LONDON, May 2, 2026, 19:44 BST
Wise PLC Class A investors face the company’s looming Nasdaq move with a new update on voting rights, putting governance back in the spotlight. On Friday, Wise disclosed it had 1,025,672,252 Class A ordinary shares outstanding, each carrying a single vote, alongside 204,338,749 Class B shares. However, after limits on CEO Kristo Käärmann’s Class B voting rights, total exercisable votes add up to 2,443,283,067.
The clock is ticking. The High Court has greenlit a scheme of arrangement—essentially a court-backed shuffle—that will see Wise Group plc step in as the parent company over Wise plc. Wise plc Class A shares are set for their last day of trading on May 8. Then, Wise Group Class A shares are slated to start trading in London and on Nasdaq come May 11.
Wise will drop its London-primary listing status, but isn’t leaving the city. The company says shifting its primary listing to the U.S. is aimed at unlocking strategic and capital-markets advantages, yet it’s keeping a U.K. listing to serve current investors.
Wise shares had been reflecting the listing news ahead of time. According to Bloomberg, Wise PLC finished May 1 at 1,083 pence in London, up 31.5p, or 3%. Fidelity pegged the market cap near £10.84 billion, with prices refreshed at 18:57 BST.
Wise’s latest operating update offers investors a pre-switch snapshot of its growth. For the fourth quarter, the company handled £49.4 billion in cross-border volume, a 26% jump from a year ago. Active customers reached 11.3 million. Underlying income — Wise’s preferred adjusted metric — came in at £435.3 million, up 24%. CEO Käärmann described ongoing progress on “building the network for the world’s money,” pointing to Wise’s infrastructure making cross-border payments “cheaper and faster.” Investegate
The U.S. connection is more than just a listing location for Wise. The company sees America as its largest growth prospect, and trading on Nasdaq brings it into the orbit of investors familiar with payments and fintech stocks. Rival Revolut, which remains private, is stepping up its own U.S. expansion; Reuters said in March that Revolut had applied for a U.S. bank charter and picked Cetin Duransoy to head its U.S. operations.
The switch isn’t exactly simple. According to Wise’s U.S. registration statement, Wise Group plc is set to become the reporting entity once the reorganisation wraps up. The document flags some tax and regulatory gray areas for U.S. investors—most notably, the chance that U.S. tax authorities could dispute the company’s planned tax-deferred approach. There’s also a warning about PFIC status, a tax label for foreign firms with heavy passive income or assets; if Wise plc or Wise Group plc gets hit with that classification, it could trigger unfavorable tax consequences for shareholders.
Class A shareholders are staring at a straightforward timeline: Wise plc’s existing Class A shares are set for their last day of trading on May 8, with Wise Group plc Class A shares slated to kick off trading on both London and Nasdaq come May 11. What happens after? It’s all about demand—will the U.S. primary listing actually deliver more liquidity, or just distract from Wise’s mission to cut costs on cross-border transfers.
