No-annual-fee business credit cards: 6 factors cross-border companies should consider

If you run a business in Hong Kong that operates across borders, “no annual fee” may be one of the first features that you prioritise when choosing a business card. However, you may be overlooking other costs that could quietly erode your profits, including foreign transaction fees, FX markups, and the time spent manually handling reimbursements. 

This article introduces Airwallex, an all-in-one financial and payment platform, as an alternative to traditional business cards for your company. With Airwallex Corporate Cards and Global Accounts, your business can enjoy Corporate Cards without annual fees, handle cross-border payments, and manage your expenses on a single platform, significantly reducing FX costs and admin time, especially for cross-border marketers, so your business can focus more resources on scaling your global growth.

What is a business card?

A business card (or corporate card) is a tool that businesses use to pay for operating expenses, such as advertising spend, SaaS subscription fees, cloud service charges, business travel, and supplier payments. 

Why are business cards important for marketers?

For advertising and marketing teams, a business card is more than just a tool to “tap and pay”. It plays a crucial role in the operating plan. If your company runs campaigns across multiple channels or markets, insufficient credit limits, declined transactions or delayed transfers can suddenly disrupt campaigns and eventually push up customer acquisition costs while dragging down conversion rates.

Differences between business cards and personal cards

If your employees are still paying out of pocket for business expenses with their personal credit cards, your finance team cannot monitor company spend and cash flow in real time, and will need extra time to complete reconciliation and review. In contrast, if you issue business cards linked to the company account for your employees with card-level limits and rules in place, you can keep budgets, spend accountability, and reimbursement workflows inside the company systems, ensuring expenses align with internal financial rules.

Uncovering the real cost behind traditional business credit cards

Even when a traditional business credit card claims “no annual fee”, businesses can still face steep, hidden costs when spending in foreign currencies. Banks usually charge around 2% in foreign transaction fees, plus an additional 1.5–3% FX markup, bringing the total FX cost to at least 3% per transaction. 

If you run an advertising agency and spend US$80,000 a month on overseas expenses, you’ll pay about US$3,200 in hidden costs every month when you face a 2% foreign transaction fee plus a 2% FX markup. While this may seem like a small proportion of the total amount, it adds up to nearly US$38,400 a year, equivalent to around HK$300,000. As spending increases during peak seasons, these extra costs rise alongside your budget, eroding profit margins and weakening the company’s competitiveness over time.

This is why the real priority lies in reducing FX fees and manual admin costs, and managing expenses in real-time to keep every dollar of spend within budget, rather than focusing only on the “no annual fee” feature, which addresses a small part of your operating costs.

How to reduce global operating costs?

After identifying the hidden costs of traditional business cards, the next step is to look for alternatives that can help you reduce costs and redeploy capital more effectively. With Airwallex, you can manage cross-border payments, control team spend, and automate workflows on a single platform, cutting both operating and admin costs.

Use multi-currency cards to avoid double conversions and cross-border fees

With Airwallex Corporate Cards, your team can spend in multiple currencies using the matching currency balance or credit line to avoid forced FX conversions. They also come with 0% foreign transaction fees, making them a top choice for businesses of all sizes.

Take Hong Kong virtual insurer Bowtie as an example. The company has saved around 3–5% on foreign currency payments with Airwallex, which means that when it spends HK$100,000 on overseas business expenses, it can save approximately HK$3,000–5,000 in cross-border and FX fees.

Issue virtual cards to control team spend

When new employees join or new projects kick off, you can quickly issue virtual cards and allocate budgets to them. You can flexibly set transaction rules for each Airwallex Corporate Card, including per-transaction, daily and monthly limits, validity periods, and location controls. Your team can also add the cards to their Apple Pay and Google Pay for payment convenience. All spending and receipts appear in one central system to give finance managers full visibility over team expenses. 

Automate expenses and cut reimbursement time

With Airwallex, you can avoid the hassle of manual reconciliation. The platform uses artificial intelligence optical character recognition (AI OCR) technology to capture the amount, merchant, and currency from each receipt. Employees can simply snap and upload receipts on mobile, and the system will automatically categorise spend according to your pre-set rules. Finance managers can then approve or reject claims in real time, avoiding repetitive data entry and freeing up more hours for higher-value tasks.

If you are already using accounting software, such as Xero, QuickBooks, and NetSuite, Airwallex offers native API integration with these platforms. Your finance teams can easily sync data, handle reconciliations, and adjust company spend without having to juggle between multiple systems.

How to choose the best payment solution for your global business operation?

If your business has expanded into multiple markets and you regularly pay overseas suppliers in different currencies, you need to look beyond the “no annual fee” feature and consider the following six aspects when choosing a business card:

Create and issue Airwallex Corporate Cards in minutes

You can set up an Airwallex Business Account and start issuing Airwallex Visa cards in just a few simple steps, all within minutes.

1. Apply for a Business Account online anytime, from anywhere.

2. Submit basic company information and business documents without having to visit a branch in person.

3. Once you pass verification, you can receive an application approval in as little as 48 hours.

4. Activate your Business Account and start issuing Airwallex Visa cards for free. You can apply for credit limits to enable the credit card function for your business.

5. Set limits and permissions for each card, then start using them right away.

Turn hidden costs into growth with Airwallex

As you continue to grow in a fast-changing business environment, relying solely on “no annual fee” business cards is no longer enough to help you compete on a bigger stage. Seeing the need for deeper cost savings and smarter operations, Airwallex has built an all-in-one global financial platform that helps you cut FX fees and manual admin while scaling across markets.

With Airwallex, you can reduce cross-border transaction costs with 0% foreign transaction fees on eligible overseas card spend, FX fees as low as 0.2% above the interbank rate, and pay in multiple currencies to avoid double conversions. You can also tap into AI-powered expense management and automated workflows to speed up month-end closes and audits, plus flexible limits and category controls that give you greater transparency over overall cash flow.

Open an Airwallex Business Account today and redirect those “hidden costs” so you can focus on developing your products and driving brand growth.

Frequently asked questions about Airwallex Corporate Cards and Expense Management

How does Airwallex Corporate Cards’ credit limit work?

With Airwallex Corporate Cards, you can choose to use either an HKD or USD credit line. You can set transaction rules for each card, such as per-transaction, daily and monthly limits, validity periods, location controls, and restrictions on specific merchant categories, to minimise overspending and misuse.

What are the requirements for issuing Airwallex Corporate Cards?

Any business registered in Hong Kong (including limited companies, sole proprietorships, and partnerships) can apply for an Airwallex Business Account, then create and issue Airwallex Corporate Cards online. Simply prepare and submit your business registration documents, as well as identification documents for authorised signatories and ultimate beneficial owners. Once verification and approval are completed, you can activate your multi-currency account and start issuing cards to employees in minutes.

Are employee cards also free of annual fees and foreign transaction fees?

Yes. Both company cards and employee cards come with no card issuance fee and no annual fee, and enjoy 0% foreign transaction fees on international spend at Visa-accepting merchants worldwide.

Do Airwallex Corporate Cards support Apple Pay and Google Pay?

Yes. You can add the Airwallex virtual Corporate Card to Apple Pay or Google Pay for more convenient payments. You can also link virtual cards to advertising platforms, cloud services, and SaaS tools respectively, to implement a “one card, one use” spend control strategy.

How can I set budgets and limits for different teams or projects?

You can assign cards and budgets by department, project, or client, then set per-transaction, daily, and monthly limits for each card, along with validity periods and location controls. When a project performs well, and you need to increase spend, you can raise the limit on specific cards instantly without affecting budgets for other projects or general operating expenses.

Do I need to switch my accounting system to manage expenses and reconciliation with Airwallex?

If you use Xero, QuickBooks, or NetSuite as your accounting system, Airwallex integrates with them and can seamlessly sync transactions, tax codes, and attachments. You can keep your existing setup while bringing reimbursement and reconciliation onto one platform. Employees can simply snap and upload receipts on mobile, and AI OCR technology will automatically capture the data and categorise spend based on your rules for finance managers to review and approve.

We have a lot of foreign currency income and expenses. How can we avoid double-currency conversion?

With Airwallex Global Accounts, you secure multi-currency accounts that come with local bank details. You can receive funds directly in your customer’s payment currency, then settle future expenses in the same currency to avoid double conversion. When conversions are needed, you can still enjoy FX margins as low as 0.2% above interbank rates to reduce FX costs.

Does Airwallex provide real-time notifications and risk controls?

Yes. You can configure transaction alerts and suspicious activity notifications, and set automatic decline rules for certain scenarios, such as when limits are exceeded or transactions are out-of-region. If something looks unusual, you can immediately freeze a card or adjust its limits to contain the risk.

Is Airwallex secure and compliant?

As a financial platform that meets international security standards, Airwallex complies with PCI DSS Level 1, SOC 1, and SOC 2,  and holds over 80 financial licences and certifications globally. The platform uses end-to-end encryption and strict access controls to protect transactions and sensitive data, ensuring your business meets enterprise-grade security and compliance requirements.

Disclaimer: This article was prepared in January 2026 based on voluntary online research and publicly available information. We have not personally tested every tool or provider mentioned. This article is for educational purposes only, and readers should independently evaluate each service provider based on their specific business requirements. Content is updated every six months. To request an update, please contact us at [email protected].