TransferWise, the peer-to-peer online currency exchange that aims to give banks a run for their money with its flat-fee exchange rate, has announced that it’s seen $1m worth of transactions in three months since launch.
These have come from consumers-only since until now TransferWise wasn’t available to business customers. Today that changes after the company responds to the fact that business-to-business currency transfers were by far the most requested feature to-date.
Interestingly, of that $1m that has passed through TransferWise’s system, 70% were repeat customers, while transactions took place across almost all Eurozone countries in addition to the UK, Poland and Latvia.
As we’ve noted before, TransferWise is co-founded by Skype employee number one Taavet Hinrikus who unsurprisingly says he’s on a mission to “do to currency exchange what Skype did to telecommunications”. In other words, introduce some serious disruption.
Traditionally, consumers pay between 3-6% for foreign currency payments through their bank but aside from TransferWise’s flat fee, the aim is to give customers access to the same mid-market exchange rates that banks get on the interbank market. TransferWise currently offers currency transfers between British Pound and Euro, with plans to offer a wider range of currencies in the future.
