Wise CEO Kristo Kaarmann
(Picture: Handout)Leading London fintech Wise has come under fire after a rival firm accused it of unfairly touting the affordability of its services by concealing the prices of other providers who were cheaper.
Wise, which offers international money transfers, publishes a daily exchange rate comparison on its website for multiple currencies, which today shows it to be the cheapest provider for a £1,000 sterling-euro transfer. But rival Atlantic Money says it was dropped from Wise’s comparison after its own rates were seen to be lower.
Atlantic Money has written to the UK competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, to express its concerns, in a letter seen by the Standard.
The story was first reported by fintech news site Finextra.
Neeraj Baid, co-founder of fixed-fee money transfer provider Atlantic Money, said: “Wise’s foundation is built on the promise of trust, transparency and doing the best for the people.
“People deserve to have a fixed price on their international transfers instead of paying more the more they send.”
The allegation comes as a blow to Wise, one of London’s biggest fintechs with a £5.4 billion market cap, which has grown to become one of the foremost global transfer businesses, processing transfers worth over £75 billion in the year to March 2022.
In a statement, a spokesperson from Wise told the Standard: “We’re really proud to have the comparison tool as part of our website, and we’re not afraid to list cheaper competitors. We’ve done that for years and still do.
“We decided to remove Atlantic Money for the time being for a number of operational reasons, including queries received from customers about their business. We take compliance with all applicable laws very seriously.”
Wise’s comparison tool does not always reveal the firm to be the cheapest. Using Wise for a £1,000 sterling-dollar transfer is less affordable than using Starling Bank, the website shows, while for a small £10 sterling-euro transfer, Wise comes third behind Remitly and Western Union.
The CMA was contacted for comment, but the regulator is unable to comment on specific cases outside of a formal investigation.
