How does Airwallex work? A guide for Singapore businesses

Key takeaways:

• Airwallex is a MAS-licensed Major Payment Institution, not a bank, giving Singapore businesses access to multi-currency accounts, near-interbank FX rates, and global payments from one platform.

• Singapore businesses can open a free Explore account with no monthly fee, hold funds in 20+ currencies, and send free transfers to 120+ countries via local rails.

• Unlike a traditional bank account, Airwallex protects customer funds through MAS-mandated safeguarding in a ring-fenced client trust account, with no cap on the protected amount.

How does Airwallex work? If you're considering Airwallex for your business, understanding how the platform works can help you decide whether it's the right fit for your payment and financial operations.

Unlike a traditional bank, Airwallex is a financial technology platform that combines multi-currency accounts, international transfers, payment acceptance, corporate cards, and expense management in one place.

This allows businesses to manage global finances without relying on multiple providers.

In this guide, we'll explain how Airwallex works, how Singapore businesses can use it, and what to expect when opening and using an Airwallex account.

What is Airwallex?

Airwallex is a global financial platform that helps businesses manage payments, foreign exchange (FX), and spending across borders. It is not a bank.

In Singapore, it operates as a licensed Major Payment Institution (MPI) regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Airwallex was founded in Melbourne in 2015. It is now dual-headquartered in Singapore and San Francisco, and serves 200,000+ businesses worldwide across more than 26 offices globally.

Airwallex in Singapore

Singapore is more than just a regional office for Airwallex. It is one of the company's two global headquarters and one of its fastest-growing markets. Revenue in Singapore grew 107% year-on-year in FY2025, the second consecutive year of triple-digit growth in the market.¹

That growth reflects how many Singapore businesses are using Airwallex to solve a specific problem: the high cost and slow speed of cross-border financial operations through traditional banks.

Where a traditional bank account handles local SGD operations well, the moment you start dealing in USD, EUR, or other currencies, the fees and delays add up quickly.

Airwallex is built for that gap. It gives businesses access to multi-currency accounts, near-interbank FX rates, corporate cards, and global payment acceptance, all in one platform.

You do not need to close your existing bank account to use it. Many Singapore businesses run Airwallex alongside their local bank.

What is Airwallex used for?

Airwallex is used by Singapore businesses that deal with money across borders. The platform covers four broad jobs: collecting money from overseas, paying suppliers or staff internationally, managing team spending in multiple currencies, and accepting payments from customers globally.

Here’s what you can do with Airwallex:

Collecting overseas revenue without a foreign bank account

If you sell on Shopify, invoice US clients, or receive payouts from Amazon or Lazada, you normally need a local bank account in that market to avoid high conversion fees.

With Airwallex, you can open a USD account with US banking details, a EUR account with a European IBAN, or accounts in 20+ other currencies, all from Singapore, without setting up entities abroad.

Paying overseas suppliers and contractors

Many Singapore businesses pay suppliers in China, Malaysia, or Europe regularly. Each transfer through a traditional bank typically carries wire transfer fees plus an FX margin on top, which adds up fast if you are paying multiple vendors each month.

With Airwallex, you get free transfers to 120+ countries via local rails, and FX conversion runs at 0.4% to 0.6% above interbank rates, saving you up to 80% on FX fees as compared to traditional banks.

Managing team spend across currencies

If your team regularly pays for SaaS tools, travel, or online advertising in foreign currencies, a standard SGD card can add international transaction fees to every purchase.

With Airwallex Corporate Cards, your team can spend directly from held currency balances and avoid international transaction fees when paying in those currencies.

Accepting payments from 180+ countries

If you run an online store or a platform business, Airwallex lets you accept payments via credit cards, GrabPay, WeChat Pay, and 160+ other local payment methods across 180+ countries.

What products does Airwallex offer Singapore businesses?

Airwallex is organised into five product areas. Here is what each one does and who it is most relevant for.

Business Accounts

Business Accounts is the core of the platform. It includes three products.

• Global Accounts lets you open multi-currency accounts with local banking details in 20+ currencies. This lets overseas clients and platforms pay you as if you were a local business in their country.

• FX & Transfers lets you send money to 200+ countries. 94% of transactions go through local payment rails rather than SWIFT, which makes them faster and cheaper. FX conversion is priced at 0.4% to 0.6% above interbank rates, saving you up to 80% on FX fees.

• Yield lets you earn returns on idle SGD and USD balances. Rates vary by plan and change over time, so check the Yield page for current figures. Yield is provided by Airwallex Capital (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., which holds a Capital Markets Services Licence from MAS.

Spend

The Spend suite covers how money leaves your business:

• Corporate Cards are Visa-powered virtual and physical cards for company and employee use. You can issue virtual cards instantly, set spending limits, and freeze or cancel cards from the dashboard. There are no international transaction fees.

• Expense Management connects to your Corporate Cards and lets employees submit receipts via the Airwallex mobile app. Finance teams can approve expenses, run multi-level approval workflows, and sync transactions directly to your accounting software.

• Bill Pay handles accounts payable. You can upload invoices, automate approval workflows, and pay vendors globally at the same FX rates available elsewhere on the platform.

• Purchase Orders lets you manage the full procurement cycle, from purchase request through to payment.

Payments

The Payments suite is for businesses that collect money from customers. It includes:

• Checkout (a hosted payment form)

• Payment Links (no-code payment requests you can share via email or messaging)

• Payment Plugins for Shopify and WooCommerce

• POS Payments for in-person acceptance

On top of that, there’s Airi, a one-click checkout feature built directly into Airwallex Checkout and Payment Links.

This auto-populates saved payment details for returning customers across 170+ countries, reducing checkout friction without any additional setup or extra fees on top of standard payments pricing.

For businesses building towards AI-driven commerce, Airwallex also offers the Agentic Commerce Suite, a payment infrastructure layer that lets AI agents discover your catalogue and process payments on behalf of customers. It is currently available via waitlist.

Billing

Billing covers invoicing, subscription management, and usage-based billing for software and services businesses.

Platform APIs and Embedded Finance

For businesses that want to build financial products or automate payment operations, Airwallex offers a full API suite covering accounts, payouts, FX, card issuing, and more.

How to open an Airwallex account in Singapore

Getting started with Airwallex is an online process. There are no branch visits, no paper forms, and no opening fees. Here is how it works:

Step 1: Apply online

Go to the Airwallex sign-up page and create an account. You will need:

• Your company's Unique Entity Number (UEN)

• An NRIC or passport for each director

• Your ACRA business profile

Step 2: Wait for approval

Airwallex reviews your application, typically within a few business days. This is faster than opening a traditional bank account, which can take one to two weeks and often requires an in-branch appointment.

Step 3: Activate your accounts

Once approved, you get a default SGD collection account. To receive payments in other currencies under your company name, turn on Global Accounts for each currency you need.

This gives you local banking details, such as a US account number and routing code for USD, a European IBAN for EUR, a UK sort code for GBP, and equivalents in 20+ other currencies.

Step 4: Fund your account and start transacting

Transfer funds from your existing bank account to get started. From there, you can send free transfers to 120+ countries via local rails, convert currencies at competitive FX rates, and issue virtual Corporate Cards to your team instantly.

Step 5: Connect your tools

Link Airwallex to Xero, QuickBooks, Shopify, or your other business tools via the integrations page. If you are already on Xero, transactions sync automatically, removing the manual reconciliation step each month.

How much does Airwallex cost in Singapore?

Airwallex offers three pricing plans for Singapore businesses. The plans differ mainly in spend controls and card limits, not in access to core features like multi-currency accounts, FX, or transfers. All prices are in SGD and exclude GST.

The Explore plan covers the core use case for most Singapore SMEs.

You get multi-currency Global Accounts in 20+ currencies, free local transfers to 120+ countries via local rails, FX conversion at competitive rates, up to 10 company cards, expense management, bill pay, and Xero and QuickBooks sync.

For businesses that primarily want to reduce FX costs and send international transfers more cheaply than a traditional bank, the free plan is often sufficient to start.

If your team is growing and you need tighter spend controls, the Grow plan at S$79 per month adds the AI expense policy agent, customisable multi-conditional approval workflows for expenses and bills, purchase orders, and up to 50 company cards.

It also unlocks HRIS integrations and free instant Yield withdrawals.

Key transaction fees

Regardless of plan, the following transaction fees apply:

• FX conversion: 0.4% above interbank rates for major currencies; 0.6% for all other currencies. This saves you up to 80% on FX fees as compared to traditional banks.

• Transfers to 120+ countries via local rails: Free

• SWIFT transfers to 200+ countries: S$20–S$35 per transfer

• Domestic card payments: 3.30% + S$0.50; 3.60% + S$0.50 for international cards

• Spend users: Five free per month; S$5 per additional user per month

For Yield rates, which vary by plan and change over time, check the Yield page for current figures. See the full breakdown on the Airwallex Singapore pricing page.

Is Airwallex a bank?

No. Airwallex is not a bank. In Singapore, it operates as a licensed Major Payment Institution (MPI) under the Payment Services Act 2019, regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Its licence number is PS20200541.

As an MPI, Airwallex can provide payment services, hold customer funds, and offer FX and transfer services. What it cannot do is take deposits in the traditional banking sense, offer credit facilities, or provide business loans.

What this means for your funds

Because Airwallex is not a bank, your balance is not covered by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation (SDIC), which insures deposits up to S$75,000 per depositor per bank.

It is worth noting that SDIC does not cover foreign currency deposits at banks either, so businesses holding USD or EUR balances lose that protection regardless of where they bank.

Instead, MAS requires Airwallex to safeguard all customer funds in a ring-fenced client trust account, held separately from Airwallex's own operating funds.

Your money cannot be used by Airwallex's creditors or banking partners. If Airwallex were to cease operations, your funds would be returned to you with priority over all other creditors, with no upper cap on the protected amount.

Is Airwallex safe for Singapore businesses?

Yes. Airwallex is regulated by MAS as a Major Payment Institution (Licence No. PS20200541) under the Payment Services Act 2019.

All customer funds are held in a ring-fenced client trust account, separate from Airwallex's own operating capital and unavailable to its creditors. The platform meets PCI DSS, SOC1, and SOC2 compliance standards, and two-factor authentication is mandatory on all accounts.

Airwallex is also required to conduct AML and counter-terrorism financing checks on all customers and transactions — standard obligations for every MAS-licensed payment institution. Support is available via the Help Centre, email, and ticket submission for account-specific issues.

For a full breakdown of how Airwallex protects your money, data, and account, see our dedicated guide: Is Airwallex safe? A guide for Singapore businesses.

Businesses that use Airwallex in Singapore

Singapore businesses across several industries use Airwallex to reduce cross-border costs and manage multi-currency operations:

• Travel: EU Holidays uses Airwallex to manage supplier payments across multiple currencies, cutting unnecessary FX conversion costs on international bookings.

• Ticketing and experiences: GlobalTix uses Airwallex to collect revenue from international markets and manage cross-border payouts across Southeast Asia.

• Fashion retail: Love, Bonito uses Airwallex to manage financial operations across its multi-market expansion in the region.

• eCommerce and lifestyle: HipVan and Motherswork use Airwallex to handle international payments and multi-currency spend.

See how Love, Bonito used Airwallex to expand across Southeast Asia and cut cross-border transfer costs by 25%:

Get started with Airwallex

How you use Airwallex is up to you.

Some Singapore businesses run it as their primary business account. Others use it alongside an existing DBS, OCBC, or UOB account, keeping their local bank for SGD payroll and GIRO while Airwallex handles international transfers, multi-currency accounts, and cross-border card spend.

The free Explore plan has no monthly fee, no minimum balance, and no opening costs. You can open an account, activate Global Accounts in the currencies you need, and start transacting in minutes.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

How does Airwallex work in Singapore?

Airwallex is a MAS-licensed financial platform that gives Singapore businesses multi-currency accounts, international transfers, corporate cards, and payment acceptance in one place. You sign up online, open Global Accounts in the currencies you need, and transact via local payment rails or SWIFT. Most accounts are approved within a few business days.

Is Airwallex a bank in Singapore?

No. Airwallex is licensed as a Major Payment Institution by MAS under the Payment Services Act 2019, not as a bank. It can hold customer funds and provide payment services, but it does not offer deposits, credit facilities, or business loans.

Is Airwallex safe to use in Singapore?

Yes. Airwallex is regulated by MAS, holds customer funds in a ring-fenced client trust account separate from its own operating capital, and meets PCI DSS, SOC1, and SOC2 compliance standards. Two-factor authentication is mandatory on all accounts.

How long does Airwallex take to approve an account in Singapore?

Most applications are reviewed within a few business days. The online application itself takes around 20 minutes. Complex ownership structures or additional documentation requests may extend the timeline.

What is Airwallex used for by Singapore businesses?

Singapore businesses use Airwallex to collect overseas revenue without a foreign bank account, pay international suppliers at low FX cost, manage team spend across currencies with corporate cards, and accept payments from customers globally via credit cards, GrabPay, and 160+ other payment methods.

Sources

1. businesswire.com/news/home/20260310485447/en