The cross-border news just keeps on coming, as Yahoo Finance reports in this brief release on yet another partnership. This one has a 2015 Hong Kong start up, Airwallex, which specializes in integrated solutions to businesses for cross-border transactions, partnering with Visa on a multicurrency virtual card for B2B use cases. The product is being called Airwallex Borderless Card, and appears to be more of an outbound payables vehicle.
‘Through the partnership with Visa, businesses on Airwallex will be able to instantly generate a multi-currency virtual Visa payment account to pay their suppliers within seconds. Businesses can take advantage of Airwallex’s market-leading international foreign exchange rates as the virtual payment accounts are linked directly to its foreign currency accounts, with transactions being funded as and when they happen. Further, businesses are able to set transaction limits, including currency and merchant types, which gives control and visibility over the payment while improving security and reducing the chances of a fraudulent transaction.’
The product will be initially available in Australia, with the UK and Hong Kong slated for follow on launches this year. The article also suggests that Airwallex will be a sponsored issuer of walking plastics for corporate employee travel, although it does not mention when.
There is no mention of what institution is the sponsoring issuer in Austrailia, but it’s likely one of the big four. We must also assume that this is a credit vehicle. Airwallex has more than $200 million in funding through investors that include DST Global, Sequoia Capital and Tencent Holdings (WeChat).
Cross-border is one of the themes in our 2020 Outlook for commercial & enterprise and there has already been a bevy of activity in the space, with obviously more to come. Readers of this posting can register for free to attend our February 6, 2020 webinar on Outlooks across the full payment landscape.
‘Looking ahead, Visa and Airwallex will enable businesses to issue individual multi-currency Visa corporate cards to employees. This will allow businesses to empower their employees to make purchasing decisions while retaining visibility and control over spend. For employees, a Visa corporate card provides all the benefits and convenience of paying with Visa, without having to first pay out of their own pocket and wait to be reimbursed.’
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
