Airwallex Corporate Card: Smart Choice for Singapore SMEs?

Airwallex¹ is a popular provider offering account and card services for businesses around the world. If you have a Singapore business you could choose to open an Airwallex account online, and add on the Airwallex Corporate Card² as either a company card or an employee card. Depending on which you pick, Airwallex Corporate Cards can allow you to spend online and in person, including making mobile payments.

This guide walks through the Airwallex Corporate Card options available for Singapore businesses. Plus, as the Airwallex Corporate Card has a couple of drawbacks, including not being suitable for ATM use, we’ll also touch on the card and account services from Wise Business to allow you to compare and decide which is the best fit for you.

Airwallex Corporate Card offerings

You can order the Airwallex Corporate Card once you have registered an Airwallex account for your business, and been verified.

There are 2 different choices for the Airwallex Corporate Card:

• the company card version, and
• the employee card.

Each has its own pros and cons, so which is best for you might depend on the type of transactions you need to make.

Here are the key differences, to help you decide which to choose³:

One important point to note with the Airwallex physical card where it is available - your Airwallex physical card cannot be used in an ATM⁴. This can be a drawback if you need to make purchases in cash on behalf of your business, for example when travelling.

If this is a deal breaker, you may want to consider an alternative business account card such as the Wise Business Card, which offers some free ATM use monthly, and international withdrawals around the world, instead.

• Get your first Wise Business card for free when you open a Wise Business account.
• Always get the mid-market rate with transparent conversion fees starting from 0.26%.
• Give your team their own corporate debit cards to keep expense management clean.
• Approve payments, set spending limits, and freeze your card if you've lost it.
• Say goodbye to monthly fees and foreign transaction fees.
• Enjoy 2 free withdrawals of up to 350 SGD per month per account.

➡️Get your Wise Business Card today

Airwallex Corporate Card fees

Let’s look at how much it costs to use the Airwallex Corporate Card. We’ve broken down the key costs to get your card, and some fees you may want to consider when you use it. Be sure to read the full card terms and conditions carefully before you start to transact:

*Details correct at time of research, 28th April 2025

Why should Singapore businesses get a corporate card?

As we’ve seen, the Airwallex Corporate Card can be issued as either a company card for use on general business spending, or as an employee card where team members need to pay for their own specific business expenses.

You can then also pay to access expense management tools from Airwallex to streamline the process of approving business expense claims from your employees.

Singapore businesses may choose to get a corporate card to support the following sorts of payments:

• General ad-hoc business expenses like SaaS subscriptions, office supplies and supplier expenses
• Expenses incurred by individual employees such as costs of business travel or allowable business expenses under your expense policy

Issuing corporate cards means that the process for purchasing something on behalf of the business is far easier. Instead of needing to spend out of pocket and reclaim funds, employees can pay using company money with the corporate card. There are still approvals, limits and controls in place to ensure spending is appropriate, but this means that employees do not end up paying out of pocket due to business expenses.

Airwallex Corporate Card key standout features

So what’s great about the Airwallex Corporate Card? Here are some of the core features you may want to know about:

• Visa business debit card, and can be used wherever Visa is accepted
• Airwallex offers 10 supported foreign currencies for holding - AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD, USD
• There’s no fee to spend a currency you hold in your Airwallex account
• Available as both physical and virtual cards, depending on your preference
• Employee cards are compatible with wallets like Apple Pay
• Admins can set limits for employee spend, including limiting spending to specific merchant types if needed
• Freeze or cancel virtual cards instantly
• Automate your expense management with Airwallex tools which sync with your cloud accounting solutions

You might also want to check out the account and card services from Wise Business. Open a Wise Business account online or in the Wise app, to hold and exchange 40+ currencies, and order your linked Wise debit or expense cards to spend in 150+ countries seamlessly. You can also use your Wise account to send money to over 140+ countries, and to receive payments from customers in 8+ currencies with local and SWIFT account information.

If you’re trading internationally, Wise offers all currency conversion with the mid-market rate and low, transparent conversion fees - plus, unlike with the Airwallex Corporate Card, you can make ATM withdrawals overseas with Wise.

➡️ Learn more about Wise Business

What type of Singapore business benefits most from the Airwallex Corporate Card?

You may want to order an Airwallex Corporate Card if you need solutions for making business payments in the 10 supported foreign currencies - AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD, USD. If you hold a balance of any of these currencies in your Airwallex account already, there’s no extra fee to make a payment. As your Airwallex account offers local account information, this means you can get paid by customers in foreign currencies, and then spend the balance without having to convert it back to SGD if you don’t want to. This can cut down on FX fees overall.

It’s worth bearing in mind that there are fees for converting currencies with Airwallex - so if you don’t hold the balance you need for spending you’ll pay a charge of 0.4% or 0.6% depending on the currency in question, to allow the card to automatically convert your funds to the currency required. This may mean it’s a less attractive proposition for businesses which spend in foreign currencies, but only receive payments in SGD.

Finally, keep in mind that the Airwallex physical card cannot be used in an ATM. If you have employees who travel for work and need to spend in cash, this can be a challenge and mean they have to spend out of their own pocket on allowable business expenses.

How to apply for an Airwallex Corporate Card

To apply for an Airwallex Corporate Card you’ll have to first set up an account and get verified. You can then instantly generate virtual cards and order a physical card for any team member who may need it. Here’s how to sign up for an Airwallex account and get started ordering a card:

1. Open the Airwallex website and click Sign up
2. Follow the prompts to enter your name and contact information
3. Add your email address, set a password and click Get Started
4. Follow the prompts to complete the KYC process, uploading the required documents
5. Wait for your account to be verified - usually within about 3 days
6. Once your account is approved, you can generate instant virtual cards, and follow the process to order physical cards to be delivered to the individual employee addresses

To set up your Airwallex account in the first place you’ll need to provide a personal ID document such as your NRIC or passport, as well as a proof of address document for the business owner, and key people who are involved with the company such as major shareholders. You will also be asked to provide business documents which vary widely depending on the entity type. You’ll be guided through what's needed as part of the application process and can simply take a photo of your documents with your smartphone and upload the images to your account.

Is the Airwallex Corporate Card a great choice for Singapore SMEs?

You can instantly generate Airwallex Corporate Cards as either company cards for general spending, or employee cards for individual employees to manage their own expenses. Both options are linked to your underlying Airwallex business account, and allow you to spend any of the 10 supported currencies with no extra fees.

If you need currency conversion there’s a fee of 0.4% or 0.6%, depending on the currency - and it’s important to remember that your card can not be used in an ATM.

If this sounds like your company, check out Wise Business for easy, low cost ways to manage your business finances across 40+ currencies. Use this guide to help you decide if the Airwallex Corporate Card is right for you, and don’t forget to check out Wise as a solution for your international finances, with card and account services which use the mid-market rate and low, transparent fees.

➡️Get started with Wise Business today

Sources:

1. Airwallex
2. Airwallex Corporate Card
3. Airwallex FAQ
4. Airwallex physical card
5. Airwallex pricing
6. Airwallex currency conversion

Sources checked on: 28th April 2025