Airwallex had been on a great run. The Australia-founded B2B payments startup reached a valuation of US$8 billion in December following a massive $330 million Series G funding round. This valuation represents a 30% increase from its previous $6.2 billion valuation in May 2025, driven by strong growth in annualized revenue and transaction volume.
Then AUSTRAC, Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regulator, flagged a potentially serious compliance problem. In a Jan. 22 statement, AUSTRAC said that it has ordered the appointment of an external auditor to assess whether Airwallex is meeting its AML/CTF obligations.
AUSTRAC noted that the company is a global payment platform that facilitates the transfer of funds to multiple jurisdictions. The regulator continued, “AUSTRAC is concerned that Airwallex’s transaction monitoring program has not been attuned to the full range of risks it faces and that the company hasn’t demonstrated an acceptable understanding of who its customers are and what reporting may be required.”
“Our concerns also extend to how well Airwallex identifies and reports on suspicious matters and the effective oversight of these important obligations,” the regulator added.
In a statement that addressed the planned audit, Airwallex said that it “will be co-operating fully with AUSTRAC’s requirement that an external auditor review Airwallex’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) compliance program.”
“Airwallex is committed to the highest standards of regulatory compliance, and we welcome this audit as a transparent opportunity to independently validate our AML/CTF program,” the payments firm added.
One thing to keep in mind as the audit proceeds is that fintech disruptors often face a steep compliance learning curve. Airwallex is not unique in this regard. In fact, compliance shortcomings have held up Revolut’s U.S. expansion plans and resulted in the suspension of N26’s issuance of mortgages in the Netherlands.
Though it was not reported in the news until 2021, the National Australia Bank reportedly cancelled transactional banking services for Airwallex’s customers in 2018. Citigroup reportedly later declined the payment firm’s application for banking services due to concerns that the fintech did not meet the bank’s risk criteria.
Those issues have not stopped Airwallex from growing exponentially.
It is rare that compliance shortcomings are so severe that they seriously or fatally damage a fintech’s business. We can only think of a few prominent examples, and they both involved deep-seated fraud. One is Germany’s Wirecard, which collapsed in 2020 due to massive, long-running accounting fraud involving fake transactions and a non-existent €1.9 billion in cash. Another is FTX, which collapsed in November 2022 due to a massive, years-long fraud orchestrated by founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The fraudulent activity involved the illicit transfer of US$8 billion to US$9 billion in customer deposits to his affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research.
Meanwhile, Airwallex’s fundamentals remain strong. Unlike competitors that rely on third-party banks, Airwallex has its own proprietary payments infrastructure, allowing 93% of transactions to move in near real-time with lower fees. Beyond FX, Airwallex provides a comprehensive platform for modern treasury, expense management, and card issuing.
At the same time, the company continues to expand internationally. On Jan. 21, it announced the acquisition of South Korea’s Paynuri, a company that holds Payment Gateway and Prepaid Electronic Payment Instrument licenses as well as a Foreign Exchange Business registration in the Northeast Asian country. By securing payment, prepaid, and foreign exchange approvals in South Korea, Airwallex aims to serve Korean businesses that are expanding internationally while avoiding the delays associated with organic licensing.
The acquisition gives Airwallex a foothold in one of Asia’s most dynamic economies. The firm also has a presence in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In 2025, the company reported an 85% annual increase in revenue and a 71% year-on-year growth in transaction volume in 2025.