Bowtie turns company spend into strategic growth with Airwallex

Introducing Bowtie

Since its inception, Bowtie has been dedicated to untying the complexities of insurance. By removing paperwork and intermediaries, they offer protection that is simple and affordable. However, as the company scaled, they recognised a disconnect: While their customer-facing product was cutting-edge, legacy financial tools hampered their internal financial operations.

To master the company’s future, Bowtie realised it first had to master its capital allocation today. It required a financial ecosystem that provided more than simple payments – it needed fiscal control, operational agility, and real bottom-line value.

Gabriel Kung

Chief Commercial Officer of Bowtie

“Trust is the currency of our business. Our customers entrust Bowtie with their future — their health, their families, and their peace of mind. To honour that mandate, we require a financial infrastructure that embeds reliability and integrity into every transaction.”

The challenge

As a high-growth fintech, traditional banking institutions are no longer able to support Bowtie's velocity. The application process for corporate credit cards was rigid and document-heavy, often resulting in weeks of downtime – a latency that a dynamic digital insurer could not accept.

Furthermore, reliance on traditional corporate cards created significant operational bottlenecks. With a limited number of physical cards available, the finance team faced the security vulnerability and inefficiency of sharing card details across departments. Whether for marketing teams scaling digital ad spend or developers renewing SaaS subscriptions, the dependency on a single physical instrument impeded decision-making and obscured financial visibility.

Bowtie needed a solution that eliminated these friction points and promoted decentralised execution with centralised oversight.

The solution

Bowtie transitioned to Airwallex to consolidate its fragmented expense processes into a single global financial platform. Airwallex Corporate Cards unlocked three critical strategic advantages:

Sharing the credit line, not the card

Instead of circulating a physical card, Bowtie can instantly issue virtual cards to specific teams and executives. This lets the company share its aggregate credit line across the organisation without compromising security. Marketing can manage a card with a set limit for ad spend, while IT manages a separate card for software subscriptions, ensuring zero disruption to operations.

Granular control and governance

Bowtie has moved from reactive tracking to proactive management, controlling exactly who uses the card, the specific spending limit, and the approval hierarchy for every transaction. This ensures that every dollar spent is authorised and aligned with the company’s strategic objectives before the money leaves the account.

Turning expenses into savings

Unlike traditional cards offering nebulous points, Airwallex Corporate Cards deliver direct commercial value through 0% cross-border fees and credit lines in multiple currencies, eliminating the conversion fees typically levied by other company cards. For a digitally native business with significant operational spend, this effectively reduces the cost of doing business.

Gabriel Kung

Chief Commercial Officer of Bowtie

“We can now manage all expenses in a single platform. Bowtie can issue Airwallex Corporate Cards to our management for business trips, and our teams for SaaS subscriptions. We can control who uses the card, how much they spend, and who can approve the transactions.”

The results

Mastering the future through strategic financial platform

By integrating Airwallex, Bowtie has not only streamlined its operations but also materially improved its bottom line.

• Optimised cost structure: By shifting supplier payments and SaaS subscriptions to Airwallex, Bowtie effectively eliminated cross-border transaction fees. The combination of 0% cross-border fees and competitive FX rates has resulted in estimated savings of around 3% on foreign currency payments, directly improving the company's margins.

• Total fiscal oversight: The finance team has achieved 100% visibility over company expenditures. The elimination of shared physical cards means every transaction is attributable, traceable, and compliant.

• Scalable foundation: Just as Bowtie’s customers entrust their future to the insurer, Bowtie relies on Airwallex to secure its global financial operations.

Airwallex gives Bowtie the control to ensure every dollar is an investment in their long-term growth. “It is not merely a credit card," says Gabriel. “It is a comprehensive global financial platform designed for modern enterprise.”

Disclaimer: With the Airwallex credit card, there is no revolving credit carried over — pay your statement balance in full at the end of each repayment period.