{"id":14350,"date":"2025-04-07T05:34:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T05:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14350"},"modified":"2025-04-07T05:34:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T05:34:29","slug":"singapore-start-up-airwallex-to-seek-uk-and-us-banking-licences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14350","title":{"rendered":"Singapore start-up Airwallex to seek UK and US banking licences"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Stay informed with free updates<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description\"><span>Simply sign up to the <!-- -->Fintech<!-- --> myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to your inbox.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=8e1b1b74-533a-4352-ac68-f75c0f558ffb&amp;concept-id=19d3b36c-c928-44b3-b908-ed2cd185704d\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>The $5.6bn Singaporean payments start-up Airwallex has laid out plans to seek banking licences in the UK and US in a bid to expand into lending and compete with global banks.<\/p>\n<p>Chief executive Jack Zhang told the Financial Times that the corporate payments company \u2014 which secured its latest valuation in a 2022 funding round \u2014 was set to apply for a UK banking licence and would later seek to obtain a US one by buying a bank.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are planning to apply for a UK banking licence, the UK is one of the most friendly markets for fintechs\u2009.\u2009. the [Financial Conduct Authority] is still one of the best regulators\u201d said Zhang.<\/p>\n<p>Zhang said becoming regulated as a bank was \u201ca lot more complicated\u201d in the US given the plethora of regulators and state licences. As a result, the company would probably seek to gain regulatory approval by buying a US bank later down the line, he said. <\/p>\n<p>Airwallex was founded in Melbourne in 2015, but has moved headquarters to Singapore. The company provides banking and multicurrency payment services for global businesses including car racing group McLaren.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--full\" data-component=\"image-set\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\"  width=\"1072\" height=\"715\"><\/source><source media=\"(max-width: 490px)\"  width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\"><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"n-content-picture__caption\"><span>Jack Zhang: \u2018We are planning to apply for a UK banking licence, the UK is one of the most friendly markets for fintechs\u2009.\u2009.\u2009 the FCA is still one of the best regulators\u2019<\/span><span> <!-- -->\u00a9 Ivan Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, its growth has largely relied on payment licences so far, preventing it from offering credit at scale. It is now seeking to expand into lending and is trialling a credit card in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny product that a global bank has, we will have,\u201d said Zhang. \u201cUltimately in a decade I think we\u2019re going to displace some of the global banks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Airwallex\u2019s last funding round was led by Lone Pine Capital, and its investors include Tencent and HongShan, the former China arm of US venture fund Sequoia.<\/p>\n<p>The company offers services to global businesses including staff payroll and payments to suppliers in multiple currencies. Airwallex entered France and Benelux last year and plans to launch in Ireland and Germany next.<\/p>\n<p>However, despite the push to be regulated in the UK, Zhang has ruled out an IPO in Britain, saying the company is set on a US listing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe US market is still the most liquid capital market and most accessible capital markets in the world,\u201d said Zhang.<\/p>\n<p>The chief executive and former engineer at Aviva and the Australian National Bank said London remained far behind the US in terms of access to capital despite efforts to boost its attractiveness. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you are the size of [buy now, pay later provider] Klarna [the US] is kind of the only option out there. I don\u2019t think the [London Stock Exchange] has done anything to differentiate [themselves].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/8e1b1b74-533a-4352-ac68-f75c0f558ffb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Fintech myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to your inbox. The $5.6bn Singaporean&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Singapore start-up Airwallex to seek UK and US banking licences | inFundPros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Fintech myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.The $5.6bn Singaporean payments start-up\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14350\" \/>\n<meta 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