Airwallex and Visa debut ‘borderless’ business card
by Ben Poole
Global fintech Airwallex has announced the launch of its Borderless Card for businesses, in partnership with Visa. Launched at Pause Fest 2020, an innovation festival held in Melbourne, the card is designed to 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 UK and Hong Kong, later this year.
The collaboration between the two firms focuses on multi-currency cross-border payment solutions for businesses, bringing together Airwallex’s international foreign exchange rates with the security, benefits and convenience of paying with Visa.
The card will be rolled out in two key phases. Airwallex customers in Australia can now 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 card should 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. 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’s goal has always been to set up a global financial infrastructure that helps businesses to grow and scale,” said Jack Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Airwallex. “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.”
“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,” commented Chris Clark, regional president, Asia Pacific at Visa. “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.”
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