Shares in international payments group Wise (LON:WISE) fell after the Belgian financial regulator opened an investigation. The probe was prompted by concerns the company’s services may have been used to launder the proceeds of crime.
Ongoing enquiry
According to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Belgian prosecutors opened the probe last year. This was in response to Wise accounts featuring in ‘hundreds’ of requests for cross-border help in criminal proceedings.
The requests came from more than 30 countries across Europe and involved transactions totalling around €500 million. According to The Bureau, the regulator is looking into ‘indications of non-compliance with AML (anti money laundering) legislation’.
As the investigation relates to Wise’s European operations and not its three million UK users, the FCA is maintaining a watching brief. However, last year the Treasury raised the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing in the UK to High due in part to the ‘convenience and accessibility’ of digital money transfer systems.
Wise has said it is ‘working with the Brussels prosecutor’ to respond to enquiries about its business. However, those enquiries are incomplete and no specific findings have been shared, therefore it can’t comment further.
Investors are understandably nervous about the possibility of Wise being caught up in a major European money-laundering probe. In its last financial year it processed over $243 billion in cross-border transactions.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time the firm has been under scrutiny by the Belgian authorities. In 2024, the Financial Times reported Wise had been found to lack proof of address for ‘hundreds of thousands of customers’.
The firm also fell foul of US regulators last year, who fined it $4 million for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and AML laws. According to The Bureau, Wise said it had fully cooperated with both regulators and implemented all recommendations.
Read the press release here:
https://owners.wise.com/investor-topics
