Airwallex banks and payment partners

analysisAirwallex said in 2021 that it had more than 40 banking partners worldwide. Its current customer-funds page says the group partners with banks around the world, names DBS, J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered and ANZ among them, and offers customers the ability to spread funds across more than 60 banking partners. In the United States the page says Evolve Bank & Trust, a member of the FDIC, provides payment services to certain US customers as an Airwallex partner bank and holds their funds in an omnibus account for the benefit of Airwallex's customers, eligible for FDIC pass-through insurance. Airwallex launched its Yield product for Australian customers in 2024 in partnership with J.P. Morgan, offering a return on Australian and US dollar balances, as an accounting trade publication reported from the company's statement on 1 July 2024. ^{1 2 3}

analysisIn May 2021 Airwallex described itself as a principal member of Visa and Mastercard when it launched online card acceptance in Hong Kong, after the same service started in the United Kingdom and Europe in September 2020. A technology news site reported in April 2020 that it had introduced Borderless Cards in partnership with Visa and an integration with the accounting platform Xero, and in March 2019 that it plugged into partners such as Stripe to offer other financial services; the reports were based on company announcements and do not describe the contractual terms. A fintech trade publication reported in November 2021 that Airwallex business accounts connect with online stores such as eBay, Shopify and PayPal and with accounting packages such as Xero, without describing how each integration works. Brex's legal terms, in a version dated 5 November 2024, provide that its card program in the European Union is governed by Airwallex EU Card Terms, with Airwallex as the card issuer partner; the terms do not name which Airwallex company issues the cards. Airwallex's newsroom lists a collaboration with Visa on payments for freight platforms announced on 23 July 2026 and, on 13 August 2026, the addition of Affirm's pay-over-time options for US shoppers of Airwallex merchants. In 2017 Jack Zhang said Airwallex was already working with Tencent to lower back-end costs for its WeChat Pay service overseas, and that taking strategic investment from Tencent made sense because of the WeChat ecosystem; no agreement is among the retained records. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8}

analysisTwo Australian newspapers reported in April 2021 that National Australia Bank had cancelled transactional banking services for Airwallex's customers in 2018 and that Citigroup later declined Airwallex's application for banking services. According to the newspapers, NAB told Airwallex the decision followed a post-royal commission policy to limit exposure to low-revenue money services businesses, while multiple unnamed sources said the services were withdrawn over red flags about Airwallex's customers, suspicious transaction patterns and the abrupt exit of its head of compliance. A Citi spokeswoman confirmed that Citi declined the application because Airwallex did not meet the bank's risk criteria; NAB continued to provide residual services, such as payroll and rent, to the Australian entity. The newspapers stated that they did not suggest Airwallex facilitated money laundering, only that other banks had concerns about its ability to comply with anti-money laundering laws. An Airwallex spokeswoman said security and compliance were at the centre of every transaction and that the company did not cut corners; Airwallex said it was not aware of any concerns from NAB about payment transfers, that there was no instance of Citigroup rejecting it over any concerns and that it was in ongoing dialogue with Citi. Both banks had approached Airwallex for possible business in 2020; NAB ended those discussions in October 2020 and the Citi enquiries did not lead to business, according to the newspapers. ^{1 2}

analysisThe same report quoted a former NAB insider as saying NAB believed Airwallex was doing transactions that could not be explained, that its accounts had triggered a number of alerts in the bank's anti-money laundering department and that customers appeared to make rapid round-trip payments between accounts to inflate their businesses' valuations; multiple sources said Citi had been concerned that Airwallex wanted to do business with customers in sanctioned countries. These sources are anonymous and no bank record is among the retained documents; Airwallex denied dealing with customers in sanctioned countries. The newspapers also said more than 20 former employees had told them the firm pursued a "grow at all costs" strategy in which customer acquisition and retention were routinely prioritised over thorough due diligence and suspicious payments were often ignored or downplayed. An Airwallex spokeswoman rejected those claims, saying they did not represent the way the company conducts its business, that systems were in place to detect and review unusual or suspicious transactions, and that its compliance program had been reviewed by regulators, audited and confirmed by reputable international firms. ²

analysisOne of the newspapers confirmed in April 2021 that ANZ had provided transactional services to Airwallex since 2017 and that its venture arm ANZi Ventures had made two investments in the company. It reported that ANZ's policy prohibits clients such as Airwallex from taking on remitters as clients, and that internal Airwallex documents showed it had signed an agreement with the Chinese payments company Onerway in 2018, forecasting US$71 million of transactions for it that year, and was in discussions with at least 17 other money transfer businesses. The documents are not among the retained records, and the report does not say whether ANZ objected to these arrangements. An ANZ spokesman said the bank could not discuss individual customers but was fully aware of its legal obligations and conducts additional due diligence on businesses involved in international payments; Airwallex said it does not comment on specific customer matters, that it is open and frank with all its banking partners and that it adheres to their specific requirements. ¹