TransferWise's Wise rebrand, plans to hire over 70 staff in SG

International money transfer company TransferWise has rebranded to Wise a decade after it was founded, and plans to expand its Asia Pacific hub in Singapore with more than 70 new hires this year. While the logo has changed and its apps renamed, its icon - the fast flag - remains as a symbol for money without borders. Beyond that, there will also be new colours, words, and designs and the final switchover for all customers to the Wise brand will take place next month.

Meanwhile, Wise is on the hunt for individuals to fill roles including expansion, engineering, product and operations in Singapore. This follows the launch of a new, larger office space in the country, with its expanded presence allowing Wise to better serve regional consumers, businesses and bank partners and drive business growth into new markets. Venkatesh Saha, head of Asia Pacific expansion told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the rebranding was a company-wide process with every team from product, design and marketing to tech, operations and legal collaborating together. The concept and execution of the new logo was spearheaded by its design team.

He added that Wise is excited to double down on its commitment to Singapore and the wider region as it marks its fourth anniversary in the country.

"Asia Pacific is our fastest growing region; expanding our presence here is a strategic investment that reflects our commitment to building the best global cross-border payments network for our customers in the region and around the world," Saha added.

Originally launched in 2011 as a money transfer service, Wise has expanded to build a cross-border payments network. Currently, the platform has 10 million users and processes about SG$8 billion monthly cross-border transactions. In addition to Singapore, Wise is also present in cities including Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Hong Kong. Wise launched its service in Indonesia during the fourth quarter of 2020, allowing users to send money to more than 80 countries globally.

According to CEO and co-founder Kristo Käärmann (pictured), "tens of thousands of transfers" have been set up and more than 70% transfers are under 30 minutes. It also included local support in Bahasa Indonesian. Meanwhile, foreign workers in Malaysia can now use Wise. Foreign workers is a special visa class that was previously not allowed due to regulation.

"The core experience of using Wise will remain faster, cheaper, and more convenient than anything else. Our mission remains the same. We are still making - and always will be making - money work without borders," Käärmann said.

He added that the new name "catches up with who it is already building for" - a community of people and businesses with multi-currency lives. "Ten years ago, co-founder Taavet Hinrikus and I set out to fix international money transfers for all of us who would been overcharged and underserved by banks. We named our idea ‘TransferWise’ — because our early customers were ‘wise’ to know their banks were charging hidden fees in exchange rate markups," Käärmann explained.