Visa and Airwallex making B2B cross-border payments seamless

SINGAPORE (IndoTelko) - Visa and Airwallex announced a global partnership to launch the Airwallex Borderless Card, a B2B card-based payment solution to help businesses pay and be paid securely and conveniently.

The new offering will be available initially in Australia, with other markets around the world, including the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, to follow later this year.

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 partnership generates greater efficiencies, transparency and cost savings for businesses that often need to make payments to multiple parties across geographies, such as online marketplaces, online travel agents and businesses that work with gig economy workers.

"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," said Regional president, Asia Pacific, Visa Chris Clark.

"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.

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.

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[1]. 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.(wn)