The fintech app will nonetheless continue to provide its remittance services for users based in Indonesia.
The financial technology company Wise has confirmed that its app’s e-wallet feature is scheduled to be deactivated beginning on the 23rd of May 2024. Additionally, Wise has issued an official statement urging users of its app to withdraw their existing funds within the e-wallet feature before the deactivation date. However, the company has emphasised that this decision does not entail the removal of all its operations and services from Indonesia.
“To avoid any misunderstanding about the services that Wise will provide to users in Indonesia: going forward, we will only focus on our remittance service,” stated Elian Ciptono, the country manager of Wise Indonesia, in an official statement made back in March.
Ciptono further confirmed that users based in Indonesia can still use the Wise app to transfer funds to and receive funds from overseas bank accounts. Nevertheless, with the e-wallet feature set to be deactivated, any incoming and outgoing funds will be directly transferred to and from the user’s bank account instead.
Ciptono encouraged users of the Wise app not to doubt whether they wish to continue using the app or not.
“Wise Indonesia’s primary business has always been remittance, per our local licence, and this business has been growing fast,” Ciptono continued. “Indonesian customers are able to use our multi-currency account and card under another Wise entity licence for a selected period of time, which has been done under Bank Indonesia’s awareness.”
Ciptono also hinted that, despite the upcoming deactivation of its e-wallet feature, Wise still has more plans in store for users based in Indonesia.
“As we grow, we hope to bring more products and services to Indonesia over time,” he concluded.
Previously known as TransferWise, Wise is a financial technology company focused on simplifying global money transfers. Generally, Wise offers three products: Wise Account, Wise Business, and Wise Platform. The app made headlines in 2023 when it was reported that Wise deliberately suspended the opening of new accounts for users based in Ukraine after the Russian invasion of the country. In the same year, Wise officially established a partnership with Indonesia’s Bank Mandiri by assisting in the improvement of the latter’s mobile app Livin’ By Mandiri and its remittance services.