Airwallex Review: A Global Business Account

Who is Airwallex best for?

Without a doubt, Airwallex is best for global business owners. If you frequently pay vendors or employees in other countries, Airwallex could be a good fit. Creating subaccounts in over 60 countries and accepting payments in over 180 local currencies can save a lot of money in currency conversion fees. If the core business plan isn’t quite what you need, Airwallex states you can contact its sales team via an online form to create a customized plan.

What we like about Airwallex

We’ve already talked about Airwallex’s lack of monthly fees or opening deposit requirements, so let’s get into what this account offers.

First off, know that Airwallex isn’t a bank — it’s a fintech company with a bank partner. Its accounts are covered by FDIC deposit insurance through Evolve Bank & Trust. Evolve provides payment services for US customers as Airwallex’s partner bank.

Airwallex is SOC-compliant and Payment Services Directive compliant and has over 60 licenses and permits to operate globally.

Multi-currency account

The Airwallex account is designed for international payments and transfers. You get a multi-currency Airwallex Wallet where you can hold over 20 currencies and open currency accounts with unique details in 23 currencies, including USD, AUD and CAD.

You can open subaccounts with local bank details in over 60 countries, make “local” transfers with over 120 countries and accept payments from over 180 countries. You can spend or convert received money at the interbank exchange rate. On top of all that, you can also create multi-currency virtual cards.

Your Airwallex Borderless Card has no foreign transaction fees. Plus, you can pay for domestic and international transactions directly from the currency held in your Airwallex Wallet, potentially eliminating currency conversion fees.

Team card management

Since you can create multiple cards under your Airwallex account, you can create virtual company cards to organize your expenses, and company cards can be shared with up to three contacts. You can also issue individual employee virtual cards and have the option to restrict spending based on specific merchants or overall spending limits.

Affordable transaction fees

Airwallex offers low-cost money transfers and transactions. And a unique perk for US customers: you can get paper checks.

Software integrations and accounting tools

Airwallex offers expense management tools, including receipt capture and approval tools that integrate with your accounting software. Some software you can integrate with your Airwallex account includes:

Also, you can automate transactions, manage domestic and international bill pay, input sales and order data from popular shopping plugins, categorize expenses and much more.

Where it falls short

Like most fintechs, Airwallex lacks physical locations and doesn’t offer in-person support. It provides different customer support options for Canada, China and the US. In the US, support is available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT.

We appreciate that it offers phone support, as some fintechs lack this service altogether. However, we also noticed there isn’t an online form or chat support available — or one that was at least accessible as a non-customer.

Missing information on some fees

Try as we might, we couldn’t find out whether Airwallex has overdraft fees or a form of overdraft protection. We found no information about ATM fees, either.

Another pain point we noticed is that while Airwallex advertises $0 transfers, some transfers may cost extra depending on the currency. We couldn’t locate a list specifying which currencies cost extra, so you might only find out right before you make the transfer.

Airwallex also mentions that you can create a custom plan, but there’s very little information about what that entails. To learn more, you have to complete a form and contact its sales team.

No savings or cashback rewards

We didn’t necessarily expect a free business account and management platform to offer savings perks or cashback rewards, but it would have been a nice touch.

There are business accounts with no monthly fees that offer these perks, more notably Bluevine. Bluevine’s accounts are interest-bearing, with the highest APYs available to customers through its paid plans.

Airwallex’s fees and access

Compare Airwallex to other business checking accounts

Narrow down top business checking accounts by monthly fees, APYs and features. For a better comparison, tick the Compare box on up to four options to see benefits side by side.

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Product USFSA-CHK	Finder Score	Fee	Annual Percentage Yield (APY)	FDIC Insured Amount	Software Integrations	Account management	Bank transfer fee	Offer
Airwallex	Finder score 8.8 Great	$0 per month	N/A	Up to $250,000	Amazon, Quickbooks, Zapier, Shopify, Xero, Hubspot and more	Online, App, Phone	$0		Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...
North One Business Banking	Finder score 8 Great	From $0 per month	N/A	Up to $250,000	PayPal, Stripe, Square, Etsy, Airbnb, Amazon and more	Online, App, Phone	$0		Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Novo Business	Finder score 8.4 Great	$0 per month	N/A	Up to $250,000	Quickbooks, Stripe, Square, Xero, and more	Online, App, Phone	$0		Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Found	Finder score 9 Excellent	From $0 per month	1.50% on balances of $0 to $20,000	Up to $250,000	QuickBooks, Stripe, Cash App, PayPal, Square, etc.	Online, App, Phone	$0		Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Chase Business Complete Banking®	Finder score 7.6 Great	$15 per month (can be waived)	N/A	Up to $250,00	N/A	Branch, Online, App, Phone	$0	Earn $300 when you open a new Chase Business Complete Checking® account. For new Chase business checking customers with qualifying activities.	Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...

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How to open an Airwallex account

Airwallex has an online application. To apply, you’ll need:

• Your business registration number
• Your business address
• Proof of business registration
• Proof of identity
• Other verification documents

Some users on Trustpilot and Reddit reported needing to submit various documents and stating the verification process took a few weeks to complete.

Which countries is Airwallex available in?

Businesses registered in the following countries can create an Airwallex account:

Customer experience

As an Australian fintech, Airwallex has fewer customer reviews than other fintechs based in the US. On the Better Business Bureau (BBB), there’s not much to report. With only three customer complaints filed in the last three years, we’ll take this as good news, considering many fintechs have thousands of complaints.

We found the most feedback on Trustpilot, where Airwallex holds a so-so 3.7-star rating based on just over 1,000 reviews. Most Trustpilot reviews are 5-star ratings, with customers stating they switched from another borderless account to Airwallex. Happy customers say they’ve been with the fintech for years with barely any problems cropping up, and many highlight quick issue resolution and helpful customer support.

On the other side of the fence, dissatisfied customers often complain about the lengthy application process and the need to provide extensive paperwork to get things moving. Another common complaint is about frozen accounts or transfers — seemingly without reason — but that’s a common complaint with banks and fintechs alike.

Frequently asked questions

Is Airwallex safe?

Airwallex’s bank partner, Evolve Bank & Trust, provides FDIC insurance on Airwallex deposit accounts, up to the typical amount of $250,000. Airwallex is also licensed to operate in the countries it serves and states it is compliant with laws and regulations governing payments and accounts.

What is the alternative to Airwallex?

A solid alternative to Airwallex could be Revolut or Wise. Both are borderless business accounts and platforms, offering international money transfers and multicurrency accounts, and both have accounts with no monthly fees.