Wise wants to launch Assets in Estonia, obtains debt facility from SVB

After receiving a licence from the Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority, Wise has revealed that it will bring its Assets product to Estonia. The Assets solution allows customers to choose how their money is held and offers money-earning opportunities in more than 50 currencies, as users can invest in funds while still retaining access to their money when the need arises. 

When compared to a traditional investment account, the Assets solution stands out by providing users with instant access to a portion of their funds regardless of where they are invested. 

The Estonian investment license will allow Wise to begin bringing Assets to Europe, but the company also revealed its plans to apply for permission to passport it and expand its availability to more markets across the continent.

Wise receives USD 352 million syndicated debt facility 

Wise has received a syndicated debt facility worth USD 346 million from Silicon Valley Bank UK with participation from six other banks. The fintech company says it will use the funds to accelerate its growth, which could include the aforementioned European expansion.

Wise’s officials cited by siliconcanals.com emphasised that this Silicon Valley Bank UK-led facility will provide flexible and efficient access to working capital, which could help improve the company’s services and ultimately benefit Wise’s millions of worldwide clients. 

Silicon Valley Bank UK officials cited by the same source revealed that this new facility comes in the context of their long-term relationship with Wise following last year’s pre-IPO syndicated facility.

Wise launched a SWIFT Receive service 

In September 2022, Wise has launched SWIFT Receive service to allow customers from banks to receive cross-border payments even if the bank is not connected to SWIFT. 

With this new service, Wise has made it easier for neobanks to connect and enable their customers to receive international payments through SWIFT, using their existing account details. According to the official press release, many neobanks are not connected to SWIFT due to the time and resources it takes to get connected to the system. Consequently, this prevents their customers from reliably receiving money from overseas. 

The feature also allows financial institutions with an existing SWIFT setup to move over to Wise’s service and receive these incoming SWIFT payments more quickly. The service is already live with a European neobank at the time of writing.