One of the biggest tech IPOs Australia has ever lined up got pushed back, and the reason was a regulator, not the market.
The company
Airwallex was founded in Melbourne in 2015 by Jack Zhang and his co-founders, including Max Li. It builds global payments and banking infrastructure for businesses. Last year it reported US$266B in transaction volume, up 71%, and about US$1.2B in revenue. It is one of the most impressive companies this country has built.
What happened
On 22 January 2026, AUSTRAC issued a formal order under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act requiring Airwallex to appoint an external auditor, at its own cost. The regulator said it had serious concerns, including that transaction monitoring had not kept pace with its risks and that it did not understand its customers well enough. The auditor has 180 days to report back.
The IPO
Zhang had been targeting a listing in 2026. Within days of the order, Startup Daily reported him saying an IPO would not happen before 2028. The company has kept raising privately since, at a valuation reported at around US$11B after its Series H. Its president has since said Airwallex still wants to be IPO-ready, with timing depending on the market.
My read
This is a short-term setback for a long-term story that is still being written. The business keeps growing. The compliance work has to get done first.