Madrid, April 15, 2025 — In a move that signals growing fintech ambition inside the B2B travel ecosystem, HBX Group has launched its first proprietary eWallet, developed in partnership with FinPay, a Spanish e-money institution regulated by the Bank of Spain.
The product, officially called the HBX Group eWallet, is now live in Spain and will expand across OECD markets beginning in June 2025.However, while the company positions it as a payment modernization tool, the implications go deeper.
The eWallet marks HBX’s shift from marketplace operator to financial infrastructure builder, a move that could reshape how money flows between travel suppliers, distributors, and buyers.
A Travel-Specific Fintech Stack
The eWallet enables instant, cross-border B2B transactions and includes several features built for operational scale:
- Integrated short-term financing options within the wallet
- Invoice-level visibility and reconciliation automation
- End-to-end traceability of every transaction, from initiation to settlement
FinPay will operate all payments and financing flows, ensuring regulatory oversight and compliance under Spain’s e-money framework.
Why Now?
The travel industry has long struggled with fragmented payment systems, delayed settlements, and a reliance on outdated workflows. According to HBX, its marketplace participants increasingly seek faster payment cycles, financing access, and reduced administrative friction.
Daniel Nordholm, Chief Product and New Business Officer at HBX Group framed the launch as a foundational shift:
“This is about more than payments. It’s about building financial infrastructure for the travel ecosystem.”
His counterpart at FinPay, CEO Juan Antonio Soriano, added:
“This collaboration applies fintech principles to real-world, industry-specific problems.”
A Broader Pattern in B2B Travel
HBX’s move reflects a growing pattern across the industry: travel tech platforms are absorbing more financial responsibility, from embedded lending to invoice financing.
Mexico-based Mendel secured $35M to scale its travel-expense lending platform earlier this year. European players like TravelPerk are also pushing into expense integration. However, HBX is the first major B2B marketplace to own and operate its eWallet, with the potential for a future roadmap.
The timing—and geography—matter. Spain acts as a regulatory launchpad, while the OECD expansion strategy suggests a deliberate move toward mature, finance-forward markets.
What Comes Next?
The launch positions HBX to:
- Bundle payments, reconciliation, and financing into one seamless platform
- Attract higher-value enterprise clients looking for control and compliance
- Compete not only as a marketplace but as a platform-as-a-service provider for the travel supply chain
If successful, the HBX eWallet may become more than a utility. It could evolve into a core monetization engine, anchoring future financial products inside the travel ecosystem.
Bottom Line
The HBX Group eWallet isn’t just a payments upgrade — it’s an early blueprint for how financial workflows will be rebuilt inside B2B travel platforms.
In an industry where speed and transparency increasingly define supplier relationships, HBX may have just made its most strategic product launch to date.
