One of the UK’s leading Fintech firms is planning to shift its primary listing to the US, yet another blow for London’s public equity markets.
The move was announced alongside results for the financial year ended 31 March 2025, in which Wise grew its revenue by 15% and profit for the period by 18%.
Their decision to move their primary listing to the US is particularly painful because Wise is one of the very few UK Fintech giants that have decided to list on London’s exchange, while many choose to remain private. Some, including Revolut, have expressed a desire to IPO in New York.
For Wise to upsticks and move their primary listing to the US puts a massive dent in London’s efforts to bolster its reputation as a centre for fast-growing companies.
Has Wise outgrown London? Probably not. However, it sees the US as an important part of the next leg of its growth strategy as customer numbers rise and profits increase.
“Our growth over the past financial year is a testament to the team’s laser focus on our vision to build money without borders. We moved £145.2 billion across borders for 15.6 million people and businesses, a 23% increase compared to last year,” said Kristo Käärmann, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.
“This growth has been generated by the investments we’ve made in our underlying infrastructure, delivering lower fees and faster speeds for our customers: we reduced our take rate by 14bps over the year, to 53bps in Q4 FY2025. More customers also benefited from instant payments, with approximately 65% of transactions being completed in under 20 seconds.”
Käärman continued to explain their ambitions for global expansion and plan to grow their share of a ‘c.£32 trillion market opportunity’ in money transfers. The company sees shifting its primary listing to the US as a vital part of this strategy.
“As part of our next step on that journey, today we are announcing our intention to dual list our shares in the US and UK. We believe the addition of a primary US listing would help us accelerate our mission and bring substantial strategic and capital market benefits to Wise and our Owners.
“These include helping us drive greater awareness of Wise in the US, the biggest market opportunity in the world for our products today, and enabling better access to the world’s deepest and most liquid capital market. A dual listing would also enable us to continue serving our UK-based Owners effectively, as part of our ongoing commitment to the UK. The UK is home to some of the best talent in the world in financial services and technology, and we will continue to invest in our presence here to fuel our UK and global growth.”