Wise will launch a new investment product into the Australian market later this year, with the global fintech business having been granted an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The milestone coincides with Wise's growth in Australia, where it now has over 1 million active personal and business customers holding over A$1 billion in balances. The increase in customer numbers and balance figures has been driven by the adoption of the Wise Account and Wise Business products.

The new product product, Assets, is already live in the UK, Europe and Singapore, and has already been used by Wise customers to invest £2.9 billion GBP (A$5.6 billion) as at FY24. The company will be one of the first in Australia to offer both personal and business customers the ability to earn a return on the A$1 billion in balances by investing in money market funds in multiple currencies, with no minimum balance requirements and no lock-up periods.

ANZ Country Manager at Wise, Tristan Dakin, said: “We’re thrilled to have completed this first important step in bringing Assets to Australia. We’ve seen great uptake among our customers in other regions, and with more personal and business customers in Australia choosing to hold their money with Wise, we want to give them a way to make that money work for them. While some Aussie banks do offer a decent return on money, it comes with a lot of fine print and hoops to jump through. With Assets, we want our customers to stay in control of how their money is held with complete transparency over how it’s being used. On top of this, we want customers to have total flexibility to keep using their money like normal. We’ve made a number of significant strides this past financial year, and we’re excited to keep building on that momentum with the granting of this new licence and to bring Assets to Australia soon.”

Wise, launched in 2011 and listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker, WISE, supported around 12.8 million people and businesses in fiscal year 2024, processing approximately £118.5 billion in cross-border transactions and saving customers over £1.8 billion.