Airwallex business account frozen

[mardz]

Our Airwallex business account got frozen 3 weeks ago. They asked a bunch of questions and requested various documents. I managed to provide most of them but our account is still frozen and I after asking for updates several times I get no answer from them.
I heard Wise does freeze accounts often but I never read anything about Airwallex. Did this happen to anyone else ? Should we wait more or hire a lawyer ?

 

[KDX]

Did this happen to anyone else ? Should we wait more or hire a lawyer ?

This is standard behavior. EMIs will lock your money for however long they will like If I remember correctly, @JohnnyDoe also had his Airwallex account frozen/closed?

 

[Sols]

Our Airwallex business account got frozen 3 weeks ago. They asked a bunch of questions and requested various documents. I managed to provide most of them but our account is still frozen and I after asking for updates several times I get no answer from them.
I heard Wise does freeze accounts often but I never read anything about Airwallex. Did this happen to anyone else ? Should we wait more or hire a lawyer ?

RFI (Request For Information) is just something we have to live with and accept now, if you want to engage in the ordinary financial systems. It's made worse by regulatory mandated secrecy/non-disclosure, which prevents financial institutions from sharing details. Most of them take this too far and engage in complete silence. Compliance departments have become the biggest departments in banks, and they're still usually overworked which causes long delays.

If they sent you an RFI, it's for a reason. They either suspect something or you have reached some limit or threshold in their system. You said you managed to provide most of the documents. Can you get the missing ones as well?

You can hire a lawyer to try to apply pressure on Airwallex to speed up the process. It works sometimes. But if you're not a very important client, they might just decide you're difficult and close the account. So take that risk into consideration and make sure you have at least a couple of backup accounts at all times.

This is standard behavior. EMIs will lock your money for however long they will like

The problem began when governments decided to outsource law enforcement to banks and financial institutions, instead of funding financial crime investigation departments within police/law enforcement. It hits non-bank financial institutions harder because they are perceived as higher risk by regulators and by their correspondent banks.

If I remember correctly, @JohnnyDoe also had his Airwallex account frozen/closed?

I could swear he has had his piggybank locked due to compliance.

 

[mardz]

If they sent you an RFI, it's for a reason. They either suspect something or you have reached some limit or threshold in their system. You said you managed to provide most of the documents. Can you get the missing ones as well?

We do e-comerce. The reason they froze the account I think is because we received payments from Stripe to a different beneficiary (not our company name), that's because we acquired 2 online stores that were registered under an another company name.
They asked for documents showing we acquired the stores but I couldn't provide that because I bought these stores from random people for a couple hundred bucks a long time ago.

We have several business accounts but most of the cash was in Airwallex so it put us in a really bad situation as we have now have 2 outstanding supplier invoices that we cannot pay.

 

[FinTech Avenger]

We do e-comerce. The reason they froze the account I think is because we received payments from Stripe to a different beneficiary (not our company name), that's because we acquired 2 online stores that were registered under an another company name.
They asked for documents showing we acquired the stores but I couldn't provide that because I bought these stores from random people for a couple hundred bucks a long time ago.

We have several business accounts but most of the cash was in Airwallex so it put us in a really bad situation as we have now have 2 outstanding supplier invoices that we cannot pay.

Here comes the truth...

Accepting payments for a different beneficiary is a big no-no for absolutely most banks and EMI's.

Per Airwallex acceptable use policy:
You must not use our Services for the following purposes:

...

● unless we have approved in advance, conducting payouts or collecting funds on behalf of any other person or entity (including any of your sister entities or parent company) other than yourself;

...

I do feel bad for your business as definitely they would now have perfectly valid and legal reason to hold your funds for many weeks and months while they investigate (or purport to do so) - and the outcome would most likely be the account termination.

 

[mardz]

Damn, I see. I don't mind account termination as long as we get our cash back.

 

[JackAlabama]

Where is your Airwallex account hosted?
They have different non-related entities and some seem wayyy more strict than others.

https://help.airwallex.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4408591334937-What-country-does-my-business-have-to-be-registered-in-for-opening-an-Airwallex-account-

 

[mardz]

Where is your Airwallex account hosted?
They have different non-related entities and some seem wayyy more strict than others.

https://help.airwallex.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4408591334937-What-country-does-my-business-have-to-be-registered-in-for-opening-an-Airwallex-account-

The account was opened for a US company

 

[bedouin]

How much was it and did you get it solved @mardz

 

[Forester]

How much was it and did you get it solved @mardz

If they are not able to prove that they acquired that stores, they can just say bye-bye to their funds, at least for a really long time, if not finally; I am afraid. The amount of cash does not matter, in fact.
Of course, @mardz is the only person here who can describe the real situation.
(Lesson: If you are in a situation when you must perform some strange operation, at least discuss the problem with the bank/EMI in advance...)

 

[JohnnyDoe]

(Lesson: If you are in a situation when you must perform some strange operation, at least discuss the problem with the bank/EMI in advance...)

which is exactly what I did with Wise. Not a strange operation, just dividends distribution. After having completed the transaction exactly as agreed with Wise, they closed the account and all the other accounts I controlled.

Lesson: don’t trust any bank or EMI under any circumstance. Always consider the money deposited as at risk of complete loss. Deal with the bank/EMI as you would deal with a criminal organization.

 

[Forester]

which is exactly what I did with Wise. Not a strange operation, just dividends distribution. After having completed the transaction exactly as agreed with Wise, they closed the account and all the other accounts I controlled.

Well, you might already know how I do trust (and like) especially Wise
So, no more comments

Lesson: don’t trust any bank or EMI under any circumstance. Always consider the money deposited as at risk of complete loss. Deal with the bank/EMI as you would deal with a criminal organization.

Especially the second sentence deserves to be chiseled in stone.