Tencent-backed Airwallex aims to disrupt global finance

The payments firm’s founder explains his route to profitability and how he plans to undercut other parts of banking such as trade finance.

Chinese-Australian Jack Zhang sees the company he founded in 2015 handling a growing slice of Asia’s digital payments explosion. Profitability is within his grasp but he doesn’t want it just yet, because he's thinking big very big.

As small businesses across Asia migrate online they are looking for ways to send bite-sized chunks of money overseas as cheaply as possible. Fintech firms are stepping up.

“From e-commerce firms to travel sites, they all need to do payments,” said Zhang, a former FX trader and investment banker, in a telephone interview with FinanceAsia.

While there are already a plethora of fintech startups...

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