Wise Is Heading to Nasdaq. The Numbers Arriving With It Are Formidable.

Apr 13, 2026 - 21:00

Quick Answer

Wise reported Q4 cross-border volumes of £49.4 billion — up 27% year-on-year — as active customers reached 11.3 million and customer holdings surged 37% to £29.4 billion. Full-year underlying income grew 18% to £1.61 billion. The company begins trading on Nasdaq on 11 May 2026 while maintaining its London Stock Exchange listing, and will switch to US GAAP reporting for its 2026 financial year — a structural shift that signals where Wise’s strategic ambitions now point. The numbers landing ahead of that debut leave little room for scepticism about the underlying business. The question is what a US listing does to the valuation.

EBM Exclusive Take

Wise is not moving to Nasdaq because London failed it. It is moving because the US capital market is where the valuation multiple its growth rate deserves will be awarded. A fintech growing cross-border volumes at 27% annually, serving 18.9 million active customers, generating £1.61 billion in income and guiding profit margins toward the top of its 13-16% range is a different category of company from the one that listed in London in 2021. The dual listing strategy is the right call — it preserves the LSE relationship while accessing the deeper pool of US institutional capital that values payments infrastructure at the multiples European markets have consistently refused to assign. What Wise’s Nasdaq move actually signals is a structural problem for London as a listing venue for high-growth European fintech — not a story about one company’s ambitions.

Wise has been the most quietly consequential fintech company in Europe for the better part of a decade. Built on the premise that cross-border money transfers should cost what they actually cost — rather than what banks have historically charged — it has grown from a currency exchange startup into a payments infrastructure business processing £181.7 billion in annual cross-border volume. On 11 May 2026 it adds a Nasdaq listing to its London presence, and the results it has just published make the case for that listing in the clearest possible terms.

The Q4 Numbers

Cross-border volume for the fourth quarter ending 31 March 2026 reached £49.4 billion — a 27% increase on a constant currency basis. Active customers grew 22% to 11.3 million in the quarter. Customer holdings — the funds customers keep in Wise accounts across multiple currencies — climbed 37% to £29.4 billion, a figure that reflects growing use of Wise as a financial home rather than simply a transfer mechanism. Wise Business, the company’s corporate and SME product, saw active customer numbers rise 26% to 572,000.

Underlying income for the quarter was £435.3 million, up 24% year-on-year. For the full fiscal year 2026, income reached £1.61 billion — an 18% increase on the prior year. The company guided its underlying profit before tax margin toward the top of its 13-16% range, including the costs associated with the Nasdaq listing itself. The cross-border take rate — the revenue Wise earns per pound transferred — declined slightly to 51 basis points from 53 basis points a year earlier, reflecting deliberate investment in pricing competitiveness. Wise is choosing market share and volume growth over margin preservation, which at 27% volume growth is the correct strategic trade-off.

Why Nasdaq and Why Now

Wise announced plans for a US dual listing in June 2025. The rationale was straightforward: the company’s growth profile, customer base and addressable market are global, but its valuation has been anchored to a London market that systematically undervalues high-growth technology businesses relative to US peers. By adding a primary Nasdaq listing while retaining the LSE presence, Wise accesses US institutional investors — the largest buyers of payments infrastructure equity in the world — without abandoning the European market relationships and regulatory familiarity that London provides.

The timing is deliberate. Arriving at Nasdaq with 27% volume growth, 22% customer growth, 37% growth in customer holdings and full-year income of £1.61 billion is the strongest possible entry point. Wise is not listing to raise its profile. It is listing to establish a valuation floor that reflects the scale of what it has built. As EBM has reported on Europe’s fintech payments landscape, the gap between what European exchanges award high-growth fintech companies and what US markets assign equivalent businesses has become structurally significant — and Wise is the most prominent European fintech to act on that gap directly.

The London Question

Wise’s dual listing decision is diplomatically framed as an expansion rather than a departure. But the underlying message to London is uncomfortable. Europe’s financial markets have consistently struggled to retain the continent’s highest-growth technology companies at the valuation levels their growth rates justify. Wise is not the first — and will not be the last — European fintech to conclude that the deeper capital pools and higher growth multiples available in the US represent a structural advantage that outweighs the inconvenience of dual reporting standards.

The switch to US GAAP reporting for the 2026 financial year underscores how completely the centre of gravity has shifted. Wise will now run its financial reporting architecture around the requirements of US institutional investors. London gets the listing. New York gets the strategic logic.

What Comes Next

The 11 May Nasdaq debut will be watched closely across European fintech as a read on what US institutional capital is prepared to pay for a payments infrastructure business at this stage of growth. Wise enters that debut with the strongest quarterly numbers in its public company history. The broader question for European fintech is whether Wise’s valuation on Nasdaq ultimately makes the case that London was undervaluing the company — or confirms that the US capital market simply operates on different terms. Either way, the answer will matter for every high-growth European technology business currently deciding where to list next.

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