Vivid Partners with Wise Platform to Scale International Payments for European SMEs

Vivid has partnered with Wise Platform to integrate advanced cross-border payment capabilities for its European small and medium-sized business (SME) customers. This integration addresses a significant surge in international transaction demand, particularly toward Asian and Middle Eastern trade hubs, allowing business users to bypass traditional banking friction while maintaining transparency in exchange rates and fees.

What was announced

Vivid Business customers can now execute international payments in more than 40 currencies through a direct integration with Wise Platform. The service has launched with CNY payouts, which are currently available to users across 27 European countries, with additional currencies scheduled for rollout in the near future. The partnership is a direct response to a dramatic shift in how Vivid’s business clients are operating globally. During a ten-month period ending in May 2026, the number of Vivid Business customers making at least one international payment per month grew more than fivefold.

The demand is most pronounced in specific high-growth corridors outside of the European Union. When comparing the most recent six-month period to the six months prior, Vivid recorded that payments to China more than quadrupled. Similarly, transaction volumes to the United Arab Emirates increased by approximately 250%, while payments to Singapore rose by 40%. By leveraging Wise’s global payments network, Vivid can now offer its users access to over 80 licenses and direct connections to domestic payment systems in nine markets worldwide. This infrastructure ensures that 77% of all payments processed through the network arrive in under 20 seconds, providing a level of speed that traditional correspondent banking networks rarely match. Vivid joins a group of major financial institutions, including Monzo, N26, UniCredit, and Raiffeisen Bank International, that utilize Wise Platform to power their international transfer services.

"The modern entrepreneur is cosmopolitan, so their business banking should be. Cross-border payments are therefore essential for today's business banking. The growth we've seen over the past six months in customers sending money to markets like China, the UAE, and Singapore is proof of that demand. Together with Wise, we're now meeting that demand: offering the same speed and transparency when moving money to Shenzhen as when moving it to Stockholm."

Alexander Emeshev, Co-Founder at Vivid.

The companies involved

Vivid is a digital financial platform that provides a suite of banking, investing, and business management tools for both retail and SME customers in Europe. Co-founded by Alexander Emeshev, the company has positioned itself as one of the region's fastest-growing fintechs by consolidating complex financial services into a single, user-friendly interface. It competes in an increasingly crowded market of digital-first business platforms that aim to replace legacy banking relationships for the next generation of European entrepreneurs.

Wise, the company providing the underlying infrastructure for this partnership, has undergone a significant evolution since its inception. Formerly known as TransferWise, the firm rebranded to reflect its expansion beyond simple peer-to-peer remittances into a comprehensive global payments network. Its Wise Platform division allows other banks and enterprises to "plug in" to its proprietary rails, which bypass the traditional SWIFT network in favor of direct domestic clearing access. This model has made Wise a dominant force in the cross-border sector, known for its commitment to mid-market exchange rates and the elimination of hidden transaction fees that have historically characterized international business banking.

What this means

This partnership signals a critical shift in the SME banking landscape, where "local" banking is no longer sufficient for businesses operating in a globalized economy. As European SMEs increasingly source goods from China and expand operations into the UAE, the ability to settle invoices instantly in local currencies becomes a competitive necessity rather than a premium feature. This move puts significant pressure on traditional Tier 2 and Tier 3 banks that still rely on slow, multi-day settlement cycles. For the broader industry, the trend toward "infrastructure-as-a-service" is accelerating; fintechs are no longer building their own global rails, but are instead aggregating best-in-class providers like Wise to offer a superior user experience.