LONDON — British financial technology firm Wise has debuted an investments feature that allows users to invest in stocks through multiple currencies and spend their holdings.
The new feature, called Assets, allows customers to invest in BlackRock’s iShares World Equity Index Fund, which tracks a basket of 1,557 of the world’s biggest public companies. The fund’s holdings include Apple, Amazon and Alphabet.
Users will also be able to instantly spend up to 97% of the invested money in their accounts with a Wise debit card, or send funds overseas. The idea is that customers can hold their funds in stocks, but also still spend and send the money in real time, CNBC explained.
Hard to Manage
“Holding money in various currencies can be hard to manage efficiently,” said Kristo Käärmann, Wise’s CEO and co-founder. “Assets is seeking to solve that problem, by providing an opportunity for customers to earn a return on their money with us, in a host of different currencies, all in one place.”
Wise says it is holding back 3% of users’ invested cash as a “buffer” in case of any large market fluctuations, to prevent customers’ balances from dipping into negative territory.
The company is initially launching Assets for personal and business customers in the U.K. but plans to roll out the product in Europe at a later date, CNBC said.