International remittance company Wise and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reached an agreement to settle the regulator’s allegations that the company advertised inaccurate fees and failed to provide consumer disclosures. The consent order settling the regulator’s charges includes Wise paying about $450,000 to harmed consumers and paying a $2.025 million penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund, the regulator said in a Thursday (Jan. 30) press release. Reached by PYMNTS, Wise said in an emailed statement that it “proactively and voluntarily” paid the $450,000 to consumers before the agreement was reached

Cross-border payments provider Wise is continuing its Latin American expansion by launching in Mexico.The London-based company announced in a news release Thursday (Jan. 30) that users will now be able to send money from Mexico to more than 160 countries in upwards of 40 currencies. It also allows Mexican nationals who live in the U.S. to send money back home.Wise says these sorts of transfers account for the “third largest corridor” for its U.S. customers, with the volume of transfers on this route doubling over the past two years.“Launching our services in Mexico is a continuation of our strong, consistent growth in North and Latin America,” Wise Chief Technology Officer Harsh Sinha said in the release. “Mexico, a region where consumers are loaded with unjust hidden fees, presents a strategic opportunity for Wise as it helps further our mission and opens a key currency route to bolster our business.”The release notes that while Mexican consumers are projected to send close to $28 billion in remittances this year alone, those consumers lost $446 million last year when sending money overseas due to hidden fees.“These fees can be buried in fine print, added last minute, or bundled with other costs like an exchange rate mark-up, making them hard to detect,” the release added.The company notes that this launch marks its ongoing growth in the Americas, following Wise’s expansion into Brazil, where it has launched 2 million international multi-currency cards and seen the number of individual customers in Brazil grow by 94% in the last fiscal year.Wise also recently began collaborating with digital banking giant Nubank in Brazil, with that company using Wise’s infrastructure to issue multi-currency accounts and debit cards.As PYMNTS wrote last year, Latin America (LatAm) is proving to be a key target for FinTechs, given the region’s population of younger, digitally-savvy consumers, unbanked/underbanked populations and a “regulatory environment conducive to digital innovation.”“Brazil stands out here as an example of LatAm’s appeal, given the fact that two-thirds of consumers own smartphones, the average sample age is 42, lower than the roughly 48 we estimated across 11 countries, and 39% are millennials, as compared to the overall average of 29%,” that report said

Wise, the global technology company building the best way to move and manage the world’s money, today announced its official entry into the Mexican market. The new service is designed for Mexican nationals who need to send money abroad, enabling a transparent, fast and seamless method for international money transfers. Wise’s launch in Mexico is part of the company’s goal of enhancing cross border payments and supporting consumers with world-class financial services. The Mexico launch is the second market in Latin America where Wise has established send and receive functionality, furthering its growth and expansion across the Americas region.Now Mexican nationals can easily and quickly send money from Mexico to over 40 currencies and 160 countries through a fully digital process using Wise’s app or website, where all features are accessible in one place.Offering transparency, speed and flexibility for MexicansAs the second-largest economy in Latin America, Mexico is a crucial player to regional trade and finance. According to a survey commissioned by Wise from Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC), a global research firm, Mexican consumers are this year alone projected to send over USD 27.9 billion in remittances globally.The same research found Mexicans lost USD 446 million in hidden fees when sending money internationally in 2024. These fees can be buried in fine print, added last minute, or bundled with other costs like an exchange rate mark-up, making them hard to detect