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Airwallex is committing $43 million to UAE expansion over five years, part of a wider $1.135 billion investment across Europe, the Middle East and Africa announced in March.
The company holds in-principle CBUAE approval for Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services (Category II) licences, targeting full approval and launch later in 2026.
Airwallex was valued at $11 billion after a $320 million Series H round in June 2026, and already holds 85+ regulatory licences across 200+ countries globally.
Airwallex, the Australian-founded global payments platform now valued at $11 billion, is committing $43 million (AED 158 million) to its UAE expansion over the next five years. The company has already secured in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services (Category II) licences, and is targeting full regulatory approval and a service launch later in 2026.
What the $43 million actually funds
The commitment covers expanding Airwallex’s Dubai office, recruiting senior local leadership, and building out its AI-powered agentic finance products, T:0, Airi and Kai, for the UAE market. These products are designed to execute cross-border financial workflows, payments, reconciliation, treasury tasks, with limited human intervention, rather than functioning as traditional dashboard-based software.
“Businesses in the UAE are scaling into more markets and handling more currencies than ever, but too many are still held back by financial infrastructure built for a single one,” said Or Liban, Airwallex’s managing director for the Middle East, Benelux and Nordics. “This investment lets us close that gap.”
Airwallex first established a regional presence in 2024 and has already made new UAE hires in 2026, with additional local leadership roles planned. New group CFO Pranav Sood is scheduled to speak on regional investment strategy at Abu Dhabi Finance Week in December.
In-principle, not yet a full licence
An in-principle approval is a preliminary regulatory clearance, not an operational licence. Airwallex still needs to complete a further operational phase with the CBUAE before it can actually offer Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services to UAE customers. The company is targeting full approval and launch later in 2026, though it hasn’t given a specific month.
Airwallex joins a crowded field chasing the same licence
Airwallex isn’t the first global or local payments company to pursue this specific CBUAE licence combination this year. Checkout.com secured in-principle SVF approval in July 2026, Remitly holds a final SVF licence, and Pemo and KamelPay have each gone through comparable CBUAE licensing processes for stored value and retail payment services. Airwallex’s scale sets it apart from that group, 676,000-plus corporate clients globally and 2,300-plus employees across 27 offices, but it’s entering an already active UAE licensing queue, not a clear field.
Why it matters
For UAE businesses operating across borders
Airwallex’s pitch is aimed squarely at UAE-based businesses that already operate internationally: companies handling multiple currencies today are often stitching together infrastructure built for a single market. A locally licensed Airwallex, if the full approval comes through, would let those businesses manage multi-currency operations through one regulated platform rather than several.
For the UAE’s positioning as a fintech hub
A payments company valued at $11 billion, holding licences in 200-plus countries, choosing to build out UAE-specific infrastructure rather than just serving the market remotely is a data point for the UAE’s pitch that its payments regulatory framework is now attracting large global players, not just early-stage fintechs. Regional e-commerce is forecast to reach $21 billion by 2031, the market context Airwallex is pointing to behind the investment.
What’s next
Airwallex hasn’t disclosed a specific date for full CBUAE approval, only later in 2026. Whether that lands before or after some of the other companies currently in the same licensing queue, and what Airwallex’s actual UAE customer base looks like a year after launch, are the concrete things to watch next.
FAQ
What licence is Airwallex seeking in the UAE?
Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services (Category II) licences from the Central Bank of the UAE. Airwallex currently holds in-principle approval for both, not the final licence.
What is Airwallex?
An Australian-founded global payments platform valued at $11 billion after a $320 million Series H round in June 2026, holding more than 85 regulatory licences across 200-plus countries and serving over 676,000 corporate clients.
What are Airwallex’s “agentic” finance products?
T:0, Airi and Kai are Airwallex’s AI-powered products designed to execute cross-border financial workflows, payments, reconciliation and treasury tasks, with limited human intervention.
Is Airwallex the only global payments company pursuing this UAE licence?
No. Checkout.com, Remitly, Pemo and KamelPay have each gone through comparable CBUAE stored value and retail payment services licensing this year.
When will Airwallex fully launch in the UAE?
The company is targeting full regulatory approval and a service launch later in 2026, without a specific announced date.
Editor’s Take: The $43 million is a small number next to the real context: an $11 billion valuation and operations already spanning 200-plus countries. A company at that scale building out UAE-specific infrastructure, rather than serving the market remotely from an existing licence elsewhere, is a real signal about where global payments players think the region is heading.
Airwallex is entering a UAE licensing queue that already includes Checkout.com, Remitly, Pemo and KamelPay, all chasing some version of the same stored value and retail payments approval this year.