TransferWise Lowers their Rates. Can Banks Ever Compete?

Fintech unicorn and stealth bank TransferWise is dropping their rates even lower.

According to an email distributed by the UK based Fintech, fees for transfering currency are going down.

Using the process of transferring dollars to euros, TransferWise cited the following example:

Transfer USD $700 via bank ACH:

  • Old Fee: 6.21 USD
  • New Fee: 5.13 USD

Hey, so it’s only a bit more than a buck but then the dollars add up.

Wire fees and debit card transfers are going down too.

TransferWise published a blog post explaining the method  to their madness:

“We worked out the new fees by adding up thousands of small costs – like how much it costs TransferWise when a customer calls about a transfer to euros, versus say, a transfer to Thai Baht. Or what it costs us when a partner bank pays out a transfer in the US, versus in Hungary or Singapore. It was a comprehensive and granular piece of work. We’ve looked at — and used — every data point we could to recalculate our prices, across all our currencies. The result? Fair(er) fees that are easier to drop in the future.”

Oh, the transparency. It is very refreshing and compelling.

You can read more here.

So can banks ever get their act together and provide a service as good as TransferWise? And when will TransferWise start offering current accounts that generate interest (thus driving another nail in the coffin of gasping banks. Only TransferWise knows the answer to that one but we predict it will happen soon enough.

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