The fixed fee money transfer service, Atlantic Money, raised concerns at the Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) within the European Commission about the conduct of its competitor, the London Stock Exchange-listed technology company Wise.
Having first raised its concerns in January with the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK, Atlantic Money is now “seeking greater clarity in the cross-border transfer market for EU consumers as well.”
Fostering innovation and competition is “one of the key subjects of the European Commission, which is known for its pro-consumer decisions.”
Why Atlantic Money is accusing Wise of harming competition
In January this year, Wise “delisted Atlantic Money from its price comparison tool and also denied the challenger access to several third-party price comparison sites that the stock-listed company owns and controls.”
Consumers rely on these sites “as they are the only option to compare the total costs of different money transfer services in real-time.”
Atlantic Money views these decisions “as a consequence of being a commercial threat and believes Wise’s conduct is in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU.”
The update strives “to encourage competition and innovation for consumers within the bloc.”
In Atlantic Money’s letter to the DG, it notes Wise’s decision “to delist the competitor represents a significant contradiction to its Mission and Philosophy Statement and means, despite its promise, users will not be able to see whether they are getting the best deal on their transfer.”
Atlantic Money further “raised concerns regarding Wise’s management of its third-party price comparison sites which are intended to provide more transparency for the market, such as Exiap.com, Currencylive.com or Geldtransfer.org.”
By rejecting new competitors from these sites for unclear reasons while declaring to be transparent, Wise is “obstructing competition and transparency for consumers in the money transfer market.”
According to the Worldbank, “a lack of transparency is the single most important factor leading to high prices.”
Neeraj Baid, co-founder of fixed-fee money transfer provider Atlantic Money notes:
“The issue of transparency and Wise’s questionable conduct extends beyond the borders of the UK. We have raised our concerns with the Directorate-General for Competition within the European Commission as a means to try and ensure consumers in the EU are protected. We therefore insist that Wise must be transparent about their inclusion criteria.”
In response to Atlantic Money’s concerns, Wise stated “the decision to remove Atlantic Money from its price comparison site is due to concerns about Atlantic’s legitimacy.”
However, both companies are “regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK and the National Bank of Belgium in the EU.”
Both firms have “received investment from the same top-tier venture capital firm, Index Ventures.”
In response to questions from the media, Wise stated there “had been ‘queries received from customers about [Atlantic’s] business’. Atlantic Money has asked for more details, but this has failed to materialize.”
Neeraj Baid continues:
“Wise’s conduct is clearly not in the interests of consumers who ultimately will suffer in the form of paying significantly higher fees. Wise is exploiting its previously established, and now false, image as a consumer advocate to drive profit for its shareholders by unfairly promoting its own products. We think this is unacceptable and look forward to working with the European Commission and all other necessary regulatory stakeholders.”
To ensure that consumers can still compare prices, Atlantic Money “has now launched a price comparison page to compare its fees to Wise’s.”
Baid concludes:
“We’re not afraid to be compared against Wise, so we created this page to ensure consumers can do just that.”