Wise (LON:WISE), formerly known as Transferwise, will seek a listing on a US exchange following a shareholder vote.
Wise is one of the most successful Fintechs in the UK. In 2024, Wise reported that it enabled £118.5 billion in cross-border transactions, while saving customers over £1.8 billion.
The service began as a simple, fast, and inexpensive platform for transferring money worldwide. Wise has always published its exchange rates and fees, unlike some other service providers that sometimes obfuscate this information. Wise is now more of a neobank as its services go beyond money transfers.
During a meeting of the Wise Board, they agreed to move its primary listing from the London Stock Exchange to a US exchange while maintaining a secondary listing in London.
Wise Chairman David Wells commented on the decision:
“We’re pleased that our Owners have overwhelmingly approved the Proposal, giving us a strong mandate to proceed. We appreciate the extensive engagement with our Owners. With this high level of support, our focus is firmly on moving forward, further accelerating our mission of money without borders and creating long-term value for our Owners as we progress to moving trillions.“
The shift from London to most likely New York stings a bit for the UK, as the jurisdiction has been attempting to improve its listing requirements to encourage more firms to choose the UK over competitors. Ultimately, the depth of the US markets, including the liquidity and access to capital, surpassed London’s allure. One of the issues with London are restrictions on dual-class shares, which are relatively common in the US. A recent report in WSJ.com outlined this challenge.
The discussion in the UK as to how to improve the public listing environment has been ongoing for years.
In 2020, the UK government announced a forthcoming Fintech Review. The eventual report recommended that policymakers strive to “better position London as a global go-to destination for Fintech public listings and investments.” The report also advocated for dual-class structures and the creation of a global family of Fintech Indices.
So far, it appears that policymakers have fallen short.
Other policies, like taxes, could play a pivotal role by encouraging investment in private firms and public listings. The current government has taken a different path, however, chasing out thousands of wealthy individuals in what appears to be an obtuse effort to lower tax revenue. A recent report predicts that 142,000 millionaires are expected to bail on the UK and relocate to a new country.
One bright light is the initiative to create a private securities market, PISCES, but it is yet to take flight. It too will likely suffer from timid regulators and tepid politicians, who are fearful of what may fail instead of taking calculated risks. Meanwhile, the Chancellor has announced a mission to tackle red tape and stifling regulation to “cut the administrative cost of regulation on business by a quarter.”
Slashing bureaucratic red tape is always an admirable and worthy objective, but this is too little, too late, and sorry, it’s not enough.
