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# Wise's foreign exchange margin half that of banks
- URL: https://www.examiner.media/wises-foreign-exchange-margin-half-that-of-banks/
- Published: 2026-01-30T07:12:12.000Z
- Updated: 2026-02-05T13:11:50.000Z
- Author: The Examiner
- Tags: chart, maintag-Chart, Week-04-2026

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/2b/562b4f8e-9dd1-43bb-a213-bc1615650661/content/images/2026/01/WIse-vs-banks-fx-rates-1.jpg)

Wise's margin on foreign exchange transaction is less than half that of banks. There could be many reasons for this; including bank ineffeciency, regulatory arbitrage and lack of true competition. What the chart suggests is that lower foreign exchange conversion margins are possible. Along with lower transfer fees, these could increase take home pay for migrant and remote workers. 

*Note:* direct LKR to USD conversion is not possible in Wise. Sri Lanka has many foreign exchange restrictions. However, Wise does allow converstion from USD to LKR and then conversion back. This allows us to calculate the spread (selling minus buying rate). 

*Source:* [Bank websites](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11zrL-xP4qt33LwHpjYBWK-cGKEotHfmyTU-IOOJ-yJM/edit?gid=0&ref=examiner.media#gid=0)