Is Airwallex safe in Australia? What you need to know

These days, managing your business in the online space has become easier with companies offering business accounts that come with a whole range of useful features. Although it can be tempting to open an account with the first provider you find, it’s imperative to do some research about what's out there and whether or not what each company has on offer is in fact – safe to use.

In this article, we’ll be going through whether Airwallex, an Australian fintech company and their business account is safe in Australia. We’ll cover all the nitty gritty details including data protection, security features and how your money is kept secure.

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Who is Airwallex in Australia

Airwallex was founded in 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. Airwallex offers a comprehensive business account designed to facilitate global business opportunities. The account comes with a range of features including:

• Global currency accounts
• International transfers
• Foreign Exchange capabilities
• Borderless cards
• Expense management system
• API integrations
• Payment links and plugins to receive payments

All these functionalities are integrated into a single platform and also allows business owners to onboard employees with access controls on each feature. Since its inception, the company has expanded to 19 international offices and has over 1200 employees.¹

Is Airwallex safe in Australia?

Yes, it is safe to use Airwallex in Australia to make, receive and add funds to their business account. Airwallex offers customers a suite of security features to secure their accounts, while being regulated and linked with an Australian Authorised Deposit-taking institution to protect all funds. We’ll cover more about this now.

Read more: Airwallex Business account in Australia. The lowdown.

How is Airwallex regulated in Australia?

Airwallex operates in Australia as Airwallex Pty Ltd which is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) under the Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) number 487221. Airwallex is also registered with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) as an Independent Remittance Dealer under the number 100516662.²

How is your money kept safe at Airwallex ?

Airwallex has arranged an Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) regulated bank to protect and guarantee any money deposited into an Airwallex business account. This is otherwise known as a bank guarantee in which the Australian Authorised Deposit-Taking Institution (ADI) takes on the responsibility of all funds if by chance Airwallex becomes insolvent.

The third party entity providing this bank guarantee for Airwallex is Global Loan Agency Services Australia Nominees Pty Ltd.³

Holding large amounts with Airwallex

The Australian government provides protection for up to $250,000 per account holder that has an account with an ADI. As Airwallex is connected directly with an ADI, funds are held in an account.⁴

What about scam protection at Airwallex?

When it comes to scam protection, Airwallex embeds security features and internal controls to detect fraudulent activity. They also provide advice to users on how to avoid falling victim to scams through their help centre, while having a dedicated security centre where users can report issues with the platform.⁵

Data protection at Airwallex

Airwallex follows industry-leading data security protocols to protect their customers' data. All data is encrypted during transmission and storage, and is consistently maintained and assessed through routine data backups. They also implement a range of access controls around data accessibility with their employees. Airwallex also has taken out Cyber Insurance in case of a cyber security breach.⁵

How long is your data kept at Airwallex

As Airwallex operates across different countries, their data retention rules are based on the applicable local laws. In general, Airwallex will retain certain personal information even after you have closed your account or requested to have your data deleted.⁶ In Australia, Airwallex is obligated as a remittance provider to retain your data for 7 years.⁷

Requesting deletion of your data at Airwallex

If you want to request for your data to be deleted at Airwallex, you can reach out to their customer support team by emailing privacy@airwallex.com.⁶ However, if it is still within the 7 year timeframe from when you closed your account, by law they will not be able to delete your data.⁷

What are the protection systems in place for your Airwallex account in Australia

Behind the scenes at Airwallex, they have a variety of organisational, technical and physical protection systems in place to keep your Airwallex account safe in Australia. Some protection systems in place include⁵:

• Product security measures including data security, audit logging, and product security integrations.
• Access control for data, identity management and password security mechanisms with multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Maintaining application security through code analysis, review and scanning for system vulnerabilities
• Implementing and managing physical infrastructure risks internally and with any third-party providers
• Network and endpoint security controls
• Routine personnel and corporate security training

You can have a look at their range of protection systems and reports here. Although it's good to have all these controls in place, there is also an onus on anyone who opens an Airwallex account to take their own precautions in protecting their accounts.

Transferring money with Airwallex and security measures

An Airwallex account comes with the ability to not only make and receive domestic and international transfers, but the ability to spend the funds in the Airwallex wallet using physical or virtual cards.

Transferring money security measure

When it comes to transferring money, all transactions are tested against the Airwallex risk engine. The risk engine produces a risk score that indicates the potential for a transaction to be fraudulent. This helps account holders visualise the level of risk of all transactions made from their account. This system works by combining internal models with external datasets to differentiate between legitimate and fraudulent payments.⁸

Card security measures

Airwallex has a few systems in place to help any card holders attached to a business account more safe and secure. For example, users can:

• Set-up two factor authentication (2FA) on all card payments
• Freeze or cancel a card at anytime
• Dispute suspicious transactions
• Set transaction allowance limits for individual cards

Business owners can set up these features for anyone who is allocated a card and set the relevant limits of use.⁹

Tips to help you keep your account safe at Airwallex

As the Airwallex account does have the option to spend the available funds with attached physical and virtual cards, there are a few ways they try to guide their customers to avoid scams. To keep your card and account safe, you should⁹:

Safeguard your card and personal Information

• Refrain from using public computers for accessing card details.

• Avoid documenting card specifics or PIN on notepads, sticky notes, or digital documents.

• Access card details exclusively through your 2FA secured Airwallex account

• Create strong passwords that aren't easily guessable

• Do not give access to your computer or account to outsiders or remove access if someone leaves the business

• Log out of your account after use

Strengthen your computer’s security

• Keep your computer's security software current

• Perform regular virus scans

Secure WiFi Networks

• Have your WIFI networks password as protected

• Steer clear of accessing card information on public networks or hotspots.

Check the authenticity of where you send or spend

• Make sure any website you are planning on making a transaction on is legitimate and secure
• Ignore any pop ups or emails that come through out of the blue claiming to be from an Airwallex representative

These tips are only a short list of how you can keep your Airwallex account and cards safe. It's always good to do your own research for extra tips on how else to keep any of your online accounts safe.

Contacting Airwallex

If you need to contact Airwallex in Australia for any reason, you can:

• Visit their office at Level 7/15 William St in Melbourne
• Visit the help centre and search your query
• Click the help button at the bottom of the page here

If you are not in Australia, you’ll also be able to find how to contact Airwallex in other jurisdictions through the help centre.

Wise Business

If you’re curious about what you’ve read about the Wise Business account, why not give it a trial for yourself? For the small cost of opening an account, you can test to see whether it’s right for you and not have to worry about any subscription fees being applied.

The Wise Business account lets you make international transfers in over 40 currencies to 80 countries. Each transfer has a small upfront fee and is made using the transparent mid-market rate.

You also get local account details in 10 major currencies, including AUD.

In Australia, Wise is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL number 513764). On top of this, Wise has dedicated compliance teams and systems working around the clock to keep our customers’ money safe.

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Please see Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise Fees & Pricing for the most up-to-date pricing and fee information.

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Sources:

1. Airwallex about
2. Airwallex regulated
3. Airwallex bank guarantee
4. ASIC bank guarantee
5. Airwallex security
6. Airwallex data retention
7. ASIC record keeping
8. Airwallex Risk Engine
9. Airwallex card and scam protection

Sources checked on: 07 August 2023