Wise, a London-based cross-border payments provider, is introducing the option for its U.S. customers to earn interest on money held in a multicurrency account with Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage available for up to $250,000 on those funds.
For customers who opt in, Wise will pay interest of 3.92% interest on balances held in a Wise account, and FDIC insurance will be available through JPMorgan Chase, said Ankita D'Mello, senior product manager at Wise, in an interview.
"People said they'd like to earn interest on funds they're keeping in their Wise account, especially business users with higher-value transactions," she said.
The move comes as more financial institutions and fintechs leverage the Fed's interest rate increases to offer customers higher-yield interest rates on digital accounts. For example, Apple this month went live with its new savings account offering an APY of 4.15%, matching
Participating customers will begin earning interest on their Wise balance immediately, and at the beginning of each month Wise will add interest earned from the previous month to the user's balance, according to D'Mello.
Wise's market research also suggested customers were interested in the security of FDIC insurance for funds held in their Wise account, she said.
This coverage comes in the wake of the failures of
"Customers in recent months were more concerned about the safety of funds in their accounts, and how these funds are protected, so we included FDIC insurance," D'Mello said.
Wise launched its cross-border account for U.S. customers in 2019, enabling users to send, store, spend and receive funds in more than 50 currencies.
Earlier this month Wise said it's expanding its international reach through partnerships with new small-business banking partners including
