SINGAPORE – After launching in Singapore in January 2022, global payments firm Airwallex has grown its headcount here to about 100, with plans to boost staff strength to 200 by the end of the year.
It is looking to fill roles such as data and software engineers, data scientists, product managers and product designers.
With offices all over the world, including Singapore, it helps businesses consolidate different payment methods into a single solution to collect, manage and pay funds across borders – via embedded finance offerings and an application programming interface to scale operations.
Mr Low Cher Hao, the director of SME and growth in Singapore at Airwallex, said: “We see Singapore as a key market for us. Asia-Pacific is where a lot of opportunity to help businesses with payments is present because the payments ecosystem here is very fragmented.”
This expansion comes amid a surge in financial technology adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) here to save time and costs.
Mr Arnold Chan, Airwallex’s general manager for Hong Kong and South-east Asia, said: “From the start of the year to date, we have seen an over 60 per cent growth in customers, and expect this trend to continue in the coming year, especially as we build out our presence here.”
According to the company’s Singapore 2023 SME Survey, businesses here have a cautious economic outlook, with 70 per cent of SMEs bracing themselves for a potential recession within the next two years.
Nearly two-thirds of the SMEs want to cut spending and/or optimise operations through technology in the next six to 12 months.
Retail firm Saturday Club became an Airwallex customer in 2019 as it wanted the convenience of digital finance transactions.
Saturday Club chief operating officer Ying Tze Her said: “One key aspect is being able to download official transaction statements (similar to statements we used to receive from banks) from Airwallex’s dashboard. This helps our accountants consolidate and process our quarterly profit-and-loss reporting.”
Automotive company Optimus Auto Trading, which signed up with Airwallex this year, said its variety of payment options – including digital ones – helped to attract more customers.
The move to digital finance also made transactions more seamless for the auto firm’s international clients.
Optimus administration manager Yeniffer Koh said: “We see a faster turnaround time with overseas representative banks. This helps us with our payment arrangements with overseas suppliers, as well as receiving incoming payment from overseas customers.
“We also have access to real-time financial tracking and reporting. This provides us with valuable insights for decision-making and growing our business.”
