Wise Business vs Personal Accounts in New Zealand: Understanding the difference

Wise is a global financial technology company providing New Zealanders with fast and affordable ways to complete international transactions.

To give customers all the tools they need to send, receive, hold and convert money into 40+ currencies, Wise offers two accounts: Business and Personal.

Unlike traditional banks, we strive to charge you less so more money stays in your account. Both our accounts carry this ethos, but there are notable differences in features and functions. In this blog, we’ll explore what those are so you can decide what’s right for you.

Table of contents
Difference between Wise Business and Wise Personal in New Zealand Wise Business account Wise Personal account Wise Business vs Personal account fees Key Features of Wise Business Is Wise suitable for businesses in New Zealand? Getting your own Wise Business account FAQs on Wise Personal vs Wise Business

Difference between Wise Business and Wise Personal in New Zealand

Moving money without borders is our mission. Wise Personal and Business accounts allow you to make fast international payments at excellent rates with no hidden fees. That’s our trademark, regardless of account type.

The main difference between Wise Business vs Wise Personal is that our Business account is designed to help organisations manage and transfer money globally at scale so they can cut costs, thrive day-to-day, and grow in the long term.

With Wise Business, you’ll get lots of enhanced tools — batch payments, Quickbooks integration, invoicing tools, and real-time expense tracking — to streamline and provide better visibility of incomings and outgoings. It's business money management made simple.

Wise Personal focuses on the individual — people who just want to send and receive money for their personal expenses or even when travelling overseas.

Here’s a comparison of the features available with Wise Business and Wise Personal.

Feature	Wise Business	Wise Personal
Low-cost international transfers at the mid-market rate	✅	✅
Hold 40+ currencies	✅	✅
Account details for 8+ currencies	✅	✅
Send money to 140+ countries	✅	✅
QuickBooks and accounting software integrations	✅	❌
Batch payments	✅	❌
Free invoicing and tracking tools	✅	❌
Multi-user permissions and business cards	✅	❌
Receive Amazon and Stripe payouts	✅	❌
Create payment links	✅	❌

It’s important to note that using a Personal account for Business finances is prohibited with Wise. Even if you are a sole trader or small business, you must open a Wise Business account to send and receive payments. Let’s take a closer look at the features you get.

What is a Wise Business account

Wise Business is built for business finances and cutting the cost of trading with people and entities overseas. You can use Wise to complete low-cost payments to suppliers, freelancers, service providers, tax authorities, and shareholders located abroad in up to 140+ currencies.

US small businesses spend $25bn a year just on currency exchange fees¹. Wise always converts currency at the mid-market rate, so you save money — every single time. Transparent and predictable fees allow you to plan and grow without fearing the unknown.

With our Business account, you can also get paid from abroad by creating a local business account in 23 currencies, hold money and convert it into 40+ currencies. All of this can be done in seconds, not hours or days.

Wise Business is more than money transfers, though. There’s an excellent suite of tools — batch transfers, invoicing templates, accounting software integration — to help you control your company’s entire financial workflow. These are exclusive to our Business account.

Sign up for the Wise Business account! 🚀

What is a Wise Personal account

Wise Personal is built for people who simply want to send money globally for less. There’s all the same functionality for managing international transactions, just without the deeper business-related features.

You can transfer, receive, hold, and convert money into multiple currencies. You can also get a Wise debit card for 14 NZD to spend while you are travelling or living abroad, and use at local ATMs.

Again, everything is converted at the real exchange rate without costly markups. There are no hidden fees and no monthly account limits or subscriptions.

Wise Business vs Personal account fees in New Zealand

At Wise, we believe in fair prices for everyone. Sending money to a relative overseas or receiving a payment from a supplier shouldn’t cost the earth.

In New Zealand, it’s free to register for both our Business and Personal accounts. You can then rely on transparent, consistent, and low-cost rates to send money, spend with your card, and receive payments.

Here’s a comparison of the fees for Wise Business and Wise Personal for residents in New Zealand.

Feature	Wise Business Fees	Wise Personal Fees
Register for a Wise account	Free	Free
Sending money	From 0.23%	From 0.23%
Withdrawing up to 350 NZD per month	Free (up to 2 withdrawals)	Free (up to 2 withdrawals)
Converting money	From 0.23%	From 0.23%
Receiving domestic payments	Free	Free
Holding and converting money between 40+ currencies	Free	Free
Getting account details to receive money in 23 currencies	40 NZD	Free
Getting a Wise debit card	Free	14 NZD
Receiving USD wire and Swift payments	6.11 USD	6.11 USD

As you can see, both Business and Personal customers access super low rates and ‘free for all’.

The main difference is that you’ll need to pay a one-time fee of 40 NZD for Wise Business to get local account details to receive payments in currencies such as AUD, EUR, and USD. On the upside, you can get your first Wise debit card for free — it’s 14 NZD for the same with a Personal account.

Key Features of Wise Business in New Zealand

Wise Business account holders unlock multiple features that make managing business finances that much easier.

Pay hundreds of people instantly

Batch payments are a godsend for time-strapped businesses. Wise lets you make up to 1,000 payments in one go simply by importing a CSV or XLSL file with relevant transfer and bank details. You can then review our exchange rates and fees before clicking send. It’s simple and reduces costly errors when you want to pay multiple vendors, suppliers, or freelancers overseas.

Send payment links and create invoices for free

Want to get paid quicker, too? The payment links feature allows you to create single-use or reusable links to send to recipients via email, SMS, WhatsApp or QR code. You can also attach due dates to your link and track the progress of payments right from your account.

Payment links are flexible — there’s the option to get paid by bank transfer, card and through Wise directly in multiple currencies. They work great with our free invoicing tool, too, which allows you to create high-quality branded invoices for freelance projects, product sales, and more.

Integrate your favourite accounting software

Our open API integrates with leading accounting tools including Quickbooks, Xero, and Free Agent, so all of your Wise transactions sync automatically. No manual inputs are required. You can also view unpaid bills in your accounting software and pay them instantly in Wise without having to navigate back and forth. Every payment is matched, too, for easier reconciliation. Wise takes the hassle out of audit trails and reporting.

Multi-permissions for diverse teams

You don’t have to worry about scaling up with Wise. You can add multiple users and manage their permissions through job-based profiles. Delegate tasks as you see fit or take control of everything — the choice is yours. You can also give employees a Wise debit card which can be managed and used to spend funds online, in stores, and abroad.

Sign up for the Wise Business account! 🚀

Is Wise suitable for businesses in New Zealand?

As the name suggests, Wise Business has been designed for enterprise use in New Zealand. More than 600,000 businesses rely on Wise to send payments to 140+ countries and receive funds like a local in 23 currencies.

Our services are as suitable for startups as large corporations. The ability to scale is baked in — a feature that gives you the agility to ramp services up and down depending on what your business needs at any given moment. You won’t be locked in. You will be free to expand and grow.

Wise Business works for most business types, including:

• Sole traders and freelancers
• Limited companies and public companies
• Partnerships
• Charities and trusts in New Zealand

[However, we don’t serve any unregistered charities or any businesses that are involved in prohibited activities like cryptocurrency, gambling, and adult content.]

Getting your own Wise Business account

You might be asking yourself: why not both? With Wise, you don’t have to compromise. You can open a Business account and manage it right alongside your Personal account. And it’s free to register.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for opening a Business account:

1. Navigate to wise.com/nz or the app and click ‘register’
2. Enter your email address and click ‘next’
3. From the two account options, select ‘Business account’
4. Select New Zealand from the drop-down box for country or region
5. Agree to the terms and our Acceptable Use Policy
6. Verify your phone number with a code to set up 2FA
7. Create a password

Verifying your Wise Business account

Once you’re in, we’ll need a few more details about your business and yourself so we can verify your business and complete the process. These details include:

• Your business location, registration number (NZBN), industry, social media accounts, and personal details for stakeholders.
• Your personal information including name and date of birth.

The final step is to enter an amount you want to send someone and pay for the transfer. We’ll then get to work to verify your account — this typically takes several working days.

When everything is complete, we’ll notify you by email. You can then start using all the Wise Business account features to make and receive payments and manage your payroll.

Using a Wise Personal and Business account

If you’ve already got a Wise Personal account, you can register for a Business Account by heading to the settings and selecting ‘open an account’.

We always recommend using a Business account for business finances. Using a Personal account for this purpose is against our terms of use. Wise Business also offers lots of valuable tools like batch payments, invoicing, tracking expenses, payroll management, and more that you won’t have access to.

Sign up for the Wise Business account! 🚀

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FAQs on Wise Personal vs Wise Business

Can I switch my Wise account from Business to Personal?

You don’t need to switch accounts. You can register for both a Business and Personal account for free with Wise and manage them separately. This allows you to keep your business and personal finances separate, which is a best practice for tracking expenses, creating audit trails, and general cash flow management.

How to transfer money from a Wise Business account to a Wise Personal account?

Your Business and Personal accounts will have separate bank details for each currency that you can use to set up a transfer. To make a payment, switch to your Business account, click on a currency, enter an amount and then create a recipient using your Personal account bank details. After completing the transaction, you will see the money in your personal account.

How long does Wise take to verify a Business account?

It takes up to 10 working days to verify your business account. All you need to do is tell is us about your business and then set up and pay for a transfer. We’ll then double-check the details and send a confirmation on completion. Verifying your Business account helps Wise to keep your money safe and secure.

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Sources:

1. Wise - State of US SSMBs report