Wise (2021)Copied

TransferWise was founded in 2011 to fix international money transfers for people overcharged by banks; the name came from the idea that early customers were wise to hidden exchange-rate mark-ups. Ten years on, it held money in dozens of currencies, issued debit cards and served more than 12 million personal and 630,000 business customers. On 22 February 2021 co-founder Kristo Käärmann announced that the name was catching up: TransferWise was now Wise.

TechCrunch noted the timing. The company, recently valued by private investors at $5 billion, was rebranding ahead of an expected listing, and it was now describing itself as a cross-border payments network processing £4.5 billion a month rather than a remittance app. A shorter name would also make a tidier ticker.

Visually, the change was restrained. The logo was redrawn and the apps renamed, with new colours, words and designs, but the fast flag, the forward-leaning arrow-flag icon, stayed as the symbol of money without borders. Wise's own guidelines describe the flag as a mark of constant progress that is not stuck to the borders that separate people, and green as the colour it uses first, last and for nearly everything in between. Customers kept their accounts, and transferwise.com began redirecting to wise.com weeks later.

Two years later Wise went further, with a 2023 identity by Ragged Edge that recrafted the wordmark and flag and swapped fintech blue for a vibrant green.

TechCrunch read the rename in light of an expected listing, noting a $5 billion private valuation and that a shorter name would make a neater ticker. The company said it had grown from a money transfer service launched in 2011 into a cross border payments network for 10 million customers, with accounts holding 55 currencies, a business account and a platform used by banks such as Monzo. Dropping Transfer from the name simply caught the brand up with the business; the flag mark kept a fintech with grown up ambitions feeling quick.

The 2021 rename is the rare case where dropping a word made a brand more accurate. Transfer described the product Wise used to be; Wise describes the attitude it always sold. Keeping the fast flag meant nothing visual had to be relearned, and that restraint let the name change do the work.