Hidden fees continue, despite EU transparency law: An open letter from the tech community to the European Parliament

Cross-border payments are a secret rip-off: European consumers lost 12.5 billion in hidden fees in a single year. In 2018, the European Union introduced a landmark rule to fix this. The goal was to give price transparency to consumers sending cross-border payments in the EU: the Revised Cross-Border Payments Regulation (CBPR2).

Its goal is to ensure consumers understand what they’re paying, before making a payment. The rule requires transparent pricing for consumers sending cross-border bank transfers from one EU country to another EU country, cross-currency (e.g. sending money from France to Romania). According to the law, “all currency conversion charges” must be shown to the consumer, before making the payment.

But today, big banks and other providers are continuing to hide fees in exchange rate mark-ups. That’s when they deliberately give you an exchange rate that’s much worse than the one you see on Google.

We came together with a group of tech companies in Europe to call on the European Parliament to take notice. As long as CBPR2 isn’t applied and enforced, European consumers will continue to lose out.

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About Wise

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move money around the world. With the Wise account people and businesses can hold over 50 currencies, move money between countries and spend money abroad. Large companies and banks use Wise technology too; an entirely new cross-border payments network that will one day power money without borders for everyone, everywhere. However you use the platform, Wise is on a mission to make your life easier and save you money.

Co-founded by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, Wise launched in 2011 under its original name TransferWise. It is one of the world’s fastest growing, profitable technology companies and is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker, WISE.

16 million people and businesses use Wise, which processes over €10 billion in cross-border transactions every month, saving customers over €1.6 billion a year.

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