Airwallex To Double Malaysia Workforce In 2026, Deepen Local Presence

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Global financial technology company Airwallex plans to double its headcount in Malaysia this year as it deepens its local presence, supported by growing cross-border transaction volumes.

Airwallex vice-president of global marketing Jon Stona said Malaysia exemplifies the company's approach of maintaining global consistency while building a business that remains locally relevant.

Airwallex grew its Malaysia workforce by 66 per cent in 2025 and recently moved into a new office with capacity for more than 160 employees.

The expansion comes amid strong business momentum in Malaysia, where Airwallex processed more than RM2 billion in remittance transaction volume in 2025, driven by rising demand from Malaysian businesses operating across borders.

Stona said Airwallex had invested in building its presence in Malaysia over several years, including establishing a local team and office.

He said having employees on the ground enables the company to better understand customers and communities in individual markets while maintaining common global frameworks and operating principles.

“The best ideas do not always have to come from headquarters. Oftentimes, the best ideas don't come from headquarters. The best ideas come from those who are in the field and closest to the customers, passing back to headquarters, and the job of headquarters is to scale that as quickly as possible,” he said.

Stona was speaking at a fireside chat also attended by McLaren Racing chief executive officer Zak Brown and moderated by Airwallex head of Southeast Asia expansion Andrew Chim.

Stona said Airwallex's expansion strategy was also centred on speed and its ability to respond quickly to customer needs, describing speed as an important part of scaling a business rather than a trade-off against consistency.

He said the company aimed to shorten feedback loops and become faster at iterating as it expands.

Meanwhile, Stona said Airwallex's partnership with McLaren Racing had exceeded expectations and helped shape some of its subsequent sports partnerships.

The collaboration had given Airwallex a platform to demonstrate how its financial operations and payment capabilities could support an organisation operating internationally, rather than simply providing brand visibility, he said.

As Airwallex expands from its Asia-Pacific roots into what Stona described as a “truly global financial platform”, the McLaren partnership has also enabled it to showcase its capabilities to a global audience.

Stona said the partnership allowed Airwallex to demonstrate how it could streamline financial operations and payments while leveraging McLaren's international reach.

Brown said commercial partnerships in Formula One had evolved significantly over the past two decades, moving beyond conventional sponsorships focused on placing a brand on a race car.

McLaren now works with business-to-business partners that help the racing organisation operate more efficiently across areas such as technology, communications, finance and human resources, he said.

With the team travelling to 24 countries, managing different currencies and other operational requirements has made such partnerships increasingly important, Brown said.

“So it's partners that help us operate at our most optimum, whether it's communications or finance or HR services or technology on the race car,” he said.

Brown said partners also played an important role in helping McLaren reach and engage new audiences as fan interaction with motorsport continued to evolve beyond traditional television viewing.

Global partners help McLaren improve its operations both on and off the track while expanding its fan base across different age groups, genders and geographic markets, he said.

-- BERNAMA