Airwallex & McLaren Racing to modernize global payment operations

By Gloria Mathias

Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for modern businesses, has announced a multi-year partnership with the McLaren Formula 1 team and the sport’s brands.

As an official partner, Airwallex will support McLaren’s global financial operations through its treasury management and cross-border pay-outs and settlement product suite. This partnership between Airwallex and McLaren will help ignite FinTech’s growth trajectory as it continues to scale globally.

Specifically, McLaren will use Airwallex to optimise its supply chain payments for all Grands Prix. McLaren’s existing payment infrastructure limits payments to suppliers, such as hotel and event space providers, to a singular currency account based in the UK, resulting in high foreign exchange (FX) charges, slow transfer times, and additional SWIFT fees.

Airwallex’s financial technology will unlock multi-currency payment options for McLaren, providing the company the ability to hold core currencies and exchange them with speed and ease at any point while reducing the amount of SWIFT fees that may be payable by leveraging Airwallex’s extensive global proprietary payment rail network.

As part of this partnership, Airwallex will also provide technology to support the launch and ongoing operation of McLaren’s digital partner merchandise platform, further enhancing its multi-currency collection capabilities and allowing it to offer a broad range of global and local payment options.

Zak Brown, CEO, of McLaren Racing, said “In the competitive world of Formula 1, efficiency and performance are crucial both on and off the track. We are delighted to have Airwallex on board and use their innovative and trusted payment solutions to support our team’s financial operations.”

Jack Zhang, CEO and Co-Founder of Airwallex said, “There are very few brands that match McLaren’s heritage and global appeal. Like McLaren, Airwallex is constantly innovating to move faster and with greater precision with a product that unites people around the world. Our partnership will play a key role in supporting our global expansion, and we look forward to working with the McLaren team in 2024 and beyond to support our mutual growth.”

Airwallex’s partnership with the McLaren Formula 1 team aligns with its global ambitions to be the financial platform of choice for businesses across the world.