Wise Review 2026

Wise (Wise Europe SA in the EU, authorised by the National Bank of Belgium; Wise Payments Ltd in the UK, authorised by the FCA) is an Electronic Money Institution — a licensed payments and e-money firm, not a bank.

It doesn't lend out your money and doesn't hold a banking licence. That single fact shapes everything below: the pricing is excellent, and the protection is different from a bank's.

This is the key point. Wise is not covered by any deposit-guarantee scheme — there is no €100,000 EU cover and no UK FSCS protection on your balance.

Instead your balance is "safeguarded": held separately from Wise's own funds, in accounts at regulated banks and in liquid assets. If Wise failed, your money should be returned to you via an administrator, but that process can involve delay and cost, and it isn't the instant, guaranteed protection a bank deposit receives.

Treat Wise as a transactional hub, not a vault for your emergency fund.

The core product is a multi-currency account covering 40+ currencies, with a debit card and genuinely cheap international transfers executed at the mid-market exchange rate.

Interest is offered through "Wise Interest", where your cash sits in a government money-market fund rather than a deposit — returns vary, the fund's value can move, and rates are as listed on banks.eu or by the provider. It isn't available in every country (Belgium, for example, is excluded).

There is no monthly account fee. Transfers carry a small, transparent percentage fee instead of a hidden FX spread, there's a one-off card fee, and small ATM fees apply above the monthly free limits.

Overall it remains among the cheapest mainstream options for foreign exchange.