Wise

In two thousand and eleven, Taavet Hinrikus sat in London frustrated. Banks offered to convert his pounds to euros and take a cut. They quoted exchange rates worse than Google. Nobody questioned it. The banking industry kept rates secret, buried under hidden fees. The money moved eventually and banks profited. Nobody saw how much they lost through the spread. A thousand pound transfer meant receiving seven hundred euros instead of seven hundred fifty. The bank showed one rate on their website, then applied another. The spread generated two hundred dollars on every ten thousand pound transfer. Customers paid five percent in hidden costs. Losses stayed hidden from all users completely and permanently.