Wise Business Review: Fees, Exchange Rates, Functionalities, and Monito's Verdict

The business offering from Wise, formerly TransferWise, Wise Business is an online-only banking alternative to classic, corporate business accounts that hold geographic and interactive limitations. Wise Business is international, allowing you to hold and manage money in over fifty currencies, and to send money from your multi-currency account to the over eighty countries on Wise. For premium users, Wise Business also allows you to hold bank account details, with information such as an account numbers, IBANs, SWIFT/BIC, and sort codes, in British Pounds, Euros, US Dollars, Australian Dollars, New Zealand Dollars, Hungarian Forint, Romanian Leu, and Singapore Dollars. Gone are the restraints of traditional business accounts: Wise Business allows you to do modern business in the borderless world.

What Monito Likes About Wise Business

• Great mobile app;
• Pay invoices in over 70 countries;
• Batch pay up to 1,000 invoices and salaries at once;
• Business debit cards for employees;
• Give select employees access to money management;
• Move money between over 55 currencies;
• Receive international payments without big fees.

What Monito Dislikes About Wise Business

• No employee credit cards;
• Features that are free on personal Wise accounts (like IBANs) are paying with Wise Business;
• Card availability is limited by location and is largely unavailable outside of Europe.

Multi-currency, Transfers, and Payments

Being part of the Wise (formerly TransferWise) world, Wise Business essentially gives you a multi-currency account that allows you to hold and manage money in the over fifty countries  

You can use Wise for Business to make payments to more than eighty countries, and they generally are either instant or arrive within the hour. Thanks to the leaner rates offered by Wise (formerly TransferWise) your transfers will be made at near midmarket exchange rates. Wise Business claims that sending payments through them is up to nineteen times cheaper than doing so with PayPal, a mainstay in the online business account world.

On top of its general payments system, Wise Business also allows you to make up to 1000 batch payments at once by uploading a spreadsheet with all the details for each transfer. This is an appealing offering for businesses as it is something that might make it a lot easier to handle international payroll or expenses reimbursement. Of course, you can also set up recurring payments, and Wise stores all past payment info, so you don’t have to reenter details every time.

Banking Alternative

While Wise Business (formerly Transferwise for Business) is free to use for making international transfers, accessing payment tools, accounting integrations, and team features, you can also access more advanced features giving you everything you need for international banking and flexibility much like a multicurrency bank account, notably through personalized account details, for a one-time set-up fee of USD 31 for the international banking package.

For this USD 31 starter fee, Wise Business will provide you with the following premium features:

• Banking details like an IBAN, sort code, routing number, or account number, depending on the country you’ve selected and their requirements; 
• Direct debits;
• The possibility to receive payments from a third party;
• The possibility to withdraw money from platforms like Shopify, Stripe, and others.

These features will allow you to get paid as cheaply and seamlessly as possible no matter where your customers are, without needing to open separate bank accounts to maintain your business. In our opinion, the one-time USD 31 fee is well worth the features that it provides and the practicality of being able to run your business out of one account. 

However, if you don't want to pay the USD 31, you can opt for a totally free account which comes with a few limitations, such as a lack of account details in multiple countries, Stripe and Shopify withdrawals, direct debit facilities, and a few other services.

Wise Business

Debit Card

If you are located in Europe or in the European area, Wise Business (formerly Transferwise for Business) provides you with a multi-currency debit card that you can use in over fifty currencies. The physical Wise Business card is in a more sober navy blue, but you also spend virtually through the card details in your app. 

A Wise Business account comes with one free debit card, but you can order additional team members cards for £3 each, allowing expenses to be better delegated and preventing staff from having to use their personal cards on business expenses. Wise Business allows you to monitor transactions and spending, and accounting integrations make it easy to filter and manage transactions. 

Outside of Europe and the European are, the Wise Business debit card is only available in Canada, Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Countries outside these areas can still access most other Wise Business banking features.