Airwallex, a global fintech platform, announced Monday that its Singapore entity Airwallex (Singapore) Pte Ltd has been granted a Major Payment Institution License by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the Payment Services Act.
Airwallex is now permitted to provide a suite of payment services including account issuance, domestic money transfer, cross-border money transfer, merchant acquisition and e-money issuance, the company said in a statement.
According to the statement, Airwallex will progressively introduce a suite of product and service offerings that will enable businesses in Singapore to operate and grow across the ASEAN region and globally. This includes a modern global business account, multi-currency wallet, company and employee cards, spend management, online payments, international collection and transfer and other value-add solutions for Small and Medium-sized businesses, as well as an application programming interface (API) for larger enterprise businesses that require embedded payments and financial services.
“We are pleased to have received regulatory approval in Singapore as we continue to make steady progress in Southeast Asia, scaling our payment offerings and solutions in the region for our customers. Receiving this approval reflects our robust policies, compliance framework and risk management systems we have put in place,” said Jack Zhang, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Airwallex.
“We will continue to work closely with regulators and partners to ensure we facilitate a safe, effective and transparent way to manage their cross-border financial transaction needs. We look forward to launching our services in Singapore next year and enabling businesses in Singapore to operate globally without borders,” he added.
Earlier in September, the company also announced its entry in Southeast Asia after securing a money service business (MSB) license in Malaysia. This was followed by news of a $200 million Series E fundraising round, raising its valuation to $4 billion as it continues to focus on its regional and global expansion.
Based in Australia, Airwallex is a global payments platform with a mission to empower businesses of all sizes to grow without borders. With technology at its core, the company has built a financial infrastructure and platform to help businesses manage online payments, treasury and payout globally, without the constraints of the traditional financial system. It has secured over $700 million since it was established in 2015, and is backed by world-leading investors.
Airwallex has reached unicorn status during its Series C fundraising in March 2019. Its investors include Greenoaks, Grok Ventures, Skip Capital, ANZi Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, Tencent, Sequoia Capital China, Hillhouse Capital, Horizons Ventures, among others.
As one of the fastest growing financial technology companies today, the company has nearly doubled its headcount in 2021 to over 1,000 employees today across 19 locations globally, including Singapore.