TransferWise launches mid-market rate debit card

The card’s 0.67% rate per transaction is six times cheaper than Singapore’s market average.

Aiming to solve the problem of additional costs from overseas transactions, financial technology company TransferWise has launched the first debit card in Asia that uses mid-market rate. The company said that users will enjoy a discounted rate six times lower than Singapore's market average of 4% per transaction.

Singaporean users will benefit from a much lower global average price of 0.67% when making cross-currency transactions, and if they’re travelling to US, UK, Europe, Hong Kong and Australia, prices can get as low as 0.44%.

A study commissioned by TransferWise shows that Singaporeans lose $1.1b a year to fees associated with overseas expenditure.

Besides lower rates, the TransfeWise debit card will come with a multi-currency account that lets users convert money in over 40 currencies. The card also uses smart technology that automatically chooses the currency with the lowest conversion fee.