Head of Account Management

Visa and Airwallex join forces to build the next generation of financial infrastructure for freight platforms. 23 July 2026 Collaboration to help freight and shipping platforms modernise payments, improve cash flow and unlock new growth opportunities through embedded finance LONDON: Visa and Airwallex today announced a collaboration to develop embedded-finance solutions tailored to the needs of freight and shipping platforms, helping modernise how businesses manage payments, working capital and cross-border commerce across one of the world's most complex industries. The collaboration brings together Visa's expertise in commercial payments, acceptance strategy, risk management and industry-specific solution design with Airwallex's embedded-finance capabilities, multi-currency infrastructure and global platform technology. Together, they'll address longstanding challenges across the freight ecosystem, where businesses continue to face lengthy settlement cycles, working-capital constraints, foreign-exchange complexity and operational friction. Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach to payments, Visa and Airwallex are collaborating to create solutions designed specifically around the operational realities of freight and shipping. The goal is to enable platforms to embed payment and financial capabilities directly into freight workflows, helping their customers manage costs more efficiently, access working capital when needed and simplify the movement of funds across multiple countries and currencies. As freight platforms, digital forwarders and logistics marketplaces continue to transform how goods are booked, managed and moved, the financial infrastructure supporting those interactions has often struggled to keep pace. Despite growing digitisation across the sector, many freight businesses still rely on fragmented payment processes that can delay settlement, increase administrative costs and place pressure on cash flow. In shipping, payments take on average 42 days to reach the invoicing company*, while processing and administrative costs can make up nearly one-fifth of the total transportation costs due to labour-intensive manual document handling. The initiative builds on the broader Visa-Airwallex relationship and represents a natural next step from enabling cross-border B2B payments toward developing more specialised, industry-specific solutions. By combining their respective strengths, Visa and Airwallex aim to create a repeatable model that can help unlock the benefits of embedded finance for complex B2B verticals where traditional payment infrastructure has often failed to keep pace with digital innovation. Alessandro Figueroa, Head of New Verticals & Partnerships, Visa Commercial Solutions, Europe, said, "Freight and shipping are fundamental to the global economy, yet many businesses continue to operate with payment processes that are fragmented, manual and inefficient. As digital freight platforms continue to scale, there is a growing need for financial solutions that can be embedded seamlessly into existing workflows without creating additional complexity. By combining Visa's commercial payments expertise with Airwallex's technology platform, we're helping bring new solutions to market quickly, enabling platforms to simplify payments, improve working capital and deliver greater value to the businesses they serve." Christos Chamberlain, General Manager for UK and Europe at Airwallex, said: "Cash sitting in limbo while payments clear across borders is capital that should be funding the next shipment, not stuck in transit. Reputations are built on reliability - can you get the container there, on time, every time. Payments need to work the same way. Together with Visa, we're giving freight operators the speed and precision that global shipping demands." *https://www.csis.org/analysis/ships-dont-lie-blockchain-and-secure-future-global-shipping About Airwallex Airwallex is an AI native financial operating system for modern businesses. Airwallex is building the future of global banking for a borderless, real-time, intelligent economy. Airwallex serve more than 676,000 businesses worldwide, either directly or through its platform customers. From startups to public enterprises, its customers use Airwallex to manage their global banking and financial operations, or to build and monetise their own financial products. Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex holds 85+ licenses across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, forming one of the most comprehensive financial infrastructures in the world. This regulated backbone powers Airwallex products at global scale, including payment acceptance, billing, global accounts, corporate cards, and spend management.

Airwallex launches Octopus integration to enable Hong Kong O2O payments. The global financial platform integrates Hong Kong's most ubiquitous payment method to help merchants streamline online-to-offline checkouts and reduce vendor fragmentation Get the hottest Fintech Hong Kong News once a month in your Inbox Airwallex has launched Octopus as a local payment method for online and offline checkouts in Hong Kong. The integration allows merchants to accept payments across ecommerce and in-store channels through Airwallex's unified financial infrastructure. The rollout coincides with a recovery in Hong Kong's retail sector, driven by improving visitor arrivals. According to data from the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the city welcomed approximately 23 million visitors between January and May 2026, marking a 14% increase year-on-year. Retail sales in the region also saw year-on-year growth of 12.8% in March and 8.6% in April 2026, creating an opening for businesses to expand merchant payment acceptance across online-to-offline (O2O) touchpoints. As digital touchpoints and contactless transactions become standard, customer expectations for consistent checkout experiences have grown. Research from Airwallex indicates that 72% of Hong Kong consumers are highly likely to abandon digital shopping carts if their preferred payment option is missing at checkout. "Octopus is integral to life in Hong Kong, trusted by millions as their preferred way to pay," said Edwin Lai, General Manager, Retail Business & Partnerships at Octopus. "As consumer expectations for flexible payment experiences continue to rise, we are extending Octopus's reach and delivering smarter solutions through our partnership with Airwallex." Streamlining omnichannel checkout By deploying this consolidated solution, merchants can remove the operational barriers associated with managing separate vendors for online and offline transaction processing. This simplifies payment operations across channels. The system enables businesses to manage multi-channel payment acceptance through a single platform. This helps reduce operational complexity and shorten customer checkout times. "In modern retail, a friction-free checkout experience is no longer just a convenience, it is a core driver of customer retention and revenue optimisation," said Arnold Chan, APAC General Manager at Airwallex. "By integrating Hong Kong's most ubiquitous payment method into Airwallex's financial infrastructure, we are eliminating the friction that businesses traditionally face when managing separate online and offline payment vendors, helping them to maximise revenue growth." Local companies have already begun utilising the unified payment framework. Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Hong Kong, based on image by Frolopiaton Palm via Magnific

Airwallex appoints Pranav Sood as Chief Financial Officer. Airwallex, a leading global financial platform for modern businesses, have announced the appointment of Pranav Sood as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). This strategic hire signals a new phase of institutional growth for Airwallex. As the company scales globally, it is pioneering a new category of intelligent financial systems, one where money, data, and decisions move in unison to drive the global economy. Sood will be based at Airwallex in London, a city that remains a primary hub for Airwallex's expansion. Sood joins from Bain Capital's growth equity fund, where he focused on scaling technology businesses across the UK and Europe. This role marks a return to Airwallex; in his previous tenure, Sood led the initial build-out of the company's EMEA operations and its global marketing function. By rejoining the leadership team, Sood brings both external investment perspective and a deep internal understanding of Airwallex's commercial drivers. "As Airwallex enters its next phase of growth, we need a CFO who is as much a commercial strategist as a financial steward," said Jack Zhang, Co-Founder and CEO of Airwallex. "Pranav is a rare leader who balances rigorous financial discipline with a builder's mindset. His experience at Bain Capital, combined with his intimate knowledge of our commercial drivers and the fintech vertical, make him the ideal CFO to guide our financial strategy through this next chapter." "Airwallex is a once-in-a-generation company that is fundamentally rewriting the rails of global banking," said Pranav Sood, incoming Chief Financial Officer. "Returning to Airwallex feels like coming home to a mission that is more critical than ever. My goal is to ensure our finance function acts as a catalyst for innovation and scale, providing the robust framework required as we solidify our position as a cornerstone of the global financial economy." Airwallex recently announced a $1.1 billion investment commitment to the EMEA region following its $8 billion valuation, alongside a plan to hire approximately 100 new senior engineering roles in the UK and The Netherlands.