Wise is mulling a banking licence application as it builds out the infrastructure for a globally-connected money movement network.
The company has reached out to financial services heavyweights in the last two months regarding roles related to starting a banking business in the UK, according to The Times.
Plans are understood to be at a very early stage. Wise is already an RTGS clearing member of tthe UK's high-value payment network, Chaps. A banking licence would allow it to pay direct interest on electronic money as an alternative to yields derived from money market funds and stock portfolios.
The latest rumblings follow the fintech's application for national trust bank status in the US. If it secures a nondepositary national trust bank charter, Wise will be able to connect directly to the Federal Reserve payment systems, bypassing intermediaries.
The firm has been heavily investing in its infrastructure to gain direct acess to payment rails in key markets, setting its sights on crossing the billion pounds transaction processing barrier and moving trillions of pounds across the world.