Airwallex processes 93% outside SWIFT

The 93% figure shows that Airwallex is not just a nicer interface on top of bank wires, it has built enough local banking coverage that most transfers can stay off SWIFT entirely. In practice, that means a business paying a supplier, contractor, or subsidiary often moves money between Airwallex controlled local accounts and local payment rails, which cuts wire fees, reduces handoffs between correspondent banks, and makes settlement faster and easier to track.1 2 3 4

• Airwallex started by using partner bank rails in Australia and China, then expanded into its own network of local accounts. That let it undercut legacy B2B FX providers by 50% to 80% on fees while still earning a spread, and volume growth then made the network more useful in each added country.2 4
• This is why Airwallex looks different from many cross border peers. Its customers are often software and global SMB platforms like Brex and Rippling that need payouts, bill pay, cards, and FX in one stack. By 2025, cards and payments were already more than 50% of gross profit, showing the network supports higher value products beyond transfers alone.2 3
• The closest public comps show the tradeoff clearly. Payoneer handled $80.1B of volume and $977.7M of revenue in 2024 across about 2 million active customers, while Wise served 12.8 million active customers in FY2024. Airwallex serves fewer, larger business accounts, so owning the rail matters more than maximizing retail customer count.2 5 6

From here, the advantage compounds as Airwallex adds more local licenses, accounts, and payout corridors. Each new geography increases the share of money that can stay inside its own system, which improves pricing and speed, and makes Airwallex more credible as the default financial operating layer for global businesses rather than just a cross border transfer tool.2 3 4