Shareholders in UK FinTech Wise have approved its plans to move its main stock market listing to the United States.
The payments company believes the move – which will see it maintain a secondary listing in London, where it floated with little fanfare and in 2021 – will help to attract more investors and boost its value.
After its first day of trading following the IPO four years ago, Wise – formerly known as Transferwise – had accrued a market cap of £8.75bn. Today it stands at £10.36bn.
However the float was mired in controversy as co-founder and CEO Kristo Käärmann (pictured) had insisted on a dual-class share structure which effectively meant that his shares, and those of other early investors, were each worth nine times that of more recent shareholders. Despite holding just 18.1% of Wise, he controlled 40.75% of the votes.
Now the controversy has ramped up further with Käärmann proposing an extension of this approach – and rolling the shareholder vote for this into that of the US listing. That led co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, who left the firm shortly after the London IPO, to publicly slam Käärmann and call for two separate votes to be held. He said: “Wise owners deserve governance structures that enhance value, not entrench power.”
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The required 75% of shareholder votes was easily surpassed, increasing Käärmann’s share massively to 55% – although his voting power is capped at 50%.
Hinrikus holds 5.1% of the shares and controls 11.8% of the votes.
Shareholder advisory service Pirc had recommended that investors vote against the resolution, stating: “The retention of enhanced voting rights further suggests a shift toward entrenching management control.”
Wise expects the US listing and new structure to come into force in the second quarter of 2026.
“We’re pleased that our owners have overwhelmingly approved the Proposal, giving us a strong mandate to proceed,” said David Wells, chair of Wise.
“We appreciate the extensive engagement with our owners. With this high level of support, our focus is firmly on moving forward, further accelerating our mission of money without borders and creating long-term value for our owners as we progress to moving trillions.”
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