What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in? 

Our legal team has been involved in several key projects recently, in December 2022, we introduced Interest, allowing customers to earn returns balances by keeping their money in a fund that tracks central bank interest rates. Unlike traditional savings accounts our customers have unrestricted access to their money, and to our knowledge, this is the first-time retail customers have been able to access to these kinds of money market funds without restrictions. This feature is available in the UK, six EU countries, and Singapore. In January 2023, we launched Balance Cashback in Europe, providing variable cashback based on the balances customers hold. Finally, in April 2023, our legal team helped introduce the opportunity for US customers to earn interest at 3.92% APY on their balances while maintaining instant access to their funds to send and receive money.
 

Can you foresee any key developments to the way general counsel work over the next five years?  

There is an increased demand on general counsel to leverage their skills to solve non-legal problems and implement strategies to scale and increase efficiency of teams across the business. This development demands that general counsel continue adopting technology for the benefit of the business.
 

What are some of the main trends impacting the industry sector you work in in the United Kingdom?   

Policymakers globally are starting to pay closer attention to the issue of hidden fees and costs in cross-border payments. In the US, for example, a 2019 survey found that Americans are charged US$8.7bn in hidden fees every year. In October, Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau urging them to provide consumers with greater transparency around the costs of remittance payments. We want this level of transparency to become the norm, where people and businesses know what they pay with no small print.
 

As the legal landscape evolves, what steps are you taking to foster a culture of continuous learning and development within the legal team, ensuring that they are all well-equipped to address future legal complexities?  

This is incredibly important for the growth and stability of Wise and for our legal team to continually develop as high-performing lawyers. We encourage open dialogue and knowledge sharing within the team and we hold regular meetings where we focus on either on work-related matters or on relevant legal developments. Secondly, we continually carry out self-evaluation, individually or as a team, on gaps in our knowledge and develop concrete steps to close them. This might mean buddying up with one another or taking ownership of a project one would not ordinarily work to develop the lacking knowledge.