UK fintech Wise makes US trading debut with dual listing

WISE Group is making its trading debut in the US with a Nasdaq listing as the financial technology firm tries to take advantage of a larger stock market and its legions of investors.The company’s shares will trade under the ticker WSE, according to regulatory filings, marking the culmination of a years-long plan to open up to more investors. Wise will also relist its shares on the London Stock Exchange for its secondary listing.For Wise chief executive officer Kristo Kaarmann, the dual listing is designed to increase liquidity and allow for extended trading hours. It also comes as the firm is looking to the US to expand its business, through which users can hold, move and spend money in as many as 40 currencies abroad using the mid-market rate.“We can start trading in both London in the morning and New York in the afternoon, so that’s part of the story,” Kaarmann said in an interview ahead of the listing. “The other is we are meeting new sets of US shareholders and US analysts and it’s an opportunity for us to tell our story again.”Kaarmann said Wise, which counts billionaire Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley’s Andreessen Horowitz and UK-based Baillie Gifford among its early investors, has had demand from large institutions to own Wise shares on the London Stock Exchange. However, they haven’t been able to due to a lack of liquidity, according to Kaarmann.While liquidity has increased since Wise went public five years ago, “it’s nowhere near what our US peers are trading at,” said Kaarmann, who will be celebrating with his customers and longtime shareholders at a party in New York’s Times Square. The company said in a statement Monday that net revenue rose 19 per cent year-over-year to US$2.5 billion for the year ended March 31, according to preliminary earnings estimates. Customer holdings reached US$39 billion, up 40 per cent from the year prior.The Nasdaq listing also allows Wise to keep its dual-class shares, which are more common in the US than the UK. That system gives Kaarmann key voting control in the company, but was set to wind down in London this year.The share structure led to disagreement around governance among some shareholders. But ultimately, stakeholders voted in favour of taking the firm’s primary listing across the Atlantic.Wise is looking to grow in the US, notably through its Wise Platform business that provides foreign exchange infrastructure to other banks. Morgan Stanley is one of the largest clients of the fintech, Kaarmann said, adding the firm is in conversations with other banks.The firm has also applied to form a US national trust bank to connect to the Federal Reserve’s payment rails. In the US, Wise has grown its staff to more than 860, filings show. Since going public in July 2021, Wise shares in London have increased about 33 per cent through May 8, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Still, Wise has never been included in the FTSE 100 index primarily due to the dual-class share structure.The company will not immediately qualify for inclusion in certain indexes including the S&P 500 due to its holding company in Jersey. Such inclusions can unlock billions of pounds worth of investment from asset managers with funds that track the benchmarks. In order to qualify, Wise would have to prove it is American, possible by showing significant revenue, shareholders and leadership in the US. BLOOMBERG