As cross-border payments continue to shift away from traditional banking routes, the fintech company Wise used its U.S. public market debut to spotlight the growing momentum behind its infrastructure business, Wise Platform.
The segment, which enables banks and technology companies to plug into Wise’s international payments network, has become its fast-growing product area, reflecting rising demand for alternatives to correspondent banking.
The company works with financial institutions, including Standard Chartered, UniCredit, Itaú, and Morgan Stanley. Wise executives said these partnerships typically take shape over multi-year engagements as banks, especially regional ones, integrate the platform into their existing payment flows.
“A lot of Wise’s customer base of micro and SME businesses are likely with smaller banks,” said Hugh Thomas, Lead Analyst, Commercial and Enterprise at Javelin Strategy & Research. “These smaller providers may not have sophisticated cross-border payments offers, and thus will be happy to point their customers to specialist solutions like Wise, where they don’t risk losing other types of banking business. Even with larger banks, the cross-border payments solutions for SME customers tend to be less sophisticated and more expensive than what’s offered to large corporates.”
Moving Away from Correspondent Banking
Traditional correspondent banking relies on chains of intermediary banks to move cross-border payments. Each intermediary can introduce additional fees and processing time.
“People and businesses around the world are estimated to be losing over $250 billion in hidden fees each year,” Kristo Käärmann, Co-Founder and CEO at Wise, said in a statement. “Here in the U.S., that figure is expected to hit $43 billion in 2026.”
Wise has built its model around reducing reliance on intermediaries by connecting directly to domestic payment systems in multiple countries. The company reports eight live payment network integrations, including the UK Faster Payments System, Singapore’s FAST, Australia’s NPP, Brazil’s Pix, and systems in Hungary, the Philippines, and Japan. It also integrates with SWIFT and operates under more than 80 regulatory licenses globally, alongside a network of over 90 banking and payments partners.
Shifting Toward the U.S. Market
The focus on Wise Platform comes as Wise completed its U.S. IPO on Nasdaq, moving its primary listing from London in a bid to deepen its presence in the U.S. market and broaden access to capital.
The company processed nearly $250 billion in cross-border volume in 2025, a 31% increase from the previous year. Despite that growth, shares fell nearly 8% on its first day of U.S. trading.
