OakNorth partners Wise Platform for cross-border payments

By Divya Shah

OakNorth selected Wise Platform to power international payments for its UK business banking customers, enabling SMEs to make faster and more transparent cross-border transactions.

Through the partnership, OakNorth’s customers, primarily scaling businesses with annual revenues between £1 million and £100 million, gained access to international payments in more than 20 currencies. Supported currencies include the euro, US dollar, British pound, Indian rupee, Hong Kong dollar and Chinese yuan.

The new service allows businesses to send payments at the mid-market exchange rate, with 77% of transactions completed in under 20 seconds. The offering is designed to help SMEs make payments to overseas suppliers, partners and service providers more efficiently while providing greater cost transparency.

The collaboration comes as cross-border payment activity among UK SMEs continues to grow. Research commissioned by Wise and conducted by Edgar, Dunn & Company projected that UK SMEs will send more than £615.5 billion overseas in 2027. The study also forecast a 22% increase in overseas payment volumes between 2026 and 2029.

Manuel Sandhofer, EMEA General Manager at Wise Platform, said, “For small businesses in particular, every pound lost to hidden fees is money that could otherwise be invested back into growth. Wise Platform is built to make cross-border payments fast, transparent and low-cost, and we’re excited to work with OakNorth to help their customers maximise the value of every transaction they make.”

Despite the rising demand for international transactions, many SMEs continue to face hidden costs associated with traditional cross-border payments. Wise estimates that such charges could cost UK SMEs £7.5 billion in 2027.

Peter King, Director of Business Banking at OakNorth, said the bank’s customers increasingly operate across international markets and require payment services that support their growth ambitions. He added that integrating Wise Platform provides businesses with greater certainty around payment costs and delivery times, allowing them to focus on expansion rather than managing cross-border transactions.

Wise Platform is built on Wise’s global payments network, which includes more than 80 licences and direct connections to domestic payment systems in nine markets. The infrastructure enables the company to process the majority of payments instantly and support financial institutions seeking to improve their international payment capabilities.

OakNorth joins a growing list of financial institutions using Wise Platform, including Monzo, UniCredit, N26, Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered, to enhance international payment services for their customers.