Cross-Border Payments Platform Wise Proposes Moving Stock Market Listing to US

United Kingdom FinTech Wise intends to move its primary listing from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to a stock exchange in the United States while maintaining a secondary listing on the LSE.

Wise’s owners must vote on the proposal, and the company will call a shareholder meeting for that purpose in the coming weeks, according to the company’s financial year results released Thursday (June 5).

The proposed dual listing would bring “substantial strategic and capital market benefits” to the company and its owners, Wise co-founder and CEO Kristo Käärmann said in the financial year results.

“These include helping us drive greater awareness of Wise in the U.S., the biggest market opportunity in the world for our products today, and enabling better access to the world’s deepest and most liquid capital market,” Käärmann said. “A dual listing would also enable us to continue serving our U.K.-based Owners effectively, as part of our ongoing commitment to the U.K.”

The company said in the document that the dual listing would expand its pool of potential investors, increase trading liquidity in its shares, provide it with a pathway to inclusion in major U.S. indices, help accelerate its growth in the U.S., and allow it to continue to offer its stock in the U.K.

“Our confidence in U.K. talent and the tech ecosystem here remains undimmed,” Wise said in the document. “One-fifth of our employees are based in the U.K., and we plan to continue hiring and investing in our U.K. team to fuel our growth in the U.K. and abroad.”

Wise debuted on the LSE in July 2021 with a direct listing, becoming the latest in a parade of FinTechs and payments firms that found that to be an opportune time to come to market amid the great digital shift, PYMNTS reported at the time.

The firm was launched in 2011 as a money transfer company called TransferWise. It rebranded to Wise in February 2021 to reflect that its services had expanded to include cross-border payments, enacting a network and working to make international banking easier.

It was reported in May 2024 that the City of London, the administrator of the financial district of the U.K., was grappling with concerns about the district’s competitiveness and the need for foreign investment.

The financial sector has faced challenges since the U.K. left the European Union and has seen U.K. companies consider listing in New York instead.