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How to manage transfer approval workflows in an Organisation

This new interface is currently in Beta release. 

You can configure transfer approval workflows to control which transfers require approval and who can approve them. Workflows can be applied to one or more accounts in your Organisation so you can standardise controls or support different rules for different entities.

Who can manage transfer approval workflows?

To create or edit transfer approval workflows for an account, a user must:

  • Have the Manage permission for Transfer approvals on that account, and
  • Meet any additional requirements defined by the Workflow Change Policy (see Section 2).

If you cannot access the transfer approval settings, contact an Owner or Admin on your account to update your permissions.

Workflow Change Policy

Changes to transfer approval workflows must be approved before they become effective.

  • All changes to a workflow must be approved by Owner user(s) on the account.
  • The number of required Owner approvals depends on how many Owners the account has:
    • If the account has 1 Owner:
      • Changes submitted by a non‑Owner must be approved by this Owner.
      • Changes submitted by the Owner are automatically approved.
    • If the account has more than 1 Owner:
      • Changes submitted by a non‑Owner must be approved by at least 2 Owners.
      • Changes submitted by an Owner must be approved by another Owner.

The Workflow Change Policy cannot be disabled.

You can change how this policy applies by adding or removing Owner users on the account.

How to create or edit a transfer approval workflow

Prepare approvers

To be selected as an approver in a workflow, a user must:

  • Be added as a user on the account, and
  • Have the Transfer Create/Edit permission on that account.

To add or update users:

  1. Go to Account > User Management in the web app.
  2. Add the user if they are not already on the account.
  3. Grant the Transfer Create/Edit permission as required.

If a workflow is applied to multiple accounts, only users who have the required permissions on those accounts can be used as approvers.

Open Transfer approvals

  1. Sign in to the Airwallex web app.
  2. In the left‑hand navigation, go to: Settings > Transfer approvals

On this page you can see:

  • A list of existing transfer approval workflows
  • The accounts each workflow is applied to
  • Any change requests that are awaiting Owner approval

Only users with the Transfer approval – Manage permission for at least one account will be able to edit workflows that affect those accounts.

Create a new workflow

  1. From Settings > Transfer approvals, select Create workflow.
  2. Enter a workflow name and, optionally, a description.
  3. Select the accounts that this workflow should apply to.
  4. Save and continue to configure the workflow details.

Define amount ranges (“layers”)

Workflows are made up of one or more amount ranges (also called “layers”). Each amount range defines how transfers within that range should be handled.

For each amount range:

  1. Set a minimum and maximum transfer amount.
    • Example:
      • Layer 1: 0 – 9,999
      • Layer 2: 10,000 – 99,999
      • Layer 3: 100,000 and above
  2. Choose whether transfers in this amount range:
    • Do not require approval, or
    • Require one or more approval steps.

Amount ranges must not overlap. Overlapping ranges can cause the workflow to become invalid.

Configure approval steps

For any amount range that requires approval, you can add one or more approval steps.

For each step:

  1. Add the approvers (users or roles).
  2. Select the approval rule:
    • A specific number of approvers must approve (for example, at least 2 approvers out of 4).

You can configure multiple steps in sequence.

A transfer must pass each step before it is fully approved.

Additional workflow options

When editing a workflow, you can configure:

  • Self‑approval: Whether a user can approve a transfer that they created themselves.
  • Multiple approvals by the same user: Whether the same user can approve the same transfer in more than one approval step.
  • API‑initiated transfers: Whether the workflow applies to transfers that are initiated via Core API, in addition to transfers created in the web app.

Enable or disable these options according to your internal control requirements. If self‑approval or multiple approvals by the same user are enabled, no separate actions are needed to approve a transfer.

Submit workflow changes for approval

When you finish creating or editing a workflow:

  1. Select Submit.
  2. The system sends an email notification to the relevant Owner user(s) according to the Workflow Change Policy.
  3. Owner users can review the change request in the web app, including a comparison of the previous and updated configuration, and then approve or reject it.

After a change request is approved:

  • The workflow becomes active based on your configuration.
  • Users with Transfer approval – Manage permission for the affected accounts receive an email confirming the update.

If a change request is rejected, the workflow is not updated and the submitter is notified.

Apply or remove workflows from accounts

Apply an existing workflow to accounts

  1. Go to Settings > Transfer approvals.
  2. Open the workflow you want to use.
  3. In the Accounts section, select Add accounts.
  4. Choose the accounts that should use this workflow.
  5. Submit the change for approval if required by the Workflow Change Policy.

Remove a workflow from accounts

  1. Go to Settings > Transfer approvals.
  2. Open the workflow you want to change.
  3. In the Accounts section, deselect the accounts you want to remove.
  4. Submit the change.

After approval, the workflow is no longer enforced for those accounts. Review carefully to ensure that each account still has the desired level of approval control.

When does a transfer approval workflow become invalid?

A workflow becomes invalid when there is no valid approval path for at least one amount range. When a workflow is invalid:

  • A warning message appears in the UI.
  • Transfers may become blocked because they cannot meet the configured approval rules.

Common reasons include:

  1. No available approvers in a step
    • Approvers have been removed as users.
    • Approvers no longer have Transfer Create/Edit permission.
    • A role used as an approver has no users assigned.
  2. Restrictive additional settings combined with a small approver pool
    • For example, when self‑approval and multiple approvals by the same user are both disabled, but there are too few approvers to satisfy all steps.

To fix an invalid workflow:

  1. Review the warning in Settings > Transfer approvals.
  2. Adjust amount ranges, approvers, permissions, or additional settings to restore a valid path.
  3. Submit the change for Owner approval.

For information on transfers that are already stuck in approval because of invalid workflows, see the separate help article on transfers blocked or requiring approval indefinitely.

What happens to transfers waiting for approval when a workflow is updated?

Transfers and batch transfers keep using the workflow that was active when they were submitted.

  • Updating, enabling, disabling, or re‑assigning a workflow does not change the approval rules for transfers that are already:
    • Waiting for approval, or
    • In progress as part of a batch.

These transfers continue under the original workflow until they are approved, rejected, or otherwise resolved according to your policies.

New transfers submitted after the change use the latest approved workflow configuration.

FAQs

Which permission is required to edit a transfer approval workflow? Users must have the Manage permission for Transfer approvals on the relevant account. Without this permission, they cannot create or edit workflows for that account.

Can a workflow apply to more than one account? Yes. You can select multiple accounts when creating or editing a workflow.

Can workflows control approvals for API‑initiated transfers? Yes. Enable the option to apply the workflow to Core API‑initiated transfers so those transfers follow the same approval rules as web app transfers.

What happens if an approver loses access or is removed? If an approver or role is no longer valid and no other approver can satisfy the configured steps, the workflow may become invalid. A warning message appears and you must update the workflow to restore a valid approval path.

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