Save bank fees with Wise Business

In short: If you have lots of transactions – direct debits from clients, wages, suppliers, card payments – many traditional banks charge you per transaction. For us that was around €700 per quarter. A Wise business account charges no fee per transaction, but it has its own fees. Work out your costs and compare them with Wise’s current pricing.

Our experience

What the bank really cost us

At our own companies we paid Austrian banks around €700 per quarter in transaction and account fees. A small association we know was paying more than €2,000 per quarter. With Wise Business we pay no fee per transaction.

• Our companiesaround €700per quarter= around €2,800 a year
• A small associationover €2,000per quarter= over €8,000 a year

Our own experience with Austrian banks (transaction and account fees), as of October 2026. Your costs depend on your bank, account model and number of transactions.

Project your current bank costs

Bank costs per quarter (€)

You will find this on your bank statement or quarterly account summary.

€700 (our companies)€2,000 (association)

Your current bank costs per year–

Your current bank costs over 5 years–

Wise Business has its own fees (e.g. one-time setup, currency conversion, certain transfers). Check Wise's current pricing and compare it with your bank statement.

This is not a guaranteed saving – the calculator only shows what your current account costs you over time.

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Our model

Our model: Wise for everything online – bank only for cash

Ideal if you need (almost) no cash and do everything online.

1. 1

   Everything online via Wise

   We pay wages, ÖGK, the tax office, suppliers and other companies online from Wise – including larger amounts of several thousand euros. In our experience the money often arrives within seconds (no guarantee).

2. 2

   Keep your bank account

   We keep our regular bank account – only for cash. As hardly anything is booked there any more, we essentially only pay the standard quarterly account fee, without the many per-transaction costs.

3. 3

   Cash via your bank

   When we need cash, we transfer from Wise to our bank and withdraw it there at the ATM or counter. This cuts our costs considerably.

Honest note: withdrawing cash directly with the Wise card costs extra – for us it was up to €10.79 for a €400 withdrawal. Check the fees in Wise's current pricing.

How bank costs get so high

Traditional business and association accounts are often priced in several parts: a monthly account fee, an amount per transaction line (incoming and outgoing), charges for paper orders, cards and sometimes postage for statements. With few transactions you hardly notice. With many client payments, wages and suppliers – or an association with many membership fees – every single transaction adds up.

So look at the quarterly account summary on your bank statement. The fees are usually listed there in total. Enter that amount in the calculator above.

Who should take a look

• Self-employed people and sole traders
• GmbH and other small limited companies
• Associations with many membership fees or donations
• Cleaning companies with many monthly client payments and wage transfers
• Trades and craft businesses
• Online shops with many small incoming payments
• Companies with payments abroad or in other currencies

What Wise Business is – and what it isn’t

Wise Business is a business account for payments in euros and many other currencies. Wise is not a bank but a licensed e-money and payment institution. In the EU this is Wise Europe SA, supervised by the National Bank of Belgium. Wise explains how customer money is safeguarded on its help pages.

What matters to us: Wise charges no fee per transaction. There are other costs instead – for example a one-time setup fee, fees for currency conversion and for certain transfers. Wise shows the current fees in its pricing and in the app before you confirm.

What to check before switching

Switching accounts is more than one click. We clarified these points first – and you should check them for your business or association too:

• IBAN: Wise issues its own IBAN. Check whether your clients, the tax office, SVS, ÖGK and your other direct-debit partners work with it.
• Cash: There are no cash deposits like at a bank branch. If you take a lot of cash, you need another solution for that.
• Credit and overdraft: Wise does not offer classic loans or overdrafts like a traditional bank. If you need a credit line, keep a bank account for that.
• Bookkeeping: Check with your tax adviser how statements (e.g. as an export) get into your accounts.
• Fees: Compare Wise’s current pricing with your bank statement – especially if you have many payments abroad or currency conversions.
• Signing authority: For a GmbH or association: who may approve payments? Check how you can set this up at Wise.

Many businesses use Wise in addition to their existing bank account: the bank account stays for credit, cash and single direct debits, and the many day-to-day transactions run through Wise.

How to switch in 4 steps

1. Check your costs: add up the bank fees of the last four quarters from your statements and compare them with Wise’s pricing.
2. Open the account: create a business account via our referral link. Wise asks for company details (e.g. trade licence, company register or association register extract) and your ID.
3. Move your payments: put the new IBAN on invoices and letterhead, inform clients, and move suppliers, wages and standing orders step by step. Check every direct debit individually.
4. Scale down the old account: only once everything works, downgrade the old account or keep it as a second account.

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Frequently asked questions