Money transfer firm Wise has more than tripled its annual profit on the back of historic interest rate hikes and a swelling customer base.
The London-listed fintech reported a pretax profit of £481m for the year ending on 31 March 2024, up 229 per cent from £146.5m the previous year. On an underlying basis, this number also more than tripled to £241.8m.
Its revenue swelled 24 per cent to £1.05bn over the 12 months.
Wise, which offers current accounts and allows customers to send cash overseas, has enjoyed a boost from higher interest rates across the globe. Its interest income more than tripled over the year to £485.2m, from £140.2m.
The firm, launched in 2011, has also enjoyed a boom in customer numbers in recent times. Its active customer base grew 29 per cent to 12.8m in the latest financial year.
Meanwhile, its cross-border payment volumes grew 13 per cent to £118.5bn. Wise claimed to have saved customers more than £1.88bn over the year.
“2024 was another strong year of growth for Wise,” said co-founder and chief executive Kristo Käärmann.
“We are investing in infrastructure and customer experiences to serve as much of this huge, under-served cross-border payments market as possible, including starting FY25 by reducing fees further for our customers.”
Wise said it expected an underlying profit before tax margin of between 13 per cent and 16 per cent in the medium term, as well as underlying income growth of 15 per cent to 20 per cent for its 2025 financial year over 2024.
The firm is set to be challenged by HSBC’s new international payments app and debit card, Zing, which launched in December.
However, Wise boasts lower transaction fees than Zing and continues to outpace its direct competitors. Rivals Monese and Revolut both posted losses in 2022.
Wise’s shares have jumped 37 per cent over the last 12 months, despite a drop in April after missing revenue estimates.