SINGAPORE — March 17, 2026
Executive Summary
Circles and Airwallex have announced a strategic global partnership to integrate Airwallex’s embedded finance capabilities into CirclesX, the SaaS platform developed by Circles for telecom operators. The collaboration enables telecom operators to introduce digital banking services (digibanking) directly through their digital platforms, expanding service offerings beyond connectivity.
The integration brings Airwallex’s global financial infrastructure into the FinX financial services stack native to CirclesX, enabling telecom operators to provide financial services such as global payouts, travel cards, supplier payments, and expense management. The companies stated that the partnership enables telecom operators to introduce financial products across more than 70 countries while using their existing digital platforms.
According to the companies, the collaboration supports telecom operators seeking to diversify services and expand engagement with subscribers. By integrating financial services capabilities within the telecom ecosystem, operators can offer additional transactional services that complement connectivity offerings while leveraging existing digital infrastructure and customer relationships.
Announcement Overview
The partnership between Circles and Airwallex integrates Airwallex’s embedded finance infrastructure into CirclesX, Circles’ SaaS platform designed for telecom operators. The integration enables telecom operators using the CirclesX platform to offer financial services within their digital ecosystems.
CirclesX has supported telecom operators in launching digital mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and digital telecom brands across multiple markets. Through the integration with Airwallex, telecom operators will gain access to embedded financial capabilities delivered through the FinX embedded financial services stack, which is native to the CirclesX platform.
The companies stated that the partnership allows telecom operators to deploy financial services without building complex banking infrastructure or independently navigating regulatory frameworks associated with financial products. The integration is designed to simplify the deployment of financial services by leveraging Airwallex’s existing financial infrastructure and regulatory framework.
Circles indicated that the new partnership creates additional opportunities for telecom operators to expand digital services while increasing customer engagement through financial service offerings integrated into telecom platforms.
Key Announcement Details
- Announcement Type: Strategic global partnership integrating embedded finance infrastructure into a telecom SaaS platform
- Companies Involved: Circles and Airwallex
- Core Integration: Airwallex’s embedded finance solutions integrated into CirclesX, Circles’ SaaS platform designed for telecom operators
- Financial Services Stack: FinX, the embedded financial services stack native to the CirclesX platform
- Primary Objective: Enable telecom operators globally to launch digital banking (digibanking) services
- Geographic Coverage: Deployment capability across 70+ countries
- Target Industry: Telecommunications operators using the CirclesX SaaS platform
- Telecom Operator Examples Using CirclesX:
- KDDI Corporation
- Etisalat Group (e&)
- AT&T
- Telkomsel
- Core Financial Capabilities Enabled Through FinX:
- Global payouts
- Travel cards
- Supplier payments
- Expense management
- Financial Infrastructure Provider: Airwallex global payments and financial infrastructure
- Airwallex Global Coverage: Capability to move money to 200+ countries and territories worldwide
- Airwallex Regulatory Framework: 80+ licenses and permits globally
- Strategic Infrastructure Partner: Visa (through Airwallex partnership)
- Telecom Platform Benefit: Ability for operators to launch financial services without building or managing banking infrastructure
- Operational Benefit: Avoidance of complex regulatory licensing processes and significant upfront infrastructure costs
- Telco Monetization Opportunity: Ability to introduce transactional financial services within telecom ecosystems
- Customer Engagement Mechanism: Financial services integrated directly into telecom operator digital platforms
- Subscriber Data Utilization: Operators can leverage existing Know Your Customer (KYC) capabilities for financial services onboarding
- Potential Revenue Streams Enabled:
- Payments
- Remittances
- Financial transactions within telecom apps
- CirclesX Platform Track Record: Used to launch digital MVNO brands across markets in Asia and South America
- Operational Transformation Example: Telkomsel’s digital backbone transformation in Indonesia
- Platform Performance Indicators: CirclesX recognized for driving customer satisfaction and monetization improvements for operators
- Early Product Deployment via Circles.Life:
- Semi-open digital wallet
- Cashback card
- Wallet Functionality:
- PayNow wallet top-ups
- Peer-to-peer transfers
- Circles.Life Wallet Performance:
- 40% incremental subscriber growth
- Zerofy Cashback Program Metrics:
- 5× growth in monthly transactions per user
- 10× increase in monthly spend
- 30-point year-on-year increase in customer Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Initial Market Deployment: Circles.Life consumer MVNO brand in Singapore
- Platform Deployment Plan: FinX rollout to existing CirclesX telecom operator customers
- Implementation Timeline: Rollout beginning in the coming weeks
- Circles Founding Year: 2014
- Circles Core Business: Global telecom SaaS technology platform provider
- Circles Additional Business Units:
- Circles.Life – Digital lifestyle telco brand
- Circles Aspire – Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) provider
- Jetpac – Travel technology and eSIM roaming platform
- Jetpac Connectivity Coverage: eSIM roaming across 200+ destinations
- Circles Investors:
- Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia)
- Warburg Pincus
- Founders Fund
- EDBI (Singapore Economic Development Board investment arm)
- Airwallex Founding Year: 2015
- Airwallex Headquarters: San Francisco and Singapore
- Airwallex Workforce: 2,000+ employees
- Airwallex Global Offices: 26 offices worldwide
- Airwallex Enterprise Customer Base: 200,000+ companies globally
- Airwallex Core Financial Products:
- Payment acceptance
- Billing infrastructure
- Global business accounts
- Corporate cards
- Spend management
- Leadership Quotes Included:
- Awais Malik, Chief Growth Officer, Circles
- Arnold Chan, General Manager Asia-Pacific, Airwallex
- Strategic Objective of Partnership: Enable telecom operators to embed financial services into telecom digital experiences at scale
Platform Background: CirclesX SaaS Platform
The CirclesX platform is a SaaS-based technology platform developed by Circles to support telecom operators launching and operating digital telecom services.
Over the past decade, the platform has supported telecom operators including KDDI, e& (Etisalat Group), and AT&T in launching digital MVNOs across markets in Asia and South America. CirclesX has also supported the transformation of the digital backbone for Telkomsel in Indonesia.
According to Circles, the platform has been used by telecom operators to develop digital telecom brands and digital-first mobile services designed to improve customer satisfaction and monetization capabilities.
The CirclesX platform provides telecom operators with a digital technology stack that supports the development and operation of digital telecom services, enabling operators to launch new digital offerings while modernizing existing telecom infrastructure.
FinX Embedded Financial Services Stack
The FinX financial services stack is a native component of the CirclesX platform designed to enable telecom operators to introduce financial services within their digital ecosystems.
Through FinX, telecom operators can introduce financial capabilities such as payments, wallets, and financial transactions without building financial infrastructure internally.
According to Circles, FinX allows operators to deploy financial services without managing banking systems, obtaining financial licenses independently, or developing payment infrastructure from scratch.
The integration with Airwallex provides the underlying financial infrastructure supporting these capabilities, enabling telecom operators to deploy financial services through their existing digital telecom platforms.
Embedded Finance Capabilities for Telecom Operators
Through the integration of Airwallex’s financial infrastructure, the FinX stack enables telecom operators to deploy a range of financial services directly within their digital platforms.
The capabilities supported through the integration include:
- Global payouts
- Travel cards
- Supplier payments
- Expense management
These financial capabilities are delivered using Airwallex’s global payments and financial infrastructure. According to the companies, this infrastructure allows telecom operators to offer financial services while leveraging regulated financial systems operated by Airwallex.
Airwallex provides financial infrastructure designed to support digital financial services across international markets. The company’s platform enables enterprises to move money to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
Strategic Context for Telecom Operators
The companies stated that telecom operators are increasingly exploring additional service offerings beyond connectivity.
According to Circles, connectivity services have become increasingly standardized across markets. As a result, telecom operators are expanding digital offerings to maintain engagement with subscribers.
CirclesX enables telecom operators to introduce additional services within their digital ecosystems. Through the integration of financial services capabilities, telecom operators can offer payment services and other financial products alongside telecommunications services.
According to Circles, telecom operators can use existing Know Your Customer (KYC) processes to support financial services offered through the FinX platform. These capabilities allow operators to introduce transactional services such as payments and remittances within telecom applications.
The companies indicated that these capabilities enable telecom operators to expand digital services while increasing engagement through frequent transactional use cases.
Leadership Statements
Awais Malik, Chief Growth Officer at Circles, stated:
“At Circles, we’re continuously pushing the boundaries of innovation for the industry beyond just core telco products and we are confident that embedded financial products will power the next phase of revenue growth for telcos. With Airwallex’s fintech expertise, we’ve built a globally scalable financial services stack embedded in our platform, making it seamless for any telco organization to launch and scale financial products or services with zero licensing and infrastructure hassles.”
Arnold Chan, General Manager for Asia-Pacific at Airwallex, said:
“Telecom operators sit at the centre of their customers’ daily lives, but connectivity alone is no longer enough to drive long-term growth. By partnering with Circles and integrating with the CirclesX platform, we’re enabling operators to embed trusted, global financial services directly into their digital experiences – unlocking new revenue streams, deeper engagement and stronger customer lifetime value at scale.”
Early Deployment: Circles.Life FinX Products
Circles’ consumer mobile brand Circles.Life, based in Singapore, has already launched two FinX-powered financial products.
These include:
- A semi-open digital wallet
- A cashback card
The Circles.Life wallet, available in select channels, enables users to perform wallet top-ups through PayNow and peer-to-peer transfers.
According to the company, the wallet has contributed to 40% incremental subscriber growth through expanded financial functionality integrated within the telecom platform.
Circles.Life also offers a cashback card as part of its Zerofy cashback program. The program has reported:
- Fivefold growth in monthly transactions per user
- Tenfold increase in monthly spending
- 30-point year-on-year increase in customer Net Promoter Score (NPS)
These products demonstrate how financial services can be integrated within telecom platforms through the FinX stack.
Rollout Plans
Circles stated that the FinX platform will begin rolling out to existing CirclesX telecom operator customers and additional telecom operators in the coming weeks.
The rollout will allow telecom operators using the CirclesX platform to deploy embedded financial services capabilities through the Airwallex infrastructure.
According to the company, the deployment is designed to enable telecom operators to introduce financial services within their digital platforms without building financial infrastructure independently.
About Circles
Circles, founded in 2014, is a global technology company that develops software platforms designed to support telecom operators launching digital telecom services.
The company’s SaaS platform enables telecom operators to create digital telecom brands or modernize existing telecom operations.
Circles partners with telecom operators across multiple markets, including KDDI Corporation, Etisalat Group (e&), AT&T, and Telkomsel.
In addition to its SaaS platform, Circles operates several businesses.
Circles.Life
Circles.Life is a digital lifestyle telecom brand based in Singapore and powered by the Circles SaaS platform. The brand provides digital telecom services and has received awards for marketing, customer service, and product innovation.
Circles Aspire
Circles Aspire provides Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) solutions. The platform enables enterprises, developers, and service providers to deploy mobile messaging, IoT, and connectivity services through a cloud-based platform.
Jetpac
Jetpac provides travel technology solutions focused on connectivity for international travelers. The platform offers eSIM roaming services across more than 200 destinations along with travel-related digital services.
Circles is backed by investors including Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia), Warburg Pincus, Founders Fund, and EDBI, the investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board.
About Airwallex
Airwallex is a global financial technology platform designed to support modern businesses operating across international markets.
The platform enables enterprises to manage global banking and financial operations and allows businesses to embed financial services within their products.
More than 200,000 companies worldwide use Airwallex to manage financial operations or deploy financial products using its infrastructure.
Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex operates with over 80 licenses and permits across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.
The platform supports services including:
- Payment acceptance
- Billing
- Global accounts
- Corporate cards
- Spend management
Airwallex is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore and operates with more than 2,000 employees across 26 offices globally.
More information is available at www.airwallex.com.
Media Contact
For additional information, visit circles.co & airwallex.com.
Source Attribution
Source: Company announcement
