Dear Wise
The Shareholders Board is a community for verified people who discuss listed companies the way owners and thoughtful investors do. Every member is verified as a real person before they can take part; some go further and certify their holdings from a broker statement. We exist to enable quality discussions between investors and to give shareholders a voice that companies have a reason to listen to.
Following your Q1 FY2027 trading update, we told members of our Wise board that we would write to the company, and invited them to share their views in an open thread. Three members contributed; one holds a certified position in Wise. What follows is our own faithful collation of views expressed independently on our platform, organised by theme, with nothing left out. No member has signed, joined or authorised this letter, and quotations are deliberately unattributed. It carries no demand; it is a considered set of questions from people who think carefully about your business.
One thing before the questions. This letter is published in full to our members, and your response, if one comes, will be published to them in full as well. We would therefore ask you to respond only with information you are content to treat as public; we think that protects both sides. If no response has been received after eight weeks, the Wise board on our platform will record that fact, plainly and without comment.
Growth quality and the pricing lever
This was the theme raised most often. One member noted that constant-currency volume growth moved from roughly 35% to 24% in a single quarter, and asked how much of that step-down is comparison effects rather than category maturity in personal cross-border. The same member observed that the FY2027 take-rate glide is committed a year in advance: “What evidence would cause you to slow or accelerate it? How do you measure the volume elasticity you’re buying with each basis point?” A certified shareholder asked the same question from the cost side.
1. How much of the recent deceleration in constant-currency volume growth reflects comparison effects, and how much reflects maturity in personal cross-border? How do you expect the personal and business growth mix to look at the 2030 horizon?
2. The FY2027 take-rate glide is committed well in advance. What evidence would cause you to slow or accelerate it, and how do you measure the volume elasticity each basis point buys?
3. What is the current cost of acquisition per new customer compared with previous periods, and how much of current growth is driven by price-led acquisition rather than organic brand awareness or referral?
Interest income
A certified shareholder raised the sustainability of interest income, noting that interest on customer balances is a material contributor to revenue and profit.
4. Do you expect to be able to maintain your net interest margin, on a net or underlying basis, if interest rates start easing?
Regulation and banking partners
The same certified shareholder asked about the practical effect of European legal scrutiny, beyond, in their words, “standard compliance boilerplate”.
5. How is the current legal scrutiny in Europe affecting your ability to maintain banking partnerships or expand in key regions?
6. Have you seen any material impact on time-to-onboard for new customers, or any increased de-risking by your partner financial institutions?
Where the next leg of growth comes from
One member set out the gap between where Wise Platform sits today, around 5% of cross-border volume on their reading, and the stated medium-term target of 10% and long-term ambition of 50%. They set against that the recent momentum behind Assets: the Brazil rollout, new bank partnerships including UniCredit, Raiffeisen, MBSB and Capitec, and new licences in South Africa, the UAE and Thailand. They framed it, in their words, as “a genuinely open question rather than a criticism”.
7. Is the next leg of growth mostly about Platform scaling toward the 50% ambition through more bank partnerships, or is there more room in taking Assets, or something like it, into more markets first?
The US listing
8. What are your reflections so far on the Nasdaq listing?
We are not asking for a meeting, and we are not asking for anything you would not say publicly. Our members hold Wise, follow it, and think about it as a business; a considered reply, at whatever length, will be read in the same spirit. Do write to us with any questions about the community or about how this letter was put together.
Yours faithfully
The Shareholders Board
We will publish the company’s response here in full when it arrives.