R194 billion international company eyes entry into South Africa
Wise Group is seeking a country manager in South Africa after securing conditional regulatory approval to offer some services in the continent’s biggest economy.
The money-transfer company is hiring a Johannesburg-based leader to manage the regulatory and licensing processes, define opportunities for its products in the region and execute its expansion strategy, a job posting shows.
The London-based group is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a secondary listing on the Nasdaq. It currently has a market capitalisation of around $11.7 billion (R194 billion).
While Wise declined to comment on the role, the approval “marks a significant step in our mission to give South Africans access to a faster, cheaper, more transparent way to send money abroad,” said Nadia Costanzo, its director for banking and expansion in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.
The plan to hire follows moves by the South African Reserve Bank to reform the National Payment System, including by allowing non-bank financial services companies and fintech firms to directly access payments infrastructure to boost innovation and competition.
At the same time, insurers, retailers and telecommunications firms are moving into banking to monetise existing customer relationships and create new revenue streams in a sluggish economy.
In December, Wise said it secured its first regulatory approval on the continent after South Africa’s central bank conditionally authorised a license that would allow it to handle travel-related transactions.
It can also process the annual prescribed allowance that South African residents are allowed to spend offshore without requiring a tax clearance certificate, and offer remittance services.
The London-based company’s Wise platform, which allows banks and other businesses to use its infrastructure for transfers, recently partnered with Capitec to “power” the South African lender’s international-payments offering.
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