UniCredit becomes first major bank in Europe to launch fast, secure foreign-currency payments through partnership with Wise Platform

• Starting in Italy, the bank launches international payments with same speed, cost and simplicity as domestic, enabling retail customers to send money in a range of foreign currencies via the UniCredit mobile banking app

• Launch marks the next phase in UniCredit’s push to become Europe’s leading bank for payments

Milan, Italy, 15 July 2025 - UniCredit announces the launch of a new international payment service for retail customers, developed in partnership with Wise, the global technology company specialising in cross-border payments. This strategic collaboration makes UniCredit the first bank in Italy to integrate a fast, secure, and transparent solution for foreign-currency payments directly into its mobile banking app.

The new service enables international transfers from euros into several foreign currencies, with the same speed and simplicity as domestic payments. In most cases, funds are credited to the recipient within seconds¹, with clear, competitive pricing and a streamlined user experience.

Through the service, UniCredit’s Italian customers can quickly and easily send payments to recipients in selected countries², including the UK (GBP), Switzerland (CHF), Hong Kong (HKD), Singapore (SGD) and India (INR), with more currencies in development.

The initiative builds upon UniCredit’s track record of pioneering payments solutions, including the introduction of embedded FX conversion when making or receiving payments in over 120 currencies through UC PayFX, as well as advanced FX management and transaction monitoring through UC PayFX Webservice.

Raphael Barisaac, Global Head of Payments & Cash Management at UniCredit, commented: “Our mission is to transform payments into an agile, borderless experience, capable of moving with the speed and transparency of a fintech. Our customers expect simple, fast and transparent solutions at an affordable cost, even when it comes to complex transactions such as international wire transfers. This new service was created to meet exactly these needs and represents a fundamental step in this direction.”

Steve Naudé, Global Managing Director at Wise Platform stated: “This partnership marks a milestone for millions of people and businesses that rely on UniCredit for their daily banking needs. Wise and UniCredit share a clear vision and a strong consumer focus and we’re looking forward to offering an even more seamless, faster, and efficient international payments experience to UniCredit’s customers”.

Where traditional bank offerings for international payments rely on correspondent banking networks, which take time to process and can lead to unpredictable costs, the new solution draws on Wise’s on-the-ground presence and direct access to local payment systems to facilitate a significantly faster and more transparent process.

The service will be rolled out to UniCredit customers in Italy starting from 21 July 2025, with plans to extend availability to additional countries in the near future.

-ENDS-

¹ The service will be rolled out to UniCredit customers in Italy starting from 21 July 2025, with plans to extend availability to additional countries in the near future.

² Full list available on the bank’s website: unicredit.it > Privati e Famiglie > Tutti i servizi digitali > Pagamenti Digitali > Bonifici Online

About UniCredit

UniCredit is a pan-European Commercial Bank with a unique service offering in Italy, Germany, Central and Eastern Europe. Our purpose is to empower communities to progress, delivering the best-in-class for all stakeholders, unlocking the potential of our clients and our people across Europe. We serve over 15 million customers worldwide. They are at the heart of what we do in all our markets.

UniCredit is organized in four core regions and three product factories, Corporate, Individual and Group Payments Solutions. This allows us to be close to our clients and use the scale of the entire Group for developing and offering the best products across all our markets. Digitalization and our commitment to ESG principles are key enablers for our service. They help us deliver excellence to our stakeholders and creating a sustainable future for our clients, our communities and our people.

About Wise Platform
Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money. Over the last decade, Wise has built an entirely new network for the world’s money. 

Thanks to Wise Platform, banks and large companies can leverage Wise’s technology and embed the best way to send, receive, and manage money internationally into their existing infrastructure. With a wide variety of partners worldwide, Wise Platform saves banks and businesses time and money by allowing them to seamlessly bring fast, cheap, transparent and convenient cross-border payments to their customers.