Selecting the right platform for small business finance dictates how much capital your company bleeds through foreign exchange markups and recurring administrative overhead. UK enterprises balancing cross-border supplier invoices against domestic cash flow frequently choose between fintech giants, where how to pick banking services determines long-term operating margins. Both platforms present distinct operational architectures tailored to specific commercial transaction profiles.
| Feature | Wise Business | Revolut Business |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Subscription | £0 (one-off £45 registration fee) | £0 (Basic) to £79 (Grow) and £249 (Scale) |
| FX Exchange Rate | Mid-market rate + 0.33% to 0.67% transparent fee | Mid-market rate within plan allowances; 0.6% markup on weekend or excess volume |
| FSCS Protection | No direct FSCS coverage; protected via FCA safeguarding rules | No FSCS coverage for standard electronic money accounts; ring-fenced safeguarding |
| HMRC Integration | Direct API with Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent | Native integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent |
| Local Account Details | 9+ currencies (GBP, EUR, USD, AUD, CAD, etc.) | GBP and EUR domestic details; multi-currency IBANs |
| Team Expense Cards | £3 per additional physical debit card | Custom corporate cards with dynamic spending limits |
| Corporate Balance Yield | Wise Interest (Invested in government bond fund, FSCS applies to investment up to £85,000) | Flexible Cash Funds (Money market funds via partner banks, FSCS investment coverage) |
Which Business Account Is Best For Your Company?
Micro-enterprises and cross-border freelancers typically extract the highest efficiency from Wise Business. The one-off £45 onboarding fee eliminates recurring monthly charges, which protects margins when cross-border receivables fluctuate between £1,850 and £7,420 each quarter.
Fast-scaling domestic enterprises managing substantial internal teams gain a structural advantage from Revolut Business. Granular corporate card controls allow finance directors to issue virtual cards with rolling £350 spending caps, reducing administrative reconciliation hours.
Importers handling recurring supplier invoices denominated in US Dollars or Euros should calculate their exact monthly transaction volume before committing. Companies transferring more than £48,500 monthly often offset Revolut's £79 monthly subscription through bundled fee-free currency allowances, whereas sporadic foreign exchange operations remain far cheaper on Wise's pay-as-you-transact schedule.
Retail operations seeking comprehensive multi-channel payment acceptance benefit more from Revolut's built-in merchant gateway. The platform processes card payments at a 1.2% plus £0.20 blended card-present fee, keeping point-of-sale operations under a unified administrative umbrella.
How Do Revolut and Wise Handle Multi-Currency Conversion Fees?
Under the FCA Payment Services Regulations 2017, payment service providers must clearly disclose foreign exchange markups and transaction charges to commercial clients before trade execution. Wise applies the live mid-market exchange rate and charges an explicit variable fee that averages 0.43% across major currency pairs like GBP/EUR and GBP/USD.
Revolut Business permits fee-free currency exchanges up to a fixed monthly threshold established by your subscription tier. Once a company exceeds its plan limit—such as £10,000 on the Grow plan—a 0.6% markup applies to all subsequent conversions.
Weekend conversions introduce a crucial operational difference that finance teams must actively monitor. Wise retains its standard live spread throughout the weekend, whereas Revolut applies an additional 1.0% markup between Friday 22:00 UTC and Sunday 22:00 UTC to insulate itself against market fluctuations.
Treasury managers reviewing portfolio diversification principles for idle company liquidity must account for these conversion spreads when shifting between foreign currencies. Converting £18,650 on a Saturday through Revolut results in a £186.50 penalty that never occurs through Wise.
What Are the Exact Monthly Account Fees and Hidden Charges?
Wise Business operates on a transparent, pay-as-you-use pricing structure without monthly recurring maintenance charges. Opening an account requires a one-time onboarding payment of £45, which unlocks local receiving accounts in nine currencies.
Revolut Business utilizes a tiered monthly SaaS pricing model ranging from a limited £0 Basic plan to £79 for Grow and £249 for Scale. Custom Enterprise contracts frequently exceed £795 monthly depending on transaction throughput and dedicated account management requirements.
Domestic UK payments via Faster Payments cost £0.20 per transaction on Wise after exhausting any temporary promotional balances. Revolut includes an allowance of free domestic transfers—such as 100 on the Grow tier—charging £0.20 for each additional payout thereafter.
Receiving international wire payments via SWIFT involves hidden fees that alter corporate balance sheets. Wise charges a flat £3.14 fee to receive non-local USD payments, while Revolut's SWIFT fees depend on intermediary banking arrangements that deduct between £12 and £35 per settlement.
How Do Card Issuance, Team Access, and Expense Management Compare?
Distributing corporate expense cards to employees represents a significant administrative headache for expanding teams. Revolut Business allows administrators to configure bespoke card permissions, assigning project-specific limits like £850 per month or restricting transactions to specific merchant categories.
Wise Business provides corporate debit cards for an upfront issuance charge of £3 per physical card. While Wise supports digital cards with monthly spending caps, it lacks Revolut's comprehensive receipt-matching mobile interface that alerts employees instantly upon purchase.
Automated software synchronisation accelerates month-end reconciliations across both accounting ecosystems. Just as structured tools reshape personal balances within debt management solutions, dedicated corporate expense controls prevent rogue company spending before statements close.
Revolut offers multi-tiered administrative permissions that separate read-only accountants from authorized payment release managers. Wise offers similar team roles, but Revolut's workflow engine accommodates multi-level approval hierarchies for transactions exceeding £4,500.
How Do Their Accounting Integrations Align With HMRC Requirements?
Compliance with HMRC's Making Tax Digital (MTD) mandate requires UK businesses to maintain clear, auditable digital records of all sales and purchases. Wise Business links directly to leading accounting packages including Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent through robust open banking APIs.
Revolut Business maintains equivalent API integrations across the primary UK accounting platforms and includes Sage support. Data syncs execute automatically every 4 to 6 hours, streaming currency exchange splits, merchant details, and fees directly into the general ledger.
Discrepancies often emerge when accounting software attempts to reconcile multi-currency balances across international accounts. Wise mitigates this by passing separate ledger entries for conversion fees, ensuring that HMRC VAT returns accurately reflect bank charges as exempt inputs.
Firms looking to optimize operational surplus through index funds in the UK must keep corporate accounts distinct from investment entities to satisfy statutory audit standards. Both platforms provide downloadable CSV and OFX statements that fully satisfy HMRC record-keeping rules for seven operating years.
Which Platform Delivers Superior Yields on Corporate Cash Balances?
Holding uninvested treasury reserves in non-interest-bearing accounts causes rapid balance sheet erosion during periods of persistent inflation. Wise Business tackles this problem through "Wise Interest", which sweeps surplus funds into public debt funds managed by BlackRock.
Revolut Business offers "Flexible Cash Funds", an institutional product routing corporate cash into standard money market funds with daily interest accruals. Yields on both platforms closely track the Bank of England base rate, delivering net returns between 4.12% and 4.65% depending on account tier.
Regulatory protection for these interest-generating products operates through an investment structure rather than traditional retail deposit schemes. Assets in Wise Interest and Revolut Flexible Cash Funds are held in segregated custody accounts, making them eligible for statutory FSCS investment compensation up to £85,000 per entity.
Treasury officers comparing these yield mechanisms against institutional asset allocations or understanding credit score factors must recognize that capital remains at market risk. Money market funds strive to preserve net asset value, but they do not constitute guaranteed commercial bank deposits.
How Do International Payment Speed and SWIFT Routing Differ?
Cross-border settlement speed dramatically impacts commercial relationships with overseas vendors. The Financial Conduct Authority recorded that more than 60% of Wise's global transactions complete within 20 seconds using their proprietary peer-to-peer netting ledger.
Revolut routes international outbound payments through a hybrid infrastructure utilizing both local clearing partners and the traditional SWIFT network. While European SEPA Instant transfers settle within seconds, outbound wires to North America or Asia often require 1 to 2 business days.
Tracking lost or delayed wire payments creates operational friction that drains internal company resources. Wise issues an end-to-end UETR tracking code for SWIFT transfers, allowing accounts payable clerks to pinpoint exactly which intermediary bank holds the funds.
Companies managing cross-border commercial transactions must balance speed against fee predictability. Wise provides a guaranteed delivery time before executing transactions, whereas Revolut provides estimated delivery windows based on historic route processing times.
Safety & Regulatory Notes
Neither Revolut Business nor Wise Business operates as a standard UK retail bank with universal FSCS deposit protection on primary balances. Under Regulation 23 of the Electronic Money Regulations 2011, both institutions must safeguard customer funds by placing corporate balances into segregated accounts at authorized credit institutions like Barclays, NatWest, or the Bank of England.
If an authorized Electronic Money Institution (EMI) enters insolvency, company funds remain ring-fenced from standard corporate creditors. An appointed insolvency practitioner must distribute these safeguarded funds directly to account holders, minus their statutory administration fees. This regulatory separation guarantees that your operational capital is not lent out on wholesale commercial credit markets.
Real-World Cost Example
Consider a UK digital marketing agency transferring £14,650 to an overseas software development team in the United States once per month. Over an 11-month fiscal period, the company executes £161,150 in total cross-border transactions.
Wise charges the live mid-market exchange rate alongside a transparent 0.41% conversion fee on the GBP/USD pair. This results in a fee of £60.07 per transaction, alongside the one-time £45 account setup fee, yielding an 11-month aggregate cost of exactly £705.77.
Executing the identical transaction volume on Revolut's Basic plan incurs a 0.6% excess exchange fee on £13,650 of the monthly transfer after exceeding the £1,000 fee-free limit. This generates £81.90 in conversion fees monthly, totalling £900.90 across 11 months. Upgrading to the Revolut Grow plan at £79 monthly permits £10,000 in fee-free conversions, reducing transaction fees to £27.90 per transfer, but elevating the total cost across 11 months to £1,175.90 due to subscription fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are commercial balances held in Revolut or Wise protected by the FSCS?
Standard transactional balances are protected via statutory safeguarding rules rather than the FSCS £85,000 deposit guarantee. If you opt into Wise Interest or Revolut Flexible Cash Funds, your capital is invested in money market funds covered by FSCS investment protection rules up to £85,000.
Can my company pay UK corporation tax to HMRC using Wise or Revolut?
Both platforms support standard Faster Payments directly to HMRC's collecting accounts using your 17-character Corporation Tax payment reference. Transactions settle on the same business day when initiated before normal banking cutoff times.
Which platform is better for physical retail and point-of-sale processing?
Revolut Business is substantially better for physical retail environments due to Revolut Reader, a proprietary mobile POS terminal. Wise does not offer merchant card processing or physical card terminals, focusing entirely on cash transfers and cross-border bank settlement.
Do Wise and Revolut issue credit cards or commercial overdrafts?
Wise Business does not issue credit facilities, overdrafts, or lending lines to corporate customers under any circumstances. Revolut offers small business loans and commercial credit cards in select jurisdictions, but access in the UK remains subject to strict underwriting checks.
What happens to our money if Wise or Revolut enters administration?
Client funds are safeguarded in ring-fenced accounts at tier-one UK clearing banks, entirely separated from the provider's balance sheet. An appointed insolvency administrator distributes these balances back to clients, although legal and administrative expenses can be deducted during resolution.
Methodology
Our commercial evaluation is based on rigorous empirical testing across live UK commercial accounts, analyzing ledger settlements, corporate dashboard capabilities, and API functionality. We executed live currency conversions between GBP, EUR, and USD during market operating hours and across weekend intervals to verify exchange spreads against Bloomberg composite rates.
Subscription expenses, ancillary transfer fees, and expense management parameters were directly cross-referenced with public pricing disclosures and terms under FCA regulatory oversight. Yield projections on corporate surplus accounts reflect Bank of England monetary policy shifts and prevailing institutional money market prospectus filings as of 2026.
Conclusion
Selecting between Revolut Business and Wise Business depends entirely on your corporate transaction structure and administrative footprint. Wise functions as an exceptional, low-friction utility for businesses seeking the lowest cost on international invoices without the weight of recurring software subscriptions. Revolut Business serves as a complete financial operating system, combining enterprise expense cards, merchant processing, and payroll permissions that justify its monthly fees for fast-moving, multi-employee firms.
Disclaimer: This article is published solely for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Commercial banking requirements vary by business structure, transaction volume, and operational industry. Always review the detailed terms and fee schedules provided directly by financial institutions, and consult a qualified chartered accountant or financial adviser authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority before executing major corporate treasury adjustments.
About the author. Roxaine — BSc Economics, 6 years tracking retail banking & payments. Roxaine writes about consumer finance from a practitioner’s view, not a textbook. This piece on investing in UK draws on bsc economics, 6 years tracking retail banking & payments. Follow the work on LinkedIn or Twitter.
0 Comments