Thread by @kaarmann

1/ This is our Q3 update to the @TransferWise community of 4 million people and businesses. Have we made progress on our mission this quarter? Thread below 👇

2/ Reminder. The TransferWise mission is money without borders — instant, convenient, transparent and eventually free. To pay, to get paid, to spend, in any currency, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. 💰 + ⚡ + 💳 + 🌍.

3/ Speed. Money should move in seconds at home and across borders. In September, 12.4% of our transfers were instant, up from 8.3% in Q2, thanks to a better setup in India. We call transfers *instant* when they reach your bank account in less than 20 seconds.⚡

4/ Speed. Instant is the future but same-day will have to do for slower countries. We got faster sending money from Switzerland - majority of transfers from CHF now reach us in <4 hours. Transfers to UAE also became faster, they will now arrive a day faster. 🇨🇭🇦🇪

5/ Speed. Our estimates about when your money is going to arrive at the recipient's bank account are getting more precise. In Q3 75% of transfers got an estimate that was within 2 hours of the time money eventually arrived. Your bank still says “3-5 business days”.⚡

6/ Fees. We believe sending money shouldn’t cost more than sending an email. We made big price drops in Q2 and less progress this quarter. We were still able to drop fees on many routes sending to THB and to IDR. 🇮🇩🇹🇭

7/ Fees. We made a mistake with fees for people using borderless balances. In July we removed the ~50p fee on same-currency payouts. We realised the cost for these payouts hadn't gone away and we had to put the fees back. There's no excuse for creating the illusion of free. 🍄

8/ Transparency. Our comparison site now has 58% bank coverage in the UK - missing just Barclays and Santander. We also added the 4 largest banks in NZ, UOB in Singapore, Hang Seng and HSBC in Hong Kong.🔎

9/ Transparency. Your disappointment with banks hiding fees is getting harder for financial regulators to ignore. ACCC launched an investigation into hidden exchange-rate markups by Aussie banks. They want your input, don't hold back. 🇦🇺
consultation.accc.gov.au/compliance-enf…

10/ Transparency. EU parliament drafted amendments requiring European banks to disclose their fees in exchange rate mark-up, against the banks' lobbying. These are early baby steps, but please say thanks to your MEP for staying cool and pushing on. 🇪🇺
ec.europa.eu/info/publicati…

11/ Convenience. Canadians can now send money using bill payments from their bank - 21% of new transfers from CAD are now done this way. 🇨🇦

12/ Convenience. We translated the website, apps and communication to Romanian - it's now the 11th language in which TransferWise is available. 🇷🇴

13/ Coverage. We built TransferWise for everyone, whoever they are, wherever they live. Our borderless account now gives local US account numbers to US residents and businesses. These account numbers were initially limited to non-residents. 🇺🇸

14/ Business. In Q3 we made TransferWise available for businesses in Japan and Turkey. More than 5,000 businesses in Europe also received their green debit card through the beta programme, so they can use their borderless balances directly. 💳
medium.com/transferwise-i…

15/ Team. We're now a family of 1200+ people from 71+ nationalities, working in 11 offices around the world. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

16/ Team. We'll power the world’s cross-border payments to fix the $200bn per year that banks hide in exchange rate markups - lots to build. Something you can help with? We’re hiring for 84 roles - Singapore, Budapest, London, Tallinn, NYC, Tampa, ...
transferwise.com/jobs/

17/ Read the full story here. We’ll give you another update of progress on mission in Jan for Q4. 👩‍🚀
transferwise.com/gb/blog/transf…

PS/ Throwback to Q2 '18 mission update.

https://twitter.com/kaarmann/status/1029785318256459777