Airwallex’s end-to-end platform helps Endowus balance growth and cost control

Endowus is a digital wealth management platform headquartered in Singapore. Since 2019, it has been offering fee-only private wealth solutions and public pensions, including CPF and SRS, serving over 200,000 individual and corporate customers in Asia. Endowus also allows seamless deposits and withdrawals with Airwallex.

As a scale-up operating across four markets, Endowus faces the challenge of balancing growth and cost control. Managing money and expenses across different countries was challenging because of a complex and expensive banking setup that required the team to log into different accounts.

How did Endowus leverage Airwallex to streamline its global financial operations?

1. Reduced transaction costs by up to 90% using Airwallex's FX and Transfers 

2. Improved profit margin by saving over S$30,000 on cashback with Airwallex's Corporate Cards

3. Seamless integration with Xero saves time for lean finance team 

Challenge 1: rapid expansion to new markets 

As Endowus continued to expand to new markets, managing payments became more complex for their lean finance team. Paying international vendors and employees required managing multiple bank accounts or platforms, which was both costly and time-consuming.

On top of this, creating and releasing multiple payments was also time-consuming. Each local bank account had its own payment process, many of which required multiple logins.  

With so many steps involved, it became challenging to focus on strategic tasks to drive the business.  

Solution: one platform for everything with Airwallex’s all-in-one solution

The Airwallex Business Account was the all-in-one solution Endowus needed. With licences in Singapore and Hong Kong, Endowus’ local entities in these markets can use Airwallex to manage transactions as they continue to scale. 

“Airwallex’s global licences and presence in multiple countries provide the scalability we need,” says Dominic Ong, CFO of Endowus. “As we expanded to Hong Kong and Malaysia, we could have an Airwallex Global account in each country for payments and then track our transactions across multiple entities.”

Airwallex also integrates with Xero, Endowus’ accounting software. Transactions are automatically synced and reconciled every hour, which keeps their financial records organised and ready for reporting.

Dominic Ong

CFO at Endowus

“As part of a lean finance team taking care of the company, we can now use one platform to oversee different entities and countries. This consolidation helps us save time and puts our limited resources to good use.”

Challenge 2: complex payment processes and high transfer fees 

"As a CFO, understanding your financial runway and knowing how much to allocate to each market and your available cash balance is very important,” says Dominic.

Endowus needed to make regular money transfers to ensure each entity had enough cash. However, rising SWIFT and telegraphic transfer (TT) fees from banks – often charged as a percentage of the remittance amount – can significantly increase costs. Endowus also has several vendors and employees based outside Singapore, many of whom prefer to get paid via bank transfer. 

Solution: simplified international payments with Airwallex Transfers 

Since using Airwallex for international transfers, Endowus can save up to S$200 per SWIFT transfer to overseas entities, vendors, and employees.  

That’s because Airwallex works with local payment rails in over 120 countries. When Endowus makes a non-SWIFT transfer, it's processed like a local transaction, which means zero or low-cost international transfer fees. As an added benefit, 90% of Airwallex transfers arrive on the same day. Making transfers is also faster with Airwallex’s batch transfers, which can support transfers to 1,000 recipients in one go.

As a CFO, Dominic regularly approves and releases multiple payments each day. Using fintech has streamlined his workflow and made payment processing far more efficient. With all of Endowus' markets visible on a single dashboard, allocating cash to each entity has become much simpler while avoiding hefty TT fees. Thanks to Airwallex’s cost-effective and faster transfers, Endowus has reduced its cost of overseas transactions by as much as 90%.

Challenge 3: balancing growth and cost control 

“We are fast-growing, with multiple entities in different countries. But we also face a lot of scrutiny from investors, especially during fundraising,” says Dominic. 

Keeping expenses in check not only extends the runway – it shows investors that the startup can manage resources efficiently. At the same time, Endowus needs to strike that fine balance between growth and cost control. 

That’s why having a corporate card with cashback is so important for Endowus – it helps them make the most of every dollar. However, finding the right card was a challenge, as many providers put limits on spend categories that qualify for cashback. 

Solution: unlimited 1% cashback on all spend with Corporate Cards

Airwallex’s virtual and physical Corporate Cards were the solution Endowus needed. It offers 1% cashback on all domestic and international expenses, with no restrictions on spend categories. 

This feature allowed Endowus to earn cashback across every department and offset different costs, from ad spend to travel bookings. In fact, they use a different card for every department for better visibility and monitoring.  

Dominic Ong

CFO at Endowus

“When we spend S$100, our balance shows S$99 because of the cashback. This tracks our expenses as positive, letting us stretch our budget further. In just two years, we’ve saved more than S$30,000 dollars with Airwallex.”

Soon, Endowus will also use Airwallex Expense Management to automate approval workflows for each department, so line managers can directly monitor and approve expenses before the finance team releases the payments.

“Airwallex also has different payment methods to suit different needs,” says Dominic. “For vendors that only accept bank transfers, Airwallex can support that. Where vendors allow card payments, Airwallex helps us save with cashback.” 

What’s next for Endowus? 

Partnering with Airwallex brings added value to Endowus’ corporate clients. By working with Airwallex, Endowus’ clients can easily manage their investments in multiple major currencies and then redeem and transfer those funds directly to Airwallex. This allows clients to make payments directly in those currencies, avoiding unnecessary currency conversions and reducing FX and TT charges.

This publication does not constitute legal, tax, or professional advice from Airwallex, nor does it substitute seeking such advice, and makes no express or implied representations / warranties / guarantees regarding content accuracy, completeness, or currency. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [[email protected]]. Airwallex (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (201626561Z) is licensed as a Major Payment Institution and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.