Wise is being investigated in Brussels over concerns that the platform has been used for money laundering.
Shares in the London FinTech dropped massively on Monday after the public prosecutor’s office in Belgium said it had been investigating the firm since last year.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which first reported the story, said the alleged transactions amounted to €500 million and were linked to fraud, corruption and drug trafficking.
“The findings mainly relate to the use of Wise accounts for criminal purposes, with indications of non-compliance with anti-money-laundering legislation, particularly due to a lack of proper identification of clients and their activities,” said the public prosecutor’s office, which is finalising its investigation.
Last month Wise moved its primary listing to New York from London, where it listed in 2021. It has 19m customers moving money globally and processes 4.7m transactions a day.
Its shares in London dropped as much as 19% on Monday, the biggest one-day fall since it went public, before finishing 12% down – valuing it at £8bn.
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Wise, founded by Kristo Käärmann (pictured) in 2011, stated: “We are currently working with the Brussels prosecutor to respond to queries about our business, as we routinely do with regulators and law-enforcement authorities.
“His office’s inquiries are still incomplete and no specific findings have been shared with us to date. As such, it would be speculative for us to comment on any allegations.
“We will continue to engage with the Brussels prosecutor’s office if and when any specific findings are made available to us.
“Like every financial institution, we face the reality of increasingly sophisticated bad actors attempting to exploit our platform and we continually invest in tech-enabled systems and teams to stay ahead of ever-evolving threats.”