Wise faces Belgian money-laundering investigation over Wise Europe

Belgian prosecutors are investigating Wise Europe, the Belgian-licensed entity Wise uses to serve the continent, over suspected money laundering tied to fraud, corruption and drug trafficking. For PSPs and banks, the detail that matters is not just the headline: prosecutors say more than half a billion euros in suspicious transactions are under review, and Belgium is now the third authority to take issue with Wise’s AML controls.

1. Wise disclosed the probe on Monday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The stock fell 8% on the day, after dropping as much as 20%; by late morning in London, shares were down 14% and recovered slowly through the rest of the trading day.
2. The investigation centers on Wise Europe, the Belgian-licensed company through which Wise serves the rest of Europe. Prosecutors said the case has been open since 2025 and is being handled by the federal police’s organized-crime unit, DJSOC.
3. According to the prosecutor’s office, the case grew out of Wise’s “repeated appearance” in “hundreds of criminal files received in Belgium.” Those files came through European Investigation Orders and international letters rogatory, which are the formal channels countries use to request evidence from one another.
4. Prosecutors told American Banker that the transactions under review “would exceed half a billion” euros, drawn from hundreds of criminal files. The alleged activity is linked to fraud, corruption and drug trafficking, and investigators are examining whether criminal organizations used Wise Europe’s services.
5. The prosecutor’s office said the findings mainly relate to the use of Wise accounts for criminal purposes, with indications of non-compliance with anti-money laundering legislation, particularly due to a lack of proper identification of clients and their activities. The office said the investigation is “at an advanced stage and is nearing completion,” and it is finalizing a direct summons, a common prosecutorial route in Belgium that sends the case to criminal court without an investigating judge.

The Belgian case adds to pressure already familiar to high-risk payment teams: U.S. state regulators and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau both acted against Wise last year over AML controls. Wise also competes with banks on cross-border payments, and banks and large companies use its technology through Wise Platform, so this is one of those cases that lands well beyond one legal entity.