year, the company announced that it is planning to add 750 jobs over the next six months – more than a third of its current workforce.
