Wise, Remitly Put Halt on Their Services in Russia amidst Global Financial Sanctions

UTC by Gladis Monteiro · 3 min read
Wise, Remitly Put Halt on Their Services in Russia amidst Global Financial Sanctions
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Wise has waived fees on more than 500,000 pounds worth of personal transfer transactions to meet emergency needs.

After the Russian attack on Ukraine, global organizations have been putting multiple sanctions on the erstwhile part of the USSR in a bid to stop the country from making situations more flammable. The latest ones to pull the plug with an aim to stop Russia are payments companies Wise, a fintech firm, and Remitly, a digital remittance service provider. The move came after the USA, supported by its allies, announced on Saturday that it would take action against the country’s Central Bank in addition to excluding some of Russia’s banks from the SWIFT international payments system.

Wise and Remitly’s Efforts to Bring about a Cease-fire and Stop Russia

Wise is a fintech that helps countries avoid high fees related to international money transfers by holding popular currency balances. This is not the first action Wise has taken against Russia. It limited daily transfers to 200 British pounds last week and a spokesperson confirmed it took the measures to offer its service to a large number of people. Another company spokesperson said that the fintech firm will keep monitoring the situation and regularly review the measures taken.

Remitly too, through its representative, confirmed that it has stopped the money transfers in Russia post the new sanctions were announced by the US and its allies.

As per the Reuters report, Wise has also put caps on transfers in Ukraine owing to operational challenges but confirmed that it will be removing the cap in some time. However, to make situations less stressful, the payments firm has waived fees on more than 500,000 pounds worth of personal transfer transactions to meet the emergency needs.

Wise, formerly known as TransferWise, is a fintech based out of London started by two friends Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus in 2011. The company aims to make the international money transfer process simple, inexpensive and transparent. The firm holds balances in more than 50 currencies and helps businesses, individuals and countries save both time and money. Companies like GoCardless, Bolt, etc. are their partners whereas individuals such asRichard Branson are amongst its investors.

Russian Attack on Ukraine

The Russo-Ukrainian War is an ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The conflict has been in existence since 2014 with Crimea at its centre, which was then a part of Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and the war for Donbas has been perpetuating ever since.  However, situations became tense soon in 2021 when the global community witnessed a major Russian military build-up around the borders of Ukraine. While NATO expressed its concerns and accused Russia of having assault plans, the latter spoke against NATO’s expansion and Ukraine becoming a member of it. The armed conflict began soon after Russia recognized the two self-proclaimed states in the Donbas region of Ukraine and sent troops to the region. It launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24th February 2022.

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