OakNorth Partners with Wise Platform to Accelerate International Payments for UK SMEs

OakNorth has integrated Wise Platform to provide its UK business customers with faster, transparent international payments. For fintech professionals, this partnership highlights the continued trend of specialist banks outsourcing cross-border infrastructure to achieve the speed and pricing transparency that modern SMEs demand, while bypassing the inefficiencies and hidden costs of traditional legacy banking rails.

What was announced

OakNorth, the digital bank catering to entrepreneurs, has selected Wise Platform to facilitate international money transfers for its UK-based small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients. The service is specifically designed for scaling businesses with an annual turnover between £1 million and £100 million. Through this integration, these businesses can now send funds in more than 20 currencies, including major denominations such as Euros, US dollars, British pounds, Indian rupees, Hong Kong dollars, and Chinese yuan.

The technical integration leverages Wise’s global payments network, which holds over 80 licenses and maintains direct access to domestic payment systems in nine markets. This infrastructure allows for significant speed improvements; currently, 77% of payments processed through Wise are completed in under 20 seconds. Transactions are executed at the mid-market exchange rate, aiming to eliminate the "hidden fees" often associated with traditional bank transfers.

The move addresses a significant market volume. Research suggests that UK SMEs are on track to send over £615.5 billion overseas by 2027, with payment volumes forecasted to grow by 22% between 2026 and 2029. However, the same data indicates that these businesses could lose up to £7.5 billion to opaque transaction expenses in 2027 alone if they continue using traditional methods. OakNorth joins other major institutions like Monzo, UniCredit, and Standard Chartered in adopting the Wise Platform infrastructure to enhance their international offerings.

"Our customers are ambitious businesses with increasingly global needs and they need banking services that can keep up with the pace of their growth. Whether they’re paying suppliers overseas, entering new markets or working with international partners, knowing what their payments will cost and when their money will arrive are non-negotiable. By integrating Wise Platform, we can give our customers a better and more transparent way to move money internationally, helping them spend less time managing cross-border payments and more time focused on growing their businesses."

Peter King, Director of Business Banking at OakNorth.

The companies involved

OakNorth is a UK-based digital bank specifically designed to support the "missing middle"—ambitious, scaling businesses that are often underserved by traditional high-street lenders. Since its launch, the bank has established itself as a significant player in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, focusing on bespoke debt finance and savings products. Its model relies heavily on data-driven decision-making to provide faster credit assessments for businesses with turnovers up to £100 million.

Wise Platform is the dedicated infrastructure arm of Wise, a global technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange. While the consumer-facing Wise app is well-known for retail remittances, Wise Platform allows banks, credit unions, and enterprise software providers to embed the company’s cross-border payment capabilities directly into their own applications. By utilizing Wise’s proprietary network of direct connections to local clearing systems, partners can bypass the traditional SWIFT network, which often involves multiple intermediary banks and unpredictable fees. This B2B offering has become a core pillar of Wise's growth strategy as it seeks to provide the underlying plumbing for global finance.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed OakNorth’s expansion beyond its core lending business. Recently, the bank moved into the family finance sector, as seen when OakNorth Enters Children's Savings Market with 3.5% Junior Cash ISA and Bubble Partnership. The bank also remains a prolific lender in the corporate space, notably when OakNorth Backed EET Retail’s Acquisition of SGN Retail in £250M Club Loan Deal and when OakNorth Participates in a Club Loan to Specialist Care Provider, Kisimul Group. Additionally, the bank’s technological evolution was highlighted in coverage regarding how Leading European Financial Services and Insurance Firms Deliver Impact with OpenAI.

What this means

This partnership signals a defensive consolidation among digital challengers. As the SME banking sector becomes increasingly crowded, the "one-stop-shop" model is no longer about building every feature in-house, but about curating the best third-party infrastructure. By adopting Wise Platform, OakNorth removes a major friction point—international payments—that often drives scaling SMEs back toward Tier 1 banks. This puts immediate pressure on traditional lenders who still rely on correspondent banking fees for revenue. The industry question now is whether the mid-market can sustain its margins as transparency becomes the default expectation for business FX, potentially commoditizing what was once a high-margin service.