Australia Economic Impact Report 2026
Australia’s productivity
opportunity
Modern financial infrastructure can lift
Australia’s productivity potential
Australia’s long-term prosperity depends on lifting productivity. Yet many businesses still lose time and money to financial infrastructure that wasn’t designed for the way they operate today.
Part of the opportunity lies in adopting modern financial infrastructure that reduces costs, saves time, and makes it easier to grow.
Mandala Partners’ research provides new evidence of what this can enable for individual businesses, and the wider Australian economy.
Table of Contents
Economic Impact
$4.6B in economic benefits generated
by Australian businesses using Airwallex in 2025
When businesses save time, reduce costs, and grow,
those benefits flow through the Australian economy
$4.6B in economic benefits generated
by Australian businesses using Airwallex in 2025
29,000 full-time jobs supported
across the Australian economy
29,000
One in every four dollars of economic benefit reaches regional, rural and remote Australia
Airwallex’s impact extends from major
Australian cities to remote regions
of benefits across
businesses
business productivity
$200,000 in annual economic benefits generated for the typical Australian SMB using Airwallex
For small businesses, these gains mean more than a stronger bottom line. They give back two of their most valuable resources: time and money.
$200,000 in annual economic benefits generated for the typical Australian SMB using Airwallex
$13,400 saved in financial costs each year
$13,400
12.4 hours reclaimed each week from
financial administration
12.4 hours reclaimed each week from financial administration
12.4 hours
4 percentage points higher annual revenue growth for SMB customers using Airwallex
13%
Airwallex customers
9%
Non-Airwallex customers
Reducing the cost and administrative burden of financial operations gives businesses more time and resources to invest in customers, innovation, and growth.
global competitiveness
Australian SMBs using Airwallex are 1.5x more
likely to expand internationally than SMBs overall
The average Australian SMB using Airwallex now trades
across 4.5 overseas markets, up from around 3 in 2021
2021
Today
The internet has given Australian businesses access to customers around the world. Modern financial infrastructure can help ensure the complexity of operating across borders doesn’t stand in the way, enabling more businesses to reach new markets, diversify internationally, and compete globally.
from Australia to the world
What Australia tells us about the future
Airwallex began in Melbourne a decade ago with a simple belief: businesses of every size should have access to the global financial infrastructure they need to operate and compete.
Today, we are building on that vision with the agentic global business account: bringing together the financial tools businesses need to manage their operations, powered increasingly by AI and automation.
Australia is our longest-established market, and Mandala’s research provides evidence of what that can enable, helping businesses become more productive, compete globally, and grow locally.
The challenges facing Australian businesses are not unique. If modern financial infrastructure can help businesses here spend less time and money managing financial complexity and more time building, hiring and growing, the opportunity extends well beyond Australia.
One way to put the scale of our impact in Australia in context is to consider what an equivalent contribution would look like in larger economies. Airwallex's $4.6 billion annual economic benefit in Australia is equivalent to around 2% of Australia's technology sector GDP. An impact of the same relative scale would equate to as much as US$60 billion in the United States and €40 billion across Europe each year.
These are not forecasts, but they illustrate the potential scale of the opportunity.
Our ambition for the next decade is to take what we’ve learned in Australia and scale that impact around the world, helping businesses everywhere become more productive, compete globally, and grow locally.
Jack Zhang
Co-founder and CEO
Airwallex
About the Research
This research was commissioned by Airwallex and independently prepared by Mandala Partners. It draws on Airwallex company data, a bespoke survey of 1,350 Australian businesses and Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
Mandala Partners
Mandala built an economic model drawing on a survey of 1,350 Australian businesses, Airwallex platform data and Australian Bureau of Statistics data to estimate the economic benefits associated with Airwallex in Australia.
The analysis compares businesses that use Airwallex with comparable businesses that use other financial platforms, with both groups weighted to match the size profile of Airwallex’s customer base. It estimates direct benefits to customers across three areas: productivity gains, growth from reaching new international markets, and lower financial fees, including FX fees, SWIFT fees, and platform fees.
These direct benefits are combined with ABS input-output tables to estimate the flow-on effects through customer supply chains, including the economic activity and jobs supported across Australia.
About Mandala Partners
Mandala is an economics, strategy and policy consulting firm. It combines detailed data, advanced analytical techniques and economic expertise to answer complex questions for businesses and governments.
With offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and London, and a presence across North America and Asia, Mandala advises clients in Australia and globally. Its work spans economic modelling, policy analysis, market research and strategy.
the airwallex economic advisory council
The Economic Impact Report has been informed by engagement with the Airwallex Economic Advisory Council – leading voices in finance and policy who advise Airwallex on the economic trends shaping global finance.
united states
Senator Roy Blunt
Former U.S. Senator, Missouri | Former Chair, Senate Republican Policy Committee
united states
Morgan Ortagus
Former Deputy Presidential Envoy to the Middle East | Former U.S. State Department Spokesperson | Former U.S. Treasury Intelligence Analyst
united states
Stephen Cutler
Former General Counsel, JPMorgan Chase | Former Director, SEC Division of Enforcement United States | Former Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
australia & asia pacific
The Hon. Josh Frydenberg
Former Treasurer of Australia
About Airwallex
Airwallex is the AI native financial operating system for modern businesses. We are building the future of global finance for a real-time, intelligent economy.
We serve more than 675,000 businesses worldwide, either directly or through our platform customers. From startups to multinationals, our customers use Airwallex to manage their financial operations, or to build and monetize their own financial products.
Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex holds 85+ licenses across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, forming one of the most comprehensive financial infrastructures in the world. This regulated backbone powers Airwallex products at global scale, including payment acceptance, billing, global accounts, corporate cards, and spend management.
We are co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore with over 2,300 employees across 27 offices. Learn more at www.airwallex.com.
