Wise: Stock Story

As with any investment, your capital is at risk.

Tell us about the company

Thomas Hodges: International money transfers shouldn't feel like a waiting game, but for many of us it does, thanks to high fees, slow processing times and hidden costs. Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus recognise this problem, and they've founded Wise, the solution millions of people rely on today. 

What makes this stock special?

The global cross-border payment system used by banks is clunky. It's old, involves layers of intermediaries, which is why money transfers are both slow and expensive. What Wise has done is cut out the middleman. This move bypasses the legacy chain by holding local accounts in more than 80 countries and connecting directly to instant payment rails, all while matching inflows and outflows centrally in a single global treasury. The result is almost instant transfers, which cost almost nothing. Since listing, the company has doubled its active customers to over £15m and its payment volume to £145bn. With more customers and increased volumes, Wise unlocks a flywheel effect whereby volume growth lowers unit costs, enabling them to pass on cost savings to customers. This has the potential to attract new customers from consumers to SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises).

This is a big deal, and rather than entering the ring to compete against Wise, many big incumbent banks, like Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered, they're partnering with the company to use its platform. It's completely disrupted a massive market, making it cheaper and easier to transfer money across borders.

What could the future hold?

We think that Wise has significant growth potential ahead. Currently, it processes less than 5 per cent of individual transfers and less than 1 per cent of SME transfers. As more customers are drawn to its offerings, it partners with more banks, and it expands its markets. Wise has the capability to take market share. On top of this, the company is broadening its product range, from multi-currency accounts to cards, and experimenting with new financial innovations like stablecoins and tokenisation, which could unlock even faster and even cheaper settlement in the future.

Risk factors

This communication was produced and approved in November 2025 and has not been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time and may not reflect current thinking.

The views expressed should not be considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a particular investment. They reflect opinion and should not be taken as statements of fact nor should any reliance be placed on them when making investment decisions.

This communication contains information on investments which does not constitute independent research. Accordingly, it is not subject to the protections afforded to independent research, but is classified as advertising under Art 68 of the Financial Services Act (‘FinSA’) and Baillie Gifford and its staff may have dealt in the investments concerned.

All information is sourced from Baillie Gifford & Co and is current unless otherwise stated.

The images used in this communication are for illustrative purposes only.

Financial Intermediaries

This communication is suitable for use of financial intermediaries. Financial intermediaries are solely responsible for any further distribution and Baillie Gifford takes no responsibility for the reliance on this document by any other person who did not receive this document directly from Baillie Gifford.