According to BusinessTech, Wise Group is looking for a country manager in South Africa after obtaining conditional regulatory approval to offer a limited set of services in the country.
A conditional licence means the regulator has allowed Wise to operate specific activities while additional requirements are still being satisfied. In this case the approval covers travel-related transactions, the processing of the annual prescribed allowance, the amount South African residents may spend offshore without a tax clearance certificate, and basic remittance services.
The company’s statement, quoted by BusinessTech, notes that the approval “marks a significant step in our mission to give South Africans access to a faster, cheaper, more transparent way to send money abroad,” said Nadia Costanzo, director for banking and expansion in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa. This is a company claim and has not been independently verified.
For small-business owners who regularly pay overseas suppliers or receive payments from abroad, Wise’s entry could mean lower fees and quicker transfers, provided the firm rolls out its services widely. The hiring of a Johannesburg-based leader is intended to navigate the remaining licensing steps, identify product opportunities and execute the expansion plan.
The move follows recent reforms by the South African Reserve Bank that allow non-bank financial-service firms and fintech companies to connect directly to the national payments infrastructure. Those reforms aim to boost competition and innovation in a market where insurers, retailers and telecommunications firms are also exploring banking-related services.
Wise has already partnered with Capitec to power the lender’s international-payments offering, suggesting a potential channel for South African customers to access Wise’s platform through an established local bank.
The timeline for a full launch remains unclear, as Wise must satisfy any remaining regulatory conditions before it can extend its services beyond the approved scope.
The job posting for the Johannesburg role reveals that Wise will report to senior leadership on both licensing milestones and product rollout plans, a detail not yet disclosed in the main story. The posting also notes that the London-based firm is listed on the London Stock Exchange and holds a secondary listing on Nasdaq, underscoring its dual-market presence. With a market capitalisation of roughly $11.7 billion, or about R194 billion, the company brings significant financial weight to the South African market, a factor that could influence negotiations with local partners and regulators alike.
Wise’s conditional authorisation, granted in December, represents its first regulatory green light on the African continent. The approval permits the firm to manage travel-related payments, process the annual prescribed allowance and provide basic remittance services, but it does not yet extend to the full suite of cross-border offerings it provides elsewhere. To move beyond this limited scope, Wise must demonstrate compliance with anti-money-laundering controls, data-security standards and the South African Reserve Bank’s reporting requirements before a full licence can be issued.
While Wise has not commented on the specifics of the country-manager role, the posting indicates the position will oversee the remaining licensing steps, map out product opportunities and coordinate with local entities to embed Wise’s technology. This includes liaising with the Reserve Bank’s National Payment System reforms, which now allow non-bank fintechs to plug directly into the payments infrastructure, a change that could accelerate the integration of Wise’s platform with South African financial institutions.
The partnership with Capitec, already announced, is likely to serve as a pilot channel for Wise’s services, enabling the lender’s customers to access international payments through Wise’s infrastructure. Such collaborations are part of a broader trend where insurers, retailers and telecommunications firms are venturing into banking-related services to monetise existing customer bases, a movement that the Reserve Bank’s reforms aim to support by fostering competition and innovation.
Regulatory conditions that remain to be satisfied include the submission of detailed operational risk assessments and the establishment of a local compliance office staffed by South African nationals. Once these requirements are met, Wise will be able to request an expansion of its licence to cover additional transaction types, such as business-to-business payments and higher-value remittances, subject to further approval from the central bank.
