Wise "Takeaways from US Listing Presentation" (Buy) Forsythe

Research evidence excerpt

Wise "Takeaways from US Listing Presentation" (Buy) Forsythe

greater need for reassurance around cross-border payments. This is particularly relevant

as Wise moves beyond its core 'self-serve' SMB base into larger SMBs and mid-market

customers. As LLMs reduce commodity support costs, account managers can focus on

relationship-led retention, volume expansion and deeper penetration of larger SMB

customers.

Financials

Wise reported preliminary unaudited FY26 net revenue of $2.5bn (+19% YoY),

comprising ~$1.9bn of transaction revenue (+22% YoY) and net interest income of ~

$0.6bn ($0.8bn interest income less $0.2bn interest expense). Cross-border volumes

reached $243bn (+31% YoY) across ~19m active customers, generating $1.3bn of

cross-border revenue (+17% YoY) at a stable ~52bps take rate, despite ongoing price

reductions. Card and other revenues contributed ~$0.6bn (+34% YoY), supported by

$44bn of card spend (+37% YoY), highlighting continued progress in positioning Wise

as an everyday account.

The interest income framework was reiterated: the first 1% yield covers account costs,

with yield above this split ~20% retained as profit and ~80% targeted for redistribution

to customers. However, in FY26 Wise only returned ~$0.2bn (40% of the targeted pass-

through) due to regulatory constraints in certain geographies (e.g. unable to pay interest

on customer balances in the UK). As a result, income before tax reached ~25% of net

revenue in H1 FY26, above the prior 13-16% margin range, with management

introducing a wider 20-25% near term guidance range. It is unclear why the range

broadened from ~300bps to ~500bps, although commentary suggests the wider range

reflects the uncertainty around the timing and extent of future customer pass-through.