London-based TransferWise has today stepped beyond international money transfer to venture into financial services. The company began offering the service international money transfer for consumers and they, then, extended it for businesses.
It has now unveiled Borderless Account that enables businesses and freelancers to manage their money internationally with ease. The account will act as a local bank account in any nation without the need of your physical presence.
The service is being launched first in the UK and Europe, and the company is planning a gradual rollout in the U.S. starting in June. Firms can store their money in 15 different currencies, and receive their local account details almost immediately for the UK, Europe, and the US. It is slated to be available in other nations including Australia, Canada later this year. Taavet Hinrikus, CEO, and co-founder of TransferWise, said,
With the unique platform we’ve built, we’re looking forward to creating a new kind of financial services for the future. The infrastructure we’ve built can help people do more than just transfer money. It can help them manage their international finances completely differently, giving them more freedom and control.
TransferWise is also planning to launch a corresponding debit card, which will be available for businesses and consumers alike, bringing offline benefits to the previously digital-only service. This step sees it moving to offer the banking services which will benefit businesses, sole traders, and freelancers who have to resort to making transactions in various currencies to conduct their business. And, they will get to leverage the low exchange rate that TranferWise offers.
This new service addresses almost all the issues and expenses one has to incur while making international transactions. It does not charge any single penny to set the account up, there are no monthly charges and you do not have to pay for receiving payments.
Also, when converting money from one currency into another, TransferWise charges a small transparent fee and all transfers are made at the real mid-market exchange rate. Hinrikus added,
Business banking is notoriously expensive and difficult to set up and manage. Based on what we heard from our customers, we thought TransferWise could do something to help. So we’ve created the Borderless account.
Since its inception in 2011, TransferWise has been witnessing a tremendous growth and currently serves over a million customers across 750 currency routes. Having reached profitability in the beginning of 2017, it is now gunning to achieve a $130 million revenue run rate. The company claims to have been facilitating over $1 billion worth transactions every month with its users saving over $2 million every day compared to using other providers.
