MELBOURNE, Australia, Feb. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Global fintech leader Airwallex today announced the launch of the Airwallex Borderless Card for businesses, in partnership with Visa, the world's leading digital payment technology company.
Launched at Pause Fest 2020, a leading innovation festival held in Melbourne, the new card will enable Airwallex account holders to pay suppliers in seconds and empower their teams to make corporate purchase decisions. As a result, businesses will be able to save time, cost and the hassle involved in managing these types of transactions.
The Airwallex Borderless Card is debuting in Australia and will become available in other markets around the world, including the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, later this year.
The new strategic partnership with Visa is a significant milestone for Airwallex. The collaboration focuses on innovative multi-currency cross-border payment solutions for businesses, bringing together Airwallex's market-leading international foreign exchange rates with the security, benefits and convenience of paying with Visa.
The Airwallex Borderless Card will be rolled out in two key phases. From today, Airwallex customers in Australia will be able to instantly generate and issue multi-currency virtual payment cards to pay suppliers in seconds. With the ability to make payments to merchants globally where Visa is accepted, the new card will provide greater efficiencies and improved financial oversight for business operators. Both single use or multi-use cards are available with individual transaction limits across currency and merchant types, providing total control and visibility over payments.
More features will be introduced in the coming months, including the ability to set daily, weekly or monthly spending limits and time usage limits, as well as access to enhanced reporting and reconciliation.
The second phase, due at the end of Q1 2020, will see the Airwallex Borderless Card expand to offer multi-currency corporate cards for business owners and their employees, further empowering them to make every-day corporate purchase decisions. Airwallex customers will be able to generate individual corporate cards instantly, bypassing traditional processes that require extensive paperwork, hefty annual fees and bank queues. The corporate cards will first be available in physical form, with a virtual rollout later in Q2 2020 in digital wallets and via the Airwallex corporate card mobile app.
Airwallex and Visa's partnership will revolutionise the cross-border payments experience for businesses that need to make payments to multiple parties across different geographies, such as online marketplaces, online travel agents and businesses who work with gig economy workers.
"Airwallex's goal has always been to set up a global financial infrastructure that helps businesses to grow and scale. In the last few years, we have cemented a growing reputation as one of the world's leading cross-border payments providers. This partnership with Visa takes us to a new level, where we can now offer businesses an end-to-end financial services solution. We have evolved to become a business account that will support the financial needs of today's modern business," said Jack Zhang, CEO and Co-founder of Airwallex.
Chris Clark, regional president, Asia Pacific, Visa, said on the announcement, "Today, cross-border B2B payments remain a cumbersome and costly affair, which can impact small businesses and corporates who are time-starved and need to keep a close eye on their cashflow. This is why we are excited to partner with Airwallex to help businesses make seamless, secure and convenient international payments, all linked to a Visa account. By leveraging our network and scale, businesses on the Airwallex platform can now make payments to any merchant that accepts Visa".
Airwallex's partnership with Visa marks the latest stage in the fintech's growth, following the office openings in Japan and India and its integration with Xero in Q1 2020.
In 2019, Visa's commercial card solutions generated more than US$1 trillion in payment volume, making Visa the largest card payment network for B2B payments in the world. As fintechs continue to be a key enabler in driving new payment flows and creating new ways to pay and be paid, the Visa and Airwallex partnership speaks to Visa's commitment in partnering with fintechs to scale their payment innovations around the world, with increased safety and speed.
About Airwallex
Airwallex was founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2015 with a simple goal - to push the boundaries of a business account in an increasingly borderless world. Airwallex has since secured over $200 million USD in external funding, supported by top-tier investors including DST Global, Sequoia Capital China, Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Gobi Partners, Horizons Ventures and Square Peg Capital. The company's core strength lies in its proprietary tech-driven infrastructure to enable low-cost, high-speed and transparent international collections and payments. Airwallex has been on an expansion journey and has now established ten international offices across Hong Kong, Melbourne, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, Singapore, London, San Francisco, Tokyo and Bangalore. www.airwallex.com
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world's leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company's relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit About Visa, visa.com/blog and @VisaNews.
