Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Belgian prosecutors have opened an investigation into Wise’s accounts over possible money laundering tied to fraud, drug trafficking, and corruption. The news sent the London-listed fintech company’s shares sliding sharply, rattling investors who had only recently started feeling comfortable with the company’s compliance track record.

The investigation lands at an awkward moment. Wise had just spent the better part of two years trying to clean up its regulatory image, completing a remediation plan with Belgian authorities and settling AML deficiencies in the US. Now, prosecutors in Brussels are poking around again, and the market is not exactly giving the company the benefit of the doubt.

Belgium has been a compliance headache before This isn’t Wise’s first brush with Belgian regulators. Back in 2022, the Belgian National Bank flagged that the company was missing proof-of-address documentation for hundreds of thousands of customer accounts.

Wise entered into a formal remediation plan and confirmed by late 2024 that it had completed the required fixes. The Belgian National Bank’s findings from November 2024 highlighted these earlier shortcomings, but the company appeared to be moving past the episode.

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The new investigation by the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s office takes things to a different level. Regulatory findings about missing paperwork are one thing. A criminal probe into whether accounts were used for money laundering connected to drug trafficking and corruption is quite another.

A pattern of regulatory settlements Belgium isn’t the only jurisdiction where Wise has had to answer uncomfortable questions about its compliance infrastructure. In July 2025, the company’s US subsidiary settled with six states for $4.2 million over deficiencies in its anti-money laundering program.

The $4.2 million US settlement covered AML program shortcomings, not allegations of actual criminal activity flowing through the platform. The Belgian investigation, however, raises the stakes considerably by drawing a direct line between Wise accounts and potential proceeds from serious crimes.

The broader fintech compliance reckoning Wise is not the only European payments company under the microscope right now. The Brussels Public Prosecutor’s office also opened a money-laundering investigation into Worldline’s Belgian unit on or around June 27, 2025, citing media allegations that the French payments processor had been processing payments for illegal activities. Worldline’s shares fell as much as 10% on that news, coming on top of earlier drops as steep as 38%.

The parallel investigations suggest a broader regulatory sweep across payment processors operating in Belgium.

For Wise specifically, the Belgian probe creates a credibility problem. The company had presented its completed remediation plan as evidence that it had turned a corner on compliance. A criminal investigation suggests that prosecutors believe there may be more to the story than outdated address records.

The key variable to watch is whether prosecutors ultimately bring formal charges or whether the investigation results in a settlement or remediation order. A settlement, even a large one, provides closure. Formal charges open up the possibility of restrictions on Wise’s Belgian operations, which could have knock-on effects across the company’s European business.

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