In 2018, the London based fintech made a deeper push into banking by offering a "borderless" multi-currency account tied to a debit card. Now, TransferWise plans to launch a service that lets users of the account invest passively in investment funds from third-party providers.
Though the travel industry came to a halt this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Käärmann said TransferWise still expects to turn an annual profit in its 2020 accounts. The firm has been profitable for three years running, but a big selling point of its multi-currency debit card is the ability to convert to local currencies when traveling. “We’ve been very humbled in some ways and proud that customers are funding our mission,” he said. “They keep TransferWise running through the fees that they’re paying; they pay our salaries, they let us hire more people and grow the product.