The CEO of a £31 billion fintech just worked a shift at his own UK branch – and he’s cracked the code on what customers actually want
Wise CEO Kristo Käärmann rolled up his sleeves this week and worked a full shift behind the counter at the fintech’s new concept store on Oxford Street, a hands-on move that underscores the company’s surprising bet on physical branches in an era of digital banking.
Detailing his experiences, the man running one of Europe’s biggest fintechs explained why he was there: while traditional banks are racing to shut branches, Wise is opening them. And he believes it’s exactly what British customers and small businesses have been craving.
Why branches? Because customers are voting with their wallets
Wise, best known for slashing the cost of international money transfers, has quietly become a major player in everyday banking. People and small businesses now hold $40 billion (£31 billion) on its spending accounts, a figure that jumped 37% last year, almost entirely through customer recommendations.
That organic growth has come alongside strong service expectations. Wise already handles 280,000 customer interactions a month via live phone and chat channels, available 24/7 in dozens of languages. But Käärmann sees an opportunity to go further.
“You enjoy a human experience more than a phone call? Come see our team in person!” he wrote.
The Oxford Street location, which opened as a two-week pop-up in late March, is explicitly experimental. It’s bright green, immersive, and comes with free Jenki matcha – a deliberate contrast to the sterile, queue-filled experiences many associate with high-street banking.
“I don’t exactly know how these branches are going to operate,” Käärmann admitted. “We are doing a concept on Oxford Street. We may do a few more concepts and try out different things around the world before we settle on permanent homes and physical spaces for our customers. It’s coming.”
A bet on hybrid banking
The move comes as Wise pushes deeper into current accounts and everyday spending.
Last month the company formally launched its UK current account, positioning it as a direct challenge to the country’s incumbent retail banks. With cross-border volumes still growing rapidly and a planned primary listing shift to the US on the horizon, physical presence is becoming part of the growth playbook.
It’s a reversal of the industry trend. High-street banks have spent years closing branches to cut costs. Wise is betting the opposite: in a world of apps and AI chatbots, a friendly face, a matcha, and real human help can be a powerful differentiator, especially when customers are already holding tens of billions on your platform.
