Shares in Wise (WISE) fell more than 10% on Monday, hitting a 52-week low, after an investigation by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed that Belgian prosecutors had opened a formal inquiry into whether the fintech’s accounts were used to launder criminal proceeds.
The investigation centres on roughly €500m in suspicious transactions linked to Wise accounts that appeared in hundreds of cross-border judicial assistance requests from more than 30 European countries.
Prosecutors in Brussels, who opened the probe last year, are examining whether the company’s platform served as a conduit for proceeds from fraud, drug trafficking and corruption – and whether its anti-money laundering controls met legal requirements.
The company confirmed it is co-operating with the Brussels prosecutor’s office, describing the engagement as routine.
In a statement, Wise said no specific findings had been shared with it and that it would be “speculative” to comment on allegations at this stage.
It pointed to £131m in compliance spending over the six months to September 2025 as evidence of its investment in financial crime controls, and noted it holds more than 80 regulatory licences worldwide.
This is not the first time Wise’s AML framework has come under the microscope. The National Bank of Belgium flagged shortcomings in its controls back in 2022, leading to a remediation plan.
In 2023, the UK Treasury found the company had breached financial sanctions against Russia. Then last year, Wise’s US operation settled with six state regulators for $4.2m over violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and counter-terrorism financing rules.
The disclosure lands just weeks after Wise moved its primary listing from London to the Nasdaq, a shift intended to raise its profile with US investors and broaden its capital base.
That repositioning now sits awkwardly alongside fresh regulatory scrutiny in Europe, where the company processes the bulk of its cross-border volume – some $243bn in transactions during its 2026 financial year across its 19 million active customers.