How Wise is betting on infrastructure and brand - Tearsheet

"Wise has spent the last 14 years building a powerful, new global payments infrastructure which offers a scalable alternative to the legacy correspondent banking system. Wise Platform makes this infrastructure available to banks, financial institutions, and major enterprises through simple APIs, allowing them to offer cost-effective international payments directly within their own platforms."

"The mechanism for achieving that is direct connections to domestic payment networks - bypassing correspondents entirely. By early 2026, Wise had eight such connections live: the UK's Faster Payments System, Europe's SEPA, Singapore's FAST, Australia's NPP, Hungary's domestic rails, the Philippines' Pesonet and Instapay, Brazil's Pix, and Japan's Zengin."

Cross-border payments often involve multiple correspondent banks, increasing time and costs. Wise has developed a new global payments infrastructure to address these issues. By connecting directly to local payment networks, Wise eliminates the need for intermediaries. This approach allows banks and enterprises to offer cost-effective international payments through simple APIs. As of early 2026, Wise has established connections with several domestic payment systems across various countries, enhancing the efficiency of cross-border transactions.

Read at Tearsheet