Two landmark expansions from Mastercard and Airwallex signal a new era for cross-border B2B payments: one deepening China’s financial corridors, the other mounting a billion-dollar advance on European incumbents.
The global cross-border payments market rarely sits still for long, but March 2026 has delivered two announcements that could meaningfully reshape who moves money and how, for millions of businesses worldwide. Mastercard is opening China’s payment rails to global SMEs through a new banking collaboration, while Airwallex is committing over a billion dollars to seize Europe’s fast-growing fintech opportunity.
Mastercard Move unlocks China’s payment corridors for global SMEs
On March 12, 2026, Mastercard announced a collaboration between its money movement platform, Mastercard Move, and Bank of Shanghai, effectively creating a bi-directional cross-border payment channel linking China to global markets. The partnership is designed to address one of international trade’s most persistent friction points: getting money in and out of China quickly, cheaply, and reliably.
For businesses importing from Chinese suppliers, inbound payments can now be delivered directly into China’s bank account network, including UnionPay cards, Alipay and WeChat Pay wallets, and Bank of Shanghai accounts, in CNY or USD, processed through domestic clearing rails including CIPS. On the outbound side, Chinese SMEs can send payments to international partners across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa via Mastercard Move’s global network.
The timing is deliberate. China’s exports surged 21.8% in the first two months of 2026, with annual export value exceeding $3 trillion. Yet SMEs, which account for 93.6% of Chinese exporting businesses, have long struggled with late payment. New Chinese legislation now requires businesses to settle SME invoices within 60 days, creating regulatory urgency around faster payment infrastructure.
Beyond business payments, the collaboration extends to personal transfers including remittances and education fees — a market with nearly 700,000 Chinese students studying abroad annually. Separately, Mastercard also launched its Global Commerce Suite for Small Businesses, now available in Hong Kong SAR with an Asia Pacific rollout planned.
Airwallex commits $1.135 billion to European dominance
While Mastercard strengthens an existing corridor, Australian-founded fintech Airwallex is executing a capital-heavy land grab across Europe. The company announced a five-year, $1.135 billion investment into the UK and EMEA region, hiring 100 senior engineers in the UK and accelerating market entries across the Netherlands, France, and Germany.
The numbers fuelling the ambition are hard to ignore. Airwallex posted 116% year-on-year revenue growthand a staggering 226% increase in EMEA transaction volume in Q4 2025 alone. Its annualised recurring revenue has now surpassed $1.2 billion, growing 85% year-on-year, making this expansion a bet on momentum rather than a speculative push into untested markets.
The EMEA commitment builds on a $590 million UK investment announced in December 2025, and a payments licence Airwallex secured in the Netherlands in 2021 — a regulatory foothold that now positions it to compete across the EEA against established names such as Adyen, Mollie, and Bunq. In the Netherlands alone, Airwallex plans to invest €200 million and grow its Amsterdam team by 60% to around 70 staff by end of 2026.
To anchor its European operations, the company hired Christos Chamberlain, formerly of logistics giant Flexport, as general manager for the UK and Europe, bringing two decades of cross-border trade experience into the leadership team. The strategic hire signals Airwallex’s intent to go beyond payments and embed itself deeply in the international commerce stack.
Financially, the expansion is underpinned by a $330 million Series G round that valued the company at $8 billion, up from $6.2 billion in its earlier Series F. Airwallex’s 2026 ambitions extend beyond Europe: in January, it entered South Korea (its seventh Asian market) through the acquisition of fintech firm Paynuri.
