Tech Business Mr Yum goes global with Airwallex

Corey Payne

Financial Controller

"It is crazy to see that kind of technology… it's just one of those ideas where you think, why has this not been done before?"

Helping Melbourne's hospitality industry was just the tip of the iceberg. Across the world, service-based businesses are shifting back towards growth and are looking for help to adapt to new ways customers want to interact with them.

That's why Mr Yum is taking their QR-based mobile menu and delivery technology global, starting first with the US and UK. As they started to set up international growth teams, they faced some challenges. Before meeting Airwallex, it was difficult to find an employee cards and payments infrastructure partner that could keep up with Mr Yum's high growth and big vision.

Airwallex provided a complete business account to seamlessly manage employee expenses with flexible spend controls, multi-currency collections and transfers at market-leading FX rates. To date, Airwallex has helped Mr Yum issue more than 30 cards in just a few clicks, launch in the UK 3 months faster, and save more than $50,000 on international transaction and FX related fees.

1. Empowered international teams to hit the ground running with virtual and physical cards

Problem: In the absence of a scalable employee cards solution, sales teams were out of pocket for ad-hoc expenses as they had to use their personal cards. To get reimbursed, sales teams ended up spending too much time submitting, reconciling expenses. To avoid the administration, some team members did not bother requesting reimbursements.

Corey Payne

Financial Controller

"There is a lot of informal spending like coffee and entertainment but staff were paying for things and then not bothering to claim because it was just too time consuming."

Solution: Mr Yum uses both our virtual and physical multi-currency cards for their sales team. 30+ virtual cards were created instantly and are managed from one platform cutting down issuing time from 2 weeks to 5 mins. Mr Yum's sales teams also have flexibility to request physical cards if they prefer. Corey sets up spending limits on the cards so that Mr Yum employees don’t need to request approvals for smaller expenses and hence reduces time on administration. This empowered sales teams to spend on developing partnership relationships without being out of pocket.

2. Avoid a 3% fee from forced FX conversions back to AUD when using Stripe to collect GBP

Problem: Mr Yum receives payments from customers in the UK in GBP. To receive GBP funds from their UK partners, Mr Yum selected Stripe as their payment gateway. To set up Stripe, Mr Yum needed to connect it to either a local UK bank account (which required a local director to be appointed) or a local AU bank account (which might incur unnecessary international transaction fees). As an Australian business, Mr Yum found it incredibly difficult to set up a local UK bank account.

Corey Payne

Financial Controller

"To set up business banking in the UK, you must have EU or UK based directors. We don't have that, we've got Australian founders and directors. We are not going to draft in a director that has nothing to do with the story or brand just to open a bank account."

If Mr Yum opted to connect Stripe to a local AU bank account, they would be forced to convert their GBP funds back to AUD upon receiving (unable to hold GBP funds as GBP). This would have incurred forced FX conversion and international transaction fees. Mr Yum would then need to pay their UK partners in GBP, converting their AUD back into GBP. Again incurring FX conversions and international transaction fees.

Solution: Mr Yum was able to create an Airwallex UK Global Account online, in 5 minutes. Omitting the need for local staff and hours of time on admin. By having an Airwallex UK virtual account, Mr Yum could settle, receive and hold GBP funds from Stripe without being forced to convert these funds into AUD. Mr Yum could then use their UK funds, held in GBP to pay their local partners. This eliminated the need to convert AUD back into GBP for payments. Mr Yum saved 3 months and avoided appointing a full-time director to oversee the local UK account. Airwallex helped Mr Yum avoid $2,300* per month from double FX conversions and international transaction fees on all funds collected in the UK. 

3. Saved ~$700+ USD* per month on SaaS, advertising, and payroll expenses charged in different currencies

Problem: To build a scalable technology platform and reach more hospitality partners, Mr Yum works with SaaS tools, spends on advertising and pays staff around the world. Some of the spend is charged in USD, and would have exposed Mr Yum to poor FX rates, and incurred hidden international transaction fees.

Yvia Magan-Parker

Account Manager

"When you start to dig into the 3% fees, it all adds up, especially if you are doing large SaaS subscriptions monthly"

Solution: Using Airwallex, Mr Yum can use cards and make bank transfers to pay off international business expenses out of their Global Account. The Global Account pulls from Mr Yum’s USD wallet to avoid high FX conversion fees, and international transaction fees. This means that Mr Yum is saving ~$700*+ per month.

*approximate conversion from original currency (AUD)