Wise Becomes First Non-Bank RBA Exchange Settlement Account Holder
(27 October 2022 – Australia) Digital money transfer group Wise (Formerly Transferwise) has made history to become the inaugural non-bank to procure an exchange settlement account with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
This follows already direct integrations with United Kingdom (UK), European Union (EU), Hungarian and Singapore central banks, pioneering the way in those jurisdictions also.
According to Wise, the RBA’s decision will allow it to connect directly to the real-time payments system and reduce costs for consumers, allowing it to compete more aggressively with Australian banks especially for services relating to international travel and remittance.
Although not an official bank, regulators are bringing Wise into the heart of the financial system by allowing it to connect to central banks and payments systems that give it the same power as banks to transfer funds.
Wise said that joining the NPP will allow it to lower its average price of money transfers in or out of Australia by bypassing middlemen to clear and settle real-time payments instantly.
“The opening up of plumbing to non-banks acknowledges forward-thinking on how to create competition in the market. Consumers win from a better product and lower prices" commented Wise CTO Harsh Sinha.
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