Visa & Airwallex Bring Fintech Overhaul to Freight Payments

Visa and Airwallex have teamed up to develop embedded-finance solutions for freight and shipping platforms to modernise payments across one of the world’s most operationally complex industries. 

By working together, the pair aim to help logistics businesses improve cash flow, reduce friction in cross-border commerce and embed financial services more directly into day-to-day workflows.

What the partnership brings

Visa is contributing expertise in commercial payments, acceptance strategy, risk management and solution design, while Airwallex is bringing embedded-finance capabilities, multi-currency infrastructure and global platform technology. 

Together, the companies say they want to build solutions tailored to the operational realities of freight and shipping, rather than applying a generic payments model.

Alessandro Figueroa, Head of New Verticals & Partnerships, Visa Commercial Solutions for Europe, says: “Freight and shipping are fundamental to the global economy, yet many businesses continue to operate with payment processes that are fragmented, manual and inefficient. 

“As digital freight platforms continue to scale, there is a growing need for financial solutions that can be embedded seamlessly into existing workflows without creating additional complexity. 

“By combining Visa's commercial payments expertise with Airwallex’s technology platform, we’re helping bring new solutions to market quickly, enabling platforms to simplify payments, improve working capital and deliver greater value to the businesses they serve."

The aim is to help platforms embed financial capabilities directly into their products, so customers can manage costs more efficiently, access working capital when needed and move money across borders with less complexity. 

In practice, that could mean payments becoming a built-in feature of freight software rather than a separate and often disconnected process.

For Visa, the deal strengthens its commercial payments proposition in a vertical where embedded finance has clear utility. 

It also signals a broader push to design solutions around specific industries, rather than focusing solely on general-purpose payment tools.

For Airwallex, the collaboration builds on its broader platform strategy and deepens a relationship that has already covered cross-border B2B payments. 

"As industries continue to digitise, expectations around payments and financial services are changing,” Alessandro exclusively tells FinTech Magazine.

“Businesses increasingly want solutions that fit naturally into the platforms and workflows they already use. 

“We're excited to be working with Airwallex to help support that shift within the freight ecosystem.”

The freight use case gives the company a chance to prove that its infrastructure can support more specialised applications in complex B2B environments

The challenges of payments in freight

Despite rapid digitisation across logistics, the financial systems supporting the sector have often lagged behind. 

Freight businesses still contend with fragmented payment processes, lengthy settlement cycles and the operational burden of manual document handling, all of which can slow down cash movement and increase costs.

That mismatch is especially expensive in shipping. According to the companies, payments can take an average of 42 days to reach the invoicing company, while processing and administrative costs can account for nearly one-fifth of total transportation costs. 

Christos Chamberlain, General Manager for UK and Europe at Airwallex, says: “Cash sitting in limbo while payments clear across borders is capital that should be funding the next shipment, not stuck in transit. 

“Reputations are built on reliability – can you get the container there, on time, every time. Payments need to work the same way. 

“Together with Visa, we’re giving freight operators the speed and precision that global shipping demands.”