Wise: CEO History

2 leaders · 2011 to present

Who is the CEO of Wise?

Kristo Käärmann is the CEO of Wise, in the role since 2017. The first chief executive was Taavet Hinrikus, from 2011.

Current CEO: Kristo Käärmann (since 2017)
First CEO: Taavet Hinrikus (2011)
Leaders documented: 2
Founded: 2011

Name	Role	From	To	Years in role
Kristo Käärmann	Co-founder and CEO	2017	Present	9
Taavet Hinrikus	Co-founder and CEO	2011	2017	6

Who was CEO of Wise before Kristo Käärmann?: Taavet Hinrikus was CEO of Wise from 2011 to 2017, before Kristo Käärmann took over in 2017.

Company Overview

Wise Group plc is headquartered in London, has traded on Nasdaq under WSE as its primary listing since May 11, 2026, and keeps a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange under WISE. Co-founder Kristo Käärmann is CEO. The company is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

Wise earns transaction revenue in two buckets. Cross-border revenue comes from the fees on international transfers and conversions; in FY2026 the average cross-border take rate was 0.52% of volume, down from 0.58% a year earlier because Wise passes scale savings back as lower prices. Card and other revenue comes mainly from spending on Wise debit cards, which reached $43.6 billion in FY2026. On top of transaction revenue, Wise earns interest on the customer balances it safeguards, net of interest it pays out to customers. The company's stated policy is to keep a capped share of interest income above the first 1% of yield and return the rest to customers over time, which is why its medium-term target margin (15-20% income before tax) is lower than what it currently reports.

Kristo Käärmann

Co-founder and CEO

2017 – Present

9 years (current)

Key Decisions & Impact

Käärmann managed the incredibly complex, absolutely massive technical architecture required to integrate Wise directly into domestic payment rails around the world, completely bypassing the archaic SWIFT network to achieve instant transfers.

Legacy

As Co-Founder and CEO, he acts as the absolute driving operational force, maintaining the company's fanatical obsession with forcing transfer fees as close to zero as mathematically possible.

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Taavet Hinrikus

Co-founder and CEO

2011 – 2017

6 years

Key Decisions & Impact

Hinrikus executed the absolutely brilliant, highly aggressive early guerrilla marketing campaigns (like famously marching in London in their underwear) to explicitly expose the massive 'hidden fees' charged by legacy banks.

Legacy

As Co-Founder (and the absolute first employee at Skype), he provided the critical early vision and venture capital networking required to turn a simple idea into a massive global fintech giant.

Source →

Challenges & Strategic Context

Wise has to keep cutting prices while funding compliance, fraud prevention, licensing, and direct connections to domestic payment systems in many countries. A large part of current profit depends on interest earned on customer balances, so falling central bank rates or regulatory limits on that income would hit margins. Competition comes from banks, remittance companies, neobanks such as Revolut, and payment processors. FY2026 showed the trade-off: net revenue grew 19% while net income fell to $498.7 million from $550.3 million as operating expenses rose.

Wise CEO and Leadership FAQ

Who is the current CEO of Wise Group plc?

Kristo Käärmann is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wise, having led the company since its founding in 2011.

What was the division of leadership between the co-founders?

In the early years, Taavet Hinrikus served as CEO focusing on marketing, external relations, and regulatory advocacy, while Kristo Käärmann served as Chairman and operational architect before taking the CEO helm in 2017.

When did Taavet Hinrikus step back from executive duties?

Taavet Hinrikus transitioned from CEO to Chairman in 2017, and stepped down as Chairman in late 2021 following the public direct listing, remaining a major shareholder and active venture investor.

Who serves as Chairman of the Board of Wise?

David Wells, veteran technology executive and former longtime Chief Financial Officer of Netflix, serves as the independent Chairman of the Board of Wise.

What was the controversy surrounding Kristo Käärmann's UK tax dispute in 2021?

In 2021, UK tax authorities (HMRC) fined Käärmann for late personal tax payments; the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) conducted a regulatory review into his fitness, which concluded in 2023 allowing him to remain CEO.

How does Kristo Käärmann structure engineering teams at Wise?

Käärmann established an autonomous, decentralized team model where cross-functional product squads operate with independent key performance indicators, prioritizing speed of deployment over bureaucratic approvals.

Where does Kristo Käärmann spend his leadership focus today?

Käärmann concentrates on expanding Wise Platform bank partnerships, negotiating direct clearing licenses with global central banks, and advancing the mission of making international payments instantaneous and free.

How did the founders' Estonian background shape the company?

As alumni of Estonia's renowned digital governance ecosystem and early Skype employees, the founders instilled a deep engineering-first culture focused on eliminating bureaucratic friction through automation.