Wise

Is Wise safe?

For sending money abroad and holding currencies for weeks, yes. For keeping your savings, less so. Wise is a profitable, listed payments company that does not lend out customer money, and its balance sheet is very liquid. But it is not a bank: no Wise balance is covered by the FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary or a European deposit guarantee. Your protection is safeguardingSafeguardingThe legal duty of payment and e-money firms to keep customer money separate from their own, so it can be returned if the firm fails.More in the glossary, a legal duty to ring-fence customer money, not a government payout. Add an open money laundering investigation in Belgium and we score Wise 59/100, below Revolut at 65, which now holds deposits in licensed banks.

Which Wise company holds your money

Where you live	Entity	Regulator	Protection
United Kingdom	Wise Payments Ltd (FRN 900507)	FCA, e-money institutionE-moneyMoney held as a stored balance with a payment firm rather than as a bank deposit. It is safeguarded, not covered by deposit insurance.More in the glossary	SafeguardingSafeguardingThe legal duty of payment and e-money firms to keep customer money separate from their own, so it can be returned if the firm fails.More in the glossary, no FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary
EEA	Wise Europe SA, Brussels	National Bank of Belgium, payment institution	Safeguarding, no deposit guarantee
United States	Wise US Inc.	FinCEN and state money transmitter licences	State licensing rules, not a bank deposit
Interest and Stocks	Wise Assets UK, Wise Assets Europe AS	FCA, Estonian FSA	Investor rules, not deposits

On 24 July 2026 the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency denied Wise's application for a national trust bank charter. Wise says US customers are unaffected, because it keeps operating under money transmitter licences in 48 states, and that it will file a new application. Its 2026 annual report also says it is considering a UK banking licence. None of this changes the status of your balance today.

Safeguarding versus deposit insurance

Under the UK Electronic MoneyE-moneyMoney held as a stored balance with a payment firm rather than as a bank deposit. It is safeguarded, not covered by deposit insurance.More in the glossary Regulations, Wise must keep your money separate from its own: in segregated accounts at other banks, in secure liquid assets, or covered by an insurance guarantee. If Wise failed, an administrator would pay customers out of that pool before other creditors, minus the cost of distribution.

That is real protection against Wise's own losses. It is weaker than FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary cover in two ways. There is no fixed payout within days, so you could wait months. And if a hole appeared in the pool, for example through fraud or a failed partner bank, nobody tops it up. The FCA tightened safeguardingSafeguardingThe legal duty of payment and e-money firms to keep customer money separate from their own, so it can be returned if the firm fails.More in the glossary rules for payment and e-money firms from 7 May 2026, with daily reconciliation and monthly returns to the regulator.

Where the money sits

The figures from Wise's results for the year to 31 March 2026 are reassuring. Customers held $39.0 billion, of which $9.0 billion was in Wise Assets (Interest and Stocks). SafeguardedSafeguardingThe legal duty of payment and e-money firms to keep customer money separate from their own, so it can be returned if the firm fails.More in the glossary money was spread as follows:

Holding (31 March 2026)	Amount
Segregated accounts and term deposits at investment-grade banks	$14.8 billion
Money market funds	$7.6 billion
Investment-grade bonds, mostly government	$4.6 billion
Covered by insurance guarantee (nine insurers)	$1.1 billion (£845 million)

Wise says the bonds have an average duration of under six months, and it lends nothing to customers. Compare that with Monzo, which lends out about a tenth of its deposits, or a high-street bank that lends most of them. Wise made $660.4 million before tax and ended the year with $1.93 billion of shareholders' equity. Its own capital is a buffer for operating losses rather than for bad loans.

The Belgian investigation and other conduct issues

On 1 June 2026 the Brussels prosecutor's office said it was in the final stages of an investigation into Wise Europe SA, according to Euronews and other outlets. The probe started in 2025 after Wise's name came up repeatedly in requests from foreign investigators, and prosecutors cited signs of insufficient customer identification. Wise said such requests were a normal part of operations and that no findings had been shared with it. It reported the inquiry in its 20-F as incomplete, with no known timeline or outcome.

Earlier issues were smaller. In January 2025 the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Wise to pay about $450,000 in refunds over inaccurate fee and exchange-rate disclosures; in May 2025 it cut the civil penalty from $2.0 million to $44,955 but kept the refunds. In October 2024 the FCA fined chief executive Kristo Käärmann £350,000 for not telling the regulator about a personal tax penalty from HMRC. That case concerned him, not customer money.

The US record is more serious than it first looked. In July 2025 Wise US agreed a multistate consent order with state regulators over weaknesses in its Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary programme, paying $4.2 million and committing to more compliance spending; California issued a separate order. When the OCC turned down Wise's trust bank application in July 2026, its letter pointed to that order and said the proposed management had shown a "persistent inability" to manage money laundering risk. Wise replied that the OCC was judging an out-of-date picture and that it has since strengthened its US programme. Together with the Belgian case, that is a pattern of anti-money laundering findings in two jurisdictions.

How to use Wise safely

1. Use Wise for transfers, travel and short-term currency balances. Keep emergency savings and large sums in an insured bank deposit, for example at Starling or another FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary-covered bank.
2. If you use Interest, remember it is a money market fund. It is low risk, but it is not a deposit.
3. Turn on app-based approval for logins and payments, and freeze your card in the app when you are not using it.
4. Never transfer money to "verify" or "protect" your account because a caller or message tells you to. Wise does not ask for that.
5. Expect compliance checks. Wise can freeze an account while it reviews a payment, so keep a second account for bills.

How we scored it

Liquidity (80) is the strongest factor, because customer money sits in cash, short-term bonds and funds and none is lent out. Deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (40) is the weakest: safeguardingSafeguardingThe legal duty of payment and e-money firms to keep customer money separate from their own, so it can be returned if the firm fails.More in the glossary is not deposit insurance. Conduct (46) reflects anti-money launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary problems on both sides of the Atlantic, the US consent order and the unresolved Belgian investigation, and capital (60) a well-funded company without bank-style ratios or ratings.