London-based money transfer startup TransferWise says it is now processing £500 million a month on its platform, saving customers some £22 million in fees compared to equivalent bank rates.
Speaking live on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, TransferWise founder Taavet Hinrikus says the milestone demonstrates a fundamental shift in people’s awareness of how banks, brokers and others take advantage of customers by hiding the real cost of international transactions.
“We transfer tens of millions of customer money everyday and we have approximately two per cent UK market share of the international money transfer business," he says. "This figure is only going to grow as customers become fed up with the traditional banking sector and look for fairer alternatives like TransferWise”.
Earlier this year TransferWise received $58m in a series C funding round led by US venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The investment is being used to take the platform - which side-steps bank fees by performing peer-to-peer currency exchanges at the mid-market rate - into new international markets, including the potentially lucrative US and developing economies.
Alongside the US, the latest currency routes served by TransferWise include sending money to Morocco, Pakistan, Brazil and Nigeria.