Fintech Leaders Jack Zhang, Airwallex CEO - A $6 Billion Powerhouse Solving Global Payments for Companies
Jun 10, 2025
Jack Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Airwallex, shares insights on building a $6 billion global payments powerhouse. He reveals how his coffee business experience highlighted inefficiencies in cross-border payments. Jack discusses Airwallex's unique engineering approach to banking, aiming for real-time money movement and their partnerships with over 80 banks. He highlights the role of AI in enhancing customer experiences while cautioning against new fraud risks. Additionally, Jack explains the importance of a strong company culture and the complexities of scaling in the fintech world.
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Banks As Partners, Not Adversaries
- Airwallex partners with 80+ banks as sponsors to access local clearing while providing a unified software layer.
- The company balances transparency and risk appetite to scale transactional volume with banking partners.
Choose Full Transparency With Regulators
- Be proactively transparent with regulators and communicate early about product launches and risks.
- Build trust through openness to simplify approvals and maintain strong regulatory relationships worldwide.
Orchestration Matters More Than Single Networks
- Interoperable RTPs are powerful but still limited by geopolitical and central-bank complexity.
- Airwallex provides orchestration and fallback across RTP, ACH, and RTGS to ensure reliability and optionality.