NIUM

Nium Webinar: What’s Next For Fintech Funding?

Erin O'Connell — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 20:32:40 +0000

Tune in to our webinar above, moderated by Rebecca Martin, as veteran early-stage investors Amrish Rau and Sheel Mohnot explain what founders can do to raise successfully in this environment.

Topics and questions that were addressed on the panel include:

How do you evaluate a business in this everything-on-Zoom era?
How do you build a recession-proof business?
Which segments within fintech are investors paying close attention to?
What is happening to fintech valuations?
What are the funding options founders should pay to?

The audience also answered two poll questions with responsed below: which trend will have the largest impact on financial services over the coming year and which fintech verticals are doing well and holding up in the current climate.

About Nium

Nium is a global financial technology platform redefining the way consumers and businesses send, spend and receive funds across borders.

The post Nium Webinar: What’s Next For Fintech Funding? appeared first on NIUM.

Digitising Maritime Payroll with Debit Cards

Erin O'Connell — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 16:44:39 +0000

Overview

The client, who runs a regional marine shipping company, needed our assistance with their payment infrastructure. In particular, they were looking to integrate a simplified payroll system, convenient for their employees who are required to travel frequently. 

After implementing Nium’s solution, they were able to access a payroll system that is more secure, convenient, and compliant with international banking regulations. 

With that said, the solution we implemented for this client can work for any business, regardless of industry. 

The Challenge

In this case, the client was dependent on the traditional mechanism of dispersing payments through cash and cheque. Considering their business required the employees to travel on a regular basis, this system created inefficiencies in their operations. It not only was a cumbersome process for our client, but also for the employees who found it difficult to access their payrolls. 

Since these employees are located in different ports across the globe, bringing a system equipped to manage cross-border transactions was the need of the hour. 

Another drawback also lies in the fact that the seafarers are resistant to new payroll disbursal methods. This reluctance may be a result of being exposed to complicated systems in the past. 

The traditional seafarers payroll system is also met with other challenges like: 

Lack of connectivity while at sea
Multiple operating entities and licences required for global coverage
Consistent interaction with regulators, which is a tedious process.

Why They Chose Nium

The client chose Nium to issue corporate cards which would allow them to disburse payroll to their employees across the globe. We created a branded white labelled app through which seafarers are able to easily access their money and even send remittances to their bank accounts from the app. 

Nium’s maritime solution utilises the global Visa licence network for card issuance and tech stack to enable real-time payroll disbursals and remittance for shipping companies, their management, and seafarers. Nium’s global issuing platform simplifies your card issuing experience. We’re licensed in 9 countries and the European Union. We also provide program management and advance card capabilities to BIN sponsors virtually anywhere in the world.

With Nium’s corporate card solutions, our client is now able to: 

Allow employees to access their money from almost anywhere around the world and send remittances to their bank accounts 
Reduce cash on ships 
Launch their own e-wallet with card payments, remittances and travel insurance 
Manage cost of overseas spends with multi-currency cards 
Mitigate risk and save money for themselves and the seafarers with a turnkey platform
Control FX conversion costs by applying exclusive rates for inter and intra company cross-border payments
Comply with payroll delivery and international banking regulations
Track payments and remittances from start to end

How do businesses benefit from Nium? 

Nium’s state-of-the-art technology helps you transform your business. Here’s how our services benefitted the client and can benefit your business too: 

Simplified Disbursement 

With open-loop cards, the client can seamlessly pay at many different locations from one centralised system, without being charged expensive wire fees. Employees are able to access their salaries and remit it to their bank accounts through an app, from almost anywhere in the world. By digitising the process, they are now able to streamline and automate disbursements, while controlling FX conversion costs. 

Streamlined Onboarding

Since Nium is a Visa issuer, we not only ensure a smooth onboarding process but can also swiftly move to issuing cards in just 4 weeks. For our client, this proved to be immensely beneficial. 

Access To Underbanked Markets 

For those seafarers placed in regions with limited banking facilities, the ability to provide digital debit cards is priceless. In the case of our client, sending payments to their employees in underbanked regions is now effortless. They can also save on expensive wire fees when paying employees in their local currency. 

Virtual and Physical Cards

Nium allows businesses to provide employees unique logins and personal debit cards – both physical and virtual. 

Superior Security

Nium allows our client to manage their program’s security in one place, including card lock/unlock, geolocation data and cardholder permissions. 

Increased Earnings

Nium lets you take charge of your business by opening new revenue streams for you. It gives you a share of the revenue it collects during each transaction. That means, the more your employees spend, the more you earn.  

How It Works

Setup: After integrating Nium, businesses can set up and define their program using limits and controls.
Share: Once the program is complete, management can assign cards and login details to each employee. 
Fund: Each employee’s card is then prefunded with a set amount of money like a regular debit card.
Spend: Employees can spend the funds on approved items until the funds run out.
Track: Each payment is automatically tracked, logged and made into expense reports viewable within Nium’s app.

More About Nium

Nium, formerly known as InstaReM, began in 2015 to simplify and optimise the finances of corporations. We eventually scaled the offering to serve SMEs and businesses in all industries.

Today, Nium utilises radically innovative technology that makes spending, receiving, and managing funds faster, cheaper, and more transparent. It’s designed to integrate with our customer’s lives and business needs seamlessly. 

We have experts on the ground working with local regulators and financial institutions. With offices worldwide, we are in a position to foster these relationships.

Connect With The Future of Payments

Contact us at enterprise@nium.com to learn how Nium’s business expense cards can streamline and automate your corporate finances.

Spend

Card issuing capabilities that span the globe. Grow revenue, reduce cost and simplify the payment process by adding Nium’s card issuing capabilities to your business.

The post Digitising Maritime Payroll with Debit Cards  appeared first on NIUM.

Facilitating Banking Solutions for A Pocket Money App

Erin O'Connell — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 16:43:32 +0000

Overview

Banking is becoming common among teens. The need for parents to impart financial skills and responsibilities to their children is also therefore growing. With the world heading towards a cashless future, it makes sense for kids to be introduced to card payments. 

When the client came to us, they were looking to offer a virtual card solution that would help parents issue prepaid cards for their children. With the help of Nium, our client has been able to create a system that gives parents more visibility and control over their child’s spending habits. 

That said, the solution we implemented for this client can work for any business, regardless of industry. 

The Challenge 

Across the world, most parents still give pocket money to kids in the form of cash. This comes with its own challenges. Firstly, the lack of transparency and inability to monitor spending is a concern for parents. Today, teens are spending more money than earlier generations. According to Teen Health FX, teens in the US spend over $84 billion a year, on clothing, cosmetic products and accessories, food and entertainment, yet parents may not be aware of what their kids are spending on. In a recent study, it was found that most Singaporean parents rely on verbal updates of their kids’ expenses. 

Secondly, while it is important that children are financially literate and prepared for a cashless society, traditional banks don’t provide alternatives that parents can safely give to their kids, in place of cash — with a regular savings account, parents don’t have control over their child’s spending limit, and handing them physical debit cards involves the risk of theft or fraud. 

In these changing times, digital pocket money solutions assure more transparency and security than their conventional counterparts. They provide different levels of parental control and act as a simple financial management system for children to learn about money. Apps allow parents to add money to their kids’ accounts, set limits, monitor transactions, restrict purchases and set saving goals, preparing kids for a cashless future.    

When the client came to us, they knew they needed a product that caters to the younger age group and an ecosystem that promised parents more visibility of their child’s spending. With Nium’s virtual prepaid cards and technology platform, they were able to build a white-labelled app for parents to send funds directly to these cards and make pocket money easier to manage for parents as well as kids. 

Why They Chose Nium

The client approached us for our innovative technology platform and trusted card issuing capabilities. Through Nium’s payment rails and Visa’s network, our client can now issue branded cards to its customers, enabling them to: 

Load money into the prepaid card using their own debit/credit card 
Schedule allowance disbursements
Set spending limits 
Track their child’s expenses in real-time 
Get an insight into what their children buy and thereby tackle any bad spending habits
Control the pace of money transfers, reduce unnecessary spending and encourage a culture of saving 
Lock the child’s account, if needed, with the click of a button

How Do Companies Benefit From Nium?

 Nium’s expense management and digital card platform has helped businesses across sectors. Here are a few ways in which we helped our client, and can help you grow your business too: 

 Enhanced User Experience

With open-loop prepaid solutions, their customers can efficiently send allowances from a centralised digital wallet. It also gives them the ability to manage a budget for their kids, as a set amount of funds can be loaded in advance.

 Virtual and Physical Cards 

Nium allows businesses to provide its customers with unique logins and personal debit cards. The platform’s card customisation offering makes business like our client stand out from the rest. 

 Streamlined Onboarding

Nium is a Visa partner, which makes onboarding smooth and fast. You can move from onboarding to issuing cards in as little as 4 weeks, as opposed to longer time frames with other issuers which could stretch to 9-12 months. For corporations in a hurry, this feature can make a world of difference. 

 Advanced Spend Control

Real-time updates allow businesses to track and manage expenses as they happen. With this, customers are able to control how much their kids can spend (limits) and where they can spend (based on merchant categories), grant authorisations to spend, etc. 

 Superior Security 

Customers can manage their program’s security in one place, including card lock/unlock, geolocation data and cardholder permissions. These features not only allow parents to oversee their child’s spending, but also prevent misuse of funds in case of fraud or theft. 

How It Works:

Setup: After integrating Nium, customers can set up and define their program using limits and controls.
Share: Once the program is complete, parents can assign cards and login details to their kids. 
Fund: Their card is then prefunded with a set amount of money, like a regular debit card.
Spend: Children can spend the funds on approved items until the funds run out.
Track: Each payment is automatically tracked, logged and made into expense reports viewable within Nium’s app.

More About Nium:

Nium, formerly known as InstaReM, began in 2015 to simplify and optimise the finances of corporations. We eventually scaled the offering to serve SMEs and businesses in all industries.

We have experts on the ground working with local regulators and financial institutions. With offices worldwide, we are in a position to foster these relationships.

Connect With The Future of Payments:

Contact us at enterprise@nium.com to learn how Nium’s business expense cards can streamline and automate your corporate finances.

Spend

Card issuing capabilities that span the globe. Grow revenue, reduce cost and simplify the payment process by adding Nium’s card issuing capabilities to your business.

The post Facilitating Banking Solutions for A Pocket Money App appeared first on NIUM.

How Payouts to Cards Can Revolutionise Cross-Border Payments

Erin O'Connell — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 18:56:44 +0000

Global payments are at an all-time high with revenues expected to hit $2 trillion by the end of 2020, according to McKinsey [1]. Per capita international transactions have risen to 0.7 annually from 0.5 in 2014. However, large enterprises, mid-sized corporations and financial institutions face several challenges when it comes to cross-border payments. Despite the market’s rapid growth, the sector sees several embedded inefficiencies.

There are four basic challenges that need overcoming [2]:

Payment systems in each country are designed to meet local laws and practices related to banking and financial structures
There is no common standard when it comes to global payments, which means the varied systems reduce the ability of banks and enterprises to seamlessly exchange data
Government regulations keep changing, thereby compounding existing challenges
Delays and high costs due to transactions are currently being channeled through intermediary banks. Often, unlike traditional bank transfers, these payments can take several days

All this means that cross-border payments can be slow, inefficient and costly.

While cross-border trade is swelling and efficiency will likely improve, the ecosystem will require all stakeholders – from businesses to banks and payment systems – to change processes. Having said that, payment providers are already stepping up to create solutions – such as using debit cards – for faster, more secure and seamless user experiences.

Obstacles in the Payment Journey

Cross-border payments are looked at as unorganised and inefficient, mostly because they lack a universal payment system. Across the world, businesses and customers cite payments as a major barrier to international trade for several reasons.

Broadly, fees in cross-border transactions tend to hike up substantially, with few banks providing a satisfactory breakup of the costs. Additionally, each bank’s foreign exchange rates vary, making the reference point vague and lacking in transparency. There are other costs borne by buyers and sellers – suppliers based outside the market pay for cross-border receipt of payments, while buyers using a credit card in local currency to make foreign payments have to pay exchange and transfer fees.

Cross-border payouts have several layers of complexity –compliance and cyber security norms, and international rules and barriers, to name a few. A transaction wading through each of these considerations adds to the total clearance time.

How to Overcome Payment Obstacles

Businesses and financial institutions need a digital platform that solves these problems. One major solution is paying out to debit cards, that spans global collection accounts, allowing the easy collection of international payments across currencies – essentially making international payments seamlessly behave like local payments. For enterprises, this not only results in an enhanced offering, but it also helps increases customer and affiliate loyalty, thereby streamlining cash management.

Such a service is critical not only for peer-to-peer transfers but also for business-to-business transactions. Businesses need to receive money quickly and securely, especially in markets where there are no instant payment solutions like FAST or IMPS.

For many businesses, the payments issue has additionally been heightened because of the COVID-19 crisis. A platform that enables them to push payments is, therefore, an attractive proposition.

Benefits of Payouts to Cards

Enabling digital cross-border payments in real-time is an immediate need. This is possible via payouts to VISA debit cards, where businesses can send money to recipients’ bank accounts instantly through their 16-digit VISA debit card numbers.

Empowering enterprises to push payments instantly through VISA debit cards has several advantages:

Faster transactions: A payout to a VISA card and the transaction status review is instant, unlike bank transfers. Transactions are approved in real-time; funds can be sent to the beneficiary’s VISA cards (in nearly 38 markets through VISA’s rails) and are available 24 x 7 x 365 in as little as 30 minutes of approval time.

Assured security: Platforms that offer VISA payouts are PCI compliant and employ world-class security. They manage and store card data securely, making transacting safe and transparent.

Increased efficiency: Cards serve as an efficient secondary payout method when primary payment methods such as banks are experiencing downtime. They eliminate the need to manage the beneficiary’s banking data and enable recurring payments to the same list of beneficiaries without requiring card details for each transaction.

Improved cash flow: Businesses can enjoy optimised cash flow, savings and working capital benefits. The payment tracking system significantly reduces reconciliation issues.

As businesses struggle in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, they are looking to improve efficiencies and lower costs. By optimising payments, debit cards can play an important role in aiding businesses through these tough times and helping the global economy recover.

About Nium

NIUM is a global financial technology platform redefining the way consumers and businesses send, spend and receive funds across borders. The company is continuously innovating to provide the most relevant and agile solutions to meet the needs of consumers and businesses, having evolved from solely focusing on consumer remittance via InstaReM, to also providing fintech solutions for businesses from 2019. NIUM is regulated in Australia, Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States of America, and processes billions of dollars a year for banks and payments institutions, the next generation of e-commerce players, OTAs and retail users across the world. Since late 2019, the cross-border digital payments platform has enabled real-time push payments to Visa debit cardholders across South East Asia. NIUM is a member of Visa’s Fintech Fast Track programme. This programme makes it quicker and easier for fintech partners to build and deliver new commerce experiences on Visa’s payments network.

[1] https://www.pymnts.com/smarter-payments/2019/blockchain-simplify-cross-border-payments/
[2] http://euro.ecom.cmu.edu/resources/elibrary/epay/crossborder.pdf

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Want to tap into payment rails that enable fast, transparent, and efficient payments to more places around the globe? We have you covered with a platform that reaches 90 countries, of which 65 are real-time.

The post How Payouts to Cards Can Revolutionise Cross-Border Payments appeared first on NIUM.

Powering Card Issuance For EdTech

Erin O'Connell — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 16:51:17 +0000

Even before 2020 started, EdTech was touted as the next Fintech. It might be appropriate to imagine that two-year projections now need two-month delivery. It’s daunting, but usually it is the way innovation works; quantum leaps are hardly ever straight forward.

Levelling With Challenges

In late March, major countries enforced a COVID-19 triggered lockdown, leading schools, colleges
and offices to shut down indefinitely and institute a work from home regime almost overnight.
Curfew like situations have now eased but we can hardly expect that our movement will not be
constricted until we have a legitimate medical solution; which is to say, we will be on the curb for the foreseeable future and embrace what has been called, ‘a new normal’.

Over the last three months, the focus on the EdTech sector is understandable. Already, global EdTech investments were projected to jump to $350 billion in 2025 compared to $19 billion at the end of 2019 [1]. Since 2016, the sector has been clocking in approximately, 17% annual growth, according to EdTechXGlobal [2].

Given this context, it is not surprising that knowledge platforms have reported
unprecedented, multifold growth in subscriptions and programmes. For instance, according to media reports, US-based Coursera added 25 million enrolments in the last three months, registering a growth of 520% compared to the same period last year [3]. Some others have also been able to double subscription numbers since last year. Much of this robust growth and gumption embedded in the sector was driven by its ongoing transition from cash to digital and the focus on personalised customers experience. Now, the need of the hour is to ensure that the digital-first innovation is scaled more aggressively.

This means:

1. Investing in solutions that can deliver results in a short span of time
2. Easy incorporation with assured results
3. Collaborating with companies that offer best-in-class solutions and focus on co-innovation

Digital Deep-Dive With Branded Cards

In the past, digital intervention has often come with a disruption of trust. However, we have also reached an inflection point. All stakeholders operating in a digital environment have to be assured of safety, security and efficiency. Electronic payments can ramp up inclusion, which has been
highlighted as one of the major challenges of the EdTech sector, in extraordinary ways. One sure shot solution lies in launching co-branded cards, which allows companies to utilise their
internal employee budget allocation, increase employee engagement, invest in existing internal
knowledge and provide visibility on employees’ educational interests. Moreover, cards are
contactless, which doubles up as an additional benefit as we lean in and learn how to navigate an
environment where touch is endangered.

1. One of COVID-19’s major fallout has been an economic downturn. When we hit downturns,
we must become more vigilant; our margin of error has to be zero. Branded cards restrict
liability of a corporation to the balance that is available on the card. It can track transactions,
monitor through notification, institute authentication and enforce ways to resolve dispute
mechanisms that ensure customer convenience. In case of fraud, a set of regulation driven
compliance requirements are put in place immediately. Bank grade detection and fraud
prevention tools make it easy to keep track of where money is and where money is going.

2. When our systems have been thrown out of balance and time is of the essence to launch new
programmes, investing in simple, easy-to-incorporate, streamlined processes become
necessary, it might even be all the competitive advantage a company needs. Branded cards
integrate into systems easily, enable faster expansion, reduce cost and ensure best in class
security, with end to end encryption. It is a tool that can simplify payouts and disbursements.
With the help of the right partner, companies can speed up a card launch programme by as
much as 20 weeks.

3. As international travel continues to be hit and people feel apprehensive of travel, branded
cards can be used to manage cross border transactions systematically. Companies have access
to currency flexibility, automated spend controls, term offerings as per local currency, an
ability to manage global payment and simplify payrolls, etc. to keep up to date and track all
payments.

4. Branded cards also give an insight into customer likes, interests and aspirations. They help in
creating a value proposition for customer onboarding. The digital journey is immediately
customised, with no spamming. It creates focus around seamless, personalised, digital
experience and becomes particularly lucrative for reward driven programmes. EdTech
platforms can create new avenues of revenue, a necessity, when growth is being driven by
free subscriptions.

Conclusion

It is not as if the EdTech sector will deflate once business-as-usual resumes. Its potential is not
circumstantial. An estimated $7 billion of venture capital funds were invested in EdTech in 2019.
Dozens of private equity players are in the process of raising focused funds. The runway of
opportunities is seemingly endless; the winning strategy will depend on finding solutions, scaling
rapidly and finally, delivering cutting edge quality with precision and consistency. The time is right
for opportunistic innovation.

About Nium

Nium is a global financial technology platform redefining the way consumers and businesses send,
spend and receive funds across borders. The company is continuously innovating to provide the most relevant and agile solutions to meet the needs of consumers and businesses, having evolved from solely focusing on consumer remittance via InstaReM, to also providing fintech solutions for
businesses from 2019. Nium’s network is powered by our portfolio of licenses, hard-earned by
building trust with financial regulators in over 38 countries. NIUM is a member of Visa’s Fintech Fast Track programme, enabling the company to offer end-to-end issuing, processing and onboarding services, and shorten the lead time for Visa card issuance to just four to six weeks.

[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/technology-education-edtech-play-learning/

[2] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-report-predicts-edtech-spend-to-reach-252bn-by-2020-580765301.html

[3] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/17/threat-unleashed-by-covid-that-could-sink-high-priced-college-degrees.htmlhttps://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/17/threat-unleashed-by-covid-that-could-sink-high-priced-college-degrees.html

SPEND

Grow revenue, reduce cost, and simplify the payment process by adding Nium’s card issuing capabilities to your business.

The post Powering Card Issuance For EdTech appeared first on NIUM.

Nium Podcast: The Future of Banking-as-a-Service

Megan Thorne — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 19:20:56 +0000

Open banking is poised to be the next wave of digital transformation in the financial sector. One of the key components to open banking is banking-as-a-service (BaaS), in which banks open up their systems and allow FinTechs and other third parties to build offerings on their regulated infrastructure. Mexico’s Accendo Banco has been an early adopter to this trend. Host Taneia Bhardwaj chats with the bank’s director of consumer banking, Francisco Perales, to understand if the BaaS bet has paid off. 

Tune in to discover: 

Why BaaS is the future 
White-label banking strategy 
How open banking is driving financial inclusion in Latin America

You can also listen on:
Spotify
Breaker
Pocket Casts

Send us your feedback to: theniumpodcast@nium.com

Full Transcript:

Taneia Bhardwaj: Hi, I’m Taneia Bhardwaj and on today’s episode, we’re chatting with Francisco Perales, Director of Consumer Banking at Accendo Banco. Accendo has been one of the early adopters of banking as a service, an approach where banks open up their APIs for FinTechs and other third parties to build their own financial products. I began by asking Francisco about the new open banking regulation in Mexico and how he sees it revolutionizing the banking landscape.

Francisco Perales: Hi Taneia. Sure, I’ll be happy to do so. Mexico has 51 banks and recently Congress passed a FinTech law that entails three things, a new e-wallet, crowd funding and cryptocurrency. I think it is wonderful that we’re moving into that direction because it’s important that the regulators work on an open banking platform for banks so that we can have the chance to do a better job at financial inclusion. We think things are going to change the way people buy financial products, especially now after COVID-19 where people are really going to look at experiences digitally, whether they do it through FinTech, e-tailors, marketplace platforms or direct banking offerings. I think it’s important that we have the regulatory framework so that things happen in an orderly fashion.

TB: Right. Let’s talk about the approach then that Accendo has taken. You’ve been one of the early adopters to banking as a service. You’ve invested in APIs for third parties and also partnered with FinTech companies. Two questions that really come to mind. One, what led you to sort of take this approach? And would you say it’s paid off?

FP: Yes, I think it has paid off really well for us. We’re the only bank that is doing banking as a service. A few years ago, we started thinking about how we were going compete in the consumer banking sphere. One of our thoughts was to partner with FinTechs so that we could sell our products and create la white label brand so that we could be faster at acquiring customers with a different cost structure. Since we didn’t have any branches, we started from scratch. It was pretty good technology-wise because right now, we’re a hundred percent cloud based. This makes us elastic in terms of demand but also by not having any branches, we have to think differently. So we decided to work on a banking as a service software/service to empower these type of businesses, whether they’re a FinTech or a retailer. And one of the things that we did was created white label banking products and co-branding products, so we can issue debit credit cards and we can help with payments real-time. We also help payment platforms on the acquiring side, and we did this through APIs from micro services. So I will say it paid off. We recently won the best FinTech banks last year in 2019 from Mexico and we’re so proud of it.

TB: You talked about how white label banking services is a key strategy for you. Talk to us a little bit more about what are some of the problems that you’re solving for your clients and use cases that you might have discovered along the way?

FP: I’ll give you a couple of examples. So for example, it’s difficult here in Mexico, probably not the best experience to open a bank account as a regular consumer. You have to walk into a branch, probably spend two, three hours, maybe go once again and then get delivered probably one, two or three days later. So one of the things that we did is empower FinTechs so that you could open a bank account within minutes, and we’re talking about seven minutes and your card will get delivered within 30 minutes to an hour, whether you’re working or whether you’re at home and I think that is amazing. That’s an amazing customer experience. And the way we did it is by partnering with FinTechs by providing white label banking service, where they could connect and have a product up and running like an e-wallet with a card within weeks, and we’re talking eight, 10 weeks. So we’re able to do that rapidly and we’re becoming faster and nimble. One of the things that keeps me worried at night is trying to really make our customers happy. Whether a customer is a FinTech or a retailer, more importantly, making sure that their customers, ultimately the consumer, is really happy with the products and services that we’re providing to them.

TB: How would you say the COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumer behavior in Mexico specifically?

FP: The pandemic unfortunately has changed and is changing the way we do business, the way we live, and the way we go about our lives. One of the things that has changed is folks don’t really want to go to a branch or to a crowded space, right? By providing digital experiences through our customers, which are the FinTechs and our bank partners, we’re able to have a lot less friction. I’m talking about the friction of being in a crowded place of having to go to a branch, to open a bank account, or to get service for a financial product. I think that has changed for the best. So technology has had to adapt sooner rather than later to the digital world, or to doing things digitally that they weren’t used to. And what we have seen in our numbers, which the pandemic really took off here in Mexico, mid-March, April, May, and June, we’re basically at the peak right now, and we’re seeing our numbers grow through the pandemic.

People are adapting more rapidly to this new reality. it’s important that businesses also adapt at the right time with the right product because these digital banking perspectives will probably get accelerated because of the pandemic. It’s important because we think we are doing things better, faster, cheaper, and we’re also protecting the consumer by not going to public areas to get their banking services. That’s an important thing when you have a crisis, you need to make sure that people have their money, that people get their payroll, that people are able to pay their bills, and they’re doing it differently now.

TB: I suppose another learning for you has been that in order to make the system more inclusive and competitive, collaboration is clearly the way forward. How do you see that trend take shape over the next five years in Mexico?

FP: The financial industry on the consumer side is going to change and cash is going to change: the way we look at cash, the way we get cash, and the way we make payments. I think the whole ecosystem is going to change and banks have to adapt and we need to partner. We need to partner with people that do deliveries so that we can deliver a bank card more efficiently, just like we deliver food. Just like you asked for a ride with Uber or Cabify. That entails collaboration between different types of businesses. I think we’re seeing the changes, not only in Mexico and Latin America but in some parts of the world, we need collaboration with merchants so that they accept payments in a different way more rapidly.

We need collaboration with our regulators, we need collaboration with our FinTech partners, and we need collaboration with the telecommunication industry. I think that’s going to happen probably faster than we think. And I think businesses are starting to realize that you cannot be good at a lot of things. You have to focus on a couple of things that you’re really good at and then get collaboration. This is where we can partner with companies like Nium for payments. Instead of us creating a whole network of payments around the world, this is where we can partner with Visa and MasterCard. This is where we can partner with delivery type of organizations like Uber, so that we can deliver products and services. If we have to deliver a physical product, this is where we need to think outside the box so that we can create a digital card.

I’m very proud to say that we were the first team in the world to launch a physical card without numbers for Visa, the first one in Mexico. Those things came from some of our customers by listening to them. That’s the type of collaboration. We were trying to solve a different problem. And we ended up doing something very differently and solving a much bigger problem. We did this with the collaboration of our customers, trying to think outside the box, trying to think digitally, trying to develop products for a digital platform for a digital world, and for a different market that doesn’t understand why we have to go into a branch and do business there. So that’s what I would say is the trend that’s probably going to happen over the next few years in the industry, whether we are FinTechs and banks or some other type of business, we need that type of collaboration. I’m talking also about ID verification. There’s companies that do a much better job than banks, making sure digitally that we are ID’ing our customers properly. I think we’re going to see a trend of that collaboration in the future and we are seeing it right now.

TB: Mexico has adopted open banking, not just to change the dynamics of financial services, but as you said, to also solve the larger problem of financial inclusion and bringing back confidence in banking. I know it’s early days, but how hopeful are you that some of these objectives will be met?

FP: I am extremely hopeful, Taneia. Unfortunately, the banking industry is so concentrated only on a few things. I think I will say it’s a sad story in terms of financial inclusion, because we have around 40 to 50% of the population that is not banked. And to me that is kind of like a bank in malpractice and we have to be very honest with ourselves and think, ‘what did we do wrong’? ‘How did things go that way’? We know from research that economic development, especially to the low-income communities, starts with having an education, but it also helps if you have a bank account and if you are included in that system. I think technology is going to help us level that playing field. When you think that some of these households might not have internet and they might not have a computer, but most of them now have a smartphone and we can do a lot of things.

A smartphone, right now, was like a super-computer 10 years ago in terms of the capacity to do things, the capacity to solve problems, the capacity to understand and to search for things. Now you cannot open a bank account, a very decent bank account, and have access to these financial products within minutes. In that regard, I’m very hopeful. But if you look at our track record as a country, we have always been that way and that’s not necessarily good for anybody. So in that regard, I think we can really help the goals of our government and our regulators to really close the gap in terms of financial inclusion. Then we can have a great financial product so that they can save for the house, so they can save for college for the kids, so that they can borrow at an affordable rate and in that regard, I think technology is going to help us a lot. It is going to help us do things differently, whether you are providing a loan and going through the underwriting process or whether you are helping someone say for something, regardless, I think hopefully 10, 20 years from now, most of the folks will have access to a financial product that is of great quality through their cell phone and they will have a banking service that works for them 24/7.

TB: How do you see financial services ecosystem shaping up in Latin America? What would your advice be to those players who are looking to enter the arena and make a big splash?

FP: Well, I’m also very hopeful about Latin America. When you look at how many banks we have in Mexico, which we have 51 and not all of them, but most of them, were with the consumers. Then you see that there’s 400 FinTechs just in Mexico. A lot of them do e-wallets and a lot of them are working on the payments sphere. There’s a lot more that are coming with innovation and different ways of doing business. When you look at Latin America, there’s around 2000 FinTechs, according to Finnovista, and they are really innovative. I’m hoping that some of the governments learn from the experiences that we’re seeing in the UK, from the experiences that we’re seeing here in Mexico, in terms of the regulatory side and what the government is trying to do to make sure that there is financial inclusion for everyone.

I’m very hopeful that banks are going to look really different in a better way, a make-over for the banking industry. As I was saying before, consumers will buy financial products digitally. I don’t see my kids really walking into a branch to open a bank account, to get their first payroll card or debit card or bank account when they have their first job and they need to get paid. I don’t see them going through a bank. They are going to do these things, whether they do it with a bank, through a direct banking offering or through their employer or through a FinTech, where they’re going to open everything they need to start this job and start getting paid. That ecosystem is shaping in a much more efficient way so that we can deliver products that are better, that are cheaper, that pay better rates, and that are much more efficient for the consumer.

TB: Thank you so much, Francisco, for taking the time out for us and good luck with all your future endeavors.

Do you have suggestions on who you’d like us to feature or topics that you’d like us to take up, if so drop us a line on theniumpodcast@nium.com. Thanks for listening.

Check back next week for a new episode or subscribe to our RSS feed

The post Nium Podcast: The Future of Banking-as-a-Service appeared first on NIUM.

New FinTech Solution by InstaReM Helps Singaporean SMEs Improve Cashflow

Megan Thorne — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 01:00:37 +0000

BizPay, the new service by InstaReM converts existing card limits into working capital for businesses; creates differentiated value for banks looking to increase usage of credit cards.

SINGAPORE, 17 June 2020 – InstaReM, the consumer and SME brand under global fintech platform Nium announced today the launch of a new service that helps Singaporean SMEs maximise their cash flow. The service, termed BizPay, utilises credit limits in corporate cards and converts them into working capital to help businesses make payments, including commercial rent or utilities or other supplier payments. Businesses will continue to enjoy commercial benefits that may be available on their corporate credit cards, such as membership rewards or cash rebates.

Securing loans or credit has never been easy for SMEs— the absence of a stable and profitable portfolio is seen as a drawback by banks and financial institutions. Even before the pandemic, 61 percent of Singaporean SMEs held low credit standings_[1] and not more than 15 percent of SMEs in fast-growing economies had access to the credit they required_[2]. The additional delays in payments induced by the pandemic have only aggravated this dearth of capital. While businesses may look to card-based payments to extend payment terms, the high transaction fees and FX markup act as a deterrent for payers as well as beneficiaries.

To help SMBs gain cashflows without the need to go for yet another bank application, InstaReM has launched BizPay, an online platform which enables businesses to use their corporate cards as a funding source for supplier payments. Leveraging InstaReM’s existing remittance platform, business would only need to type the name of the beneficiary, the amount and currency of payment and charge the whole payment to their corporate card for funding. There is no need for the beneficiary to be directly card accepting or to be onboarded as part of the payment process. Businesses now gain full control of costs by eliminating fees and charges associated with other credit solution options.

“In these unprecedented times that call for frugality like never before, the opportunity to maximise cash flow using resources that are already available is invaluable. Most companies in Singapore have an existing corporate credit card system that is used only for travel and expenses. With lockdowns bringing travel and business entertainment to a standstill, BizPay gives businesses a chance to utilise their credit lines optimally, while also creating a differentiated value for banks and financial institutions looking to generate usage of their corporate credit cards,” said Sanjiv Razdan, Global Head of Commercial Payments, Nium.

“This solution is unique because it does not require the beneficiary or the supplier to be directly card accepting. It removes the need for any supplier to be onboarded as part of the payment process. Once a business includes their corporate credit card as a payment source on BizPay platform, payments can be made to any corporate entity as beneficiary in multiple currencies at very affordable and competitive pricing.”

Learn more about BizPay.

Learn more about InstaReM’s other SME offerings at our refreshed website.

_{[1] https://www.experianplc.com/media/news/2020/business-optimism-among-singapore-smes-at-historic-low-amid-covid-19-uncertainties-sbf-experian-sme-index/}

_{[2] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/fintech-can-help-smes-recover-covid-19/}

About Nium

Nium is a global financial technology platform redefining the way consumers and businesses send, spend and receive funds across borders. The company is continuously innovating to provide the most relevant and agile solutions to meet the needs of consumers and businesses, having evolved from solely focusing on consumer remittance via InstaReM, to also providing fintech solutions for businesses from 2019. Nium is regulated in Australia, Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States of America, and processes billions of dollars a year for banks and payments institutions, the next generation of e-commerce players, OTAs and retail users across the world. Nium’s investors include Visa, BRI Ventures, Vertex Ventures, Vertex Growth, Fullerton Financial Holdings, GSR Ventures, Rocket Internet, Global Founders Capital, SBI Japan, FMO (Netherlands Development Finance Company), MDI Ventures, Beacon Venture Capital and Atinum Investment.

Media Contacts:

media@nium.com

INSTAREM FOR BUSINESS

Instarem for business is a global payment solution for small and medium businesses.

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Everyone Wants to be a Fintech – Here’s How You Can

Erin O'Connell — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 17:23:41 +0000

Digital innovation has long been gaining momentum. With more consumers turning to e-commerce, businesses are spurred to look at how they can revamp their business model to capture this growth. Many companies have branched out from their original business model into the payments space to tap into the huge potential of the online payments business. Online chat platform WeChat, for example, has diversified to offer payment services, while Grab, which started out as an Uber clone is today an indispensable part of consumers’ daily lives, thanks to the suite of financialservices it offers.

We are at a point where banking as we know it is undergoing a fundamental change. Today, we can envisage a future wherein every company has the opportunity to benefit from fintech and derive a significant portion of its revenue from financial services. The trend of moving towards online transactions may now be more of a necessity than a strategic decision, making it crucial for businesses to be flexible with their offerings.

This phenomenon is further exacerbated by social distancing measures implemented across the globe due to the pandemic. According to Forbes, the money transfers space has seen four years’ worth of digital growth in the two months following the COVID outbreak [1]. With face-to-face interactions and cash transactions diminishing, the shift towards digital platforms is eminent across age groups and not just among millennials or digitally savvy consumers [2]. The inability to cater to customers in person, due to the pandemic, has paved the way further for service providers to explore new revenue streams.

At Nium, we understand how difficult it is for a company to introduce remittance or money transfer services at scale. While continuing to be an expert in consumer remittances, we have expanded and scaled our offerings to meet the needs of SMEs, Financial Institutions, Enterprises and other payment service providers. We understand the challenges of creating a tech stack that will support the payments flow, but more importantly, we know the difficulties when it comes to obtaining regulatory licenses for international payment transfers. This is why Nium has introduced Remittance-as-a-Service.

Hailed as the “Shopify for Fintechs”, our Remittance-as-a-Service (RaaS) platform makes it more accessible for banks, financial institutions and large enterprises to become providers of payment services and offer remittance services on their own digital platforms. With a one-time integration that includes all the countries as they come on board, our holistic package enables businesses to customise their front end and go live in a just a few weeks.

Nium’s RaaS capabilities are currently available to businesses, banks and FIs located in Australia and Singapore. Our proficiency and robust experience in consumer remittances equips us to expand our offerings to meet the needs of large enterprises, banks and financial institutions. In addition to our ability to send payments to over 90 countries, we offer enhanced real-time payment capabilities in 65 countries. Consumer brands that do not have the licenses or regulatory perspective to offer remittances can leverage our RaaS solution and benefit not just from our infrastructure, technology and expertise, but also from our portfolio of licenses, hard-earned by building trust with financial regulators in over 40 countries. This combination of regulatory and tech assets is unique to Nium and is at the core of our unique value proposition.

Technology companies that require control to make payments to their partners could also take advantage of this function, which could be extended to their customers for moving money across markets. Banks aspiring to go ‘branchless’ could rely on this technology and collaborative ‘as-a-service’ approach. By keeping remittances within their ecosystem using RaaS, banks can offer a more valuable end-to-end experience to their customers.

Nium recently raised a new round of equity funding, joined by Visa, BRI Ventures and other existing investors. With the infusion of new capital, we plan to further develop our payment and financial infrastructure, including outreach to consumers, businesses, banks, and other financial institutions. This will enable us to beef up our existing remittance payment rails, in turn providing a more robust remittance offering for businesses tapping onto our RaaS services.

In this era of digitisation, pivoting/flexibility is critical to a company’s growth plan. Whether it’s introducing a new service or changing an offering, businesses need to find a way to add new revenue streams, enhance customer experience and improve customer loyalty, by riding on the offline to online migration trend. Nium aims to make this transition seamless for enterprises looking to venture into fintech or to offer payment services. The thrust from our investors has strengthened our efforts to help businesses embrace technology, not just to survive, but to thrive in the digital age.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielwebber/2020/05/28/how-money-transfer-companies-squeezed-four-years-of-digital-growth-into-just-two-months/#59512434a7b6

[2] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/more-consumers-companies-embracing-tech

Nium Podcast: Remittance as a Service

Listen in on how Nium’s remittance-as-a-service solution might just be the strategic tool your business needs for its financial arsenal.

The post Everyone Wants to be a Fintech – Here’s How You Can appeared first on NIUM.

Nium Podcast: Cryptocurrency – The Future of Payments

Erin O'Connell — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 17:14:07 +0000

As cryptocurrencies continue to capture the imaginations, and wallets of the financial services ecosystem, on this episode we explore the world of crypto payments. Host Taneia Bhardwaj chats with Eric Barbier, founder & CEO of TripleA Payments, a crypto payment gateway that helps merchants to easily accept bitcoin payments.

Tune in to discover:

How to add crypto as a payment method
Advantages of accepting bitcoin payments
How crypto solves for cross-border payments
Dealing with crypto volatility risk
Hurdles blocking mass adoption of crypto
The future of financial infrastructure

Send us feedback to: theniumpodcast@nium.com

Listen to the podcast above or read the transcript below.

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Full Transcript:

Taneia Bhardwaj: Eric Barbier has been an entrepreneur for almost all his life. From co-founding Mobile 365 that he sold to Sybase in 2006 to transforming his first fintech venture Transfer to into a leading cross-border mobile payments network. Eric is what you call a quintessential serial entrepreneur. So, when Eric tells you that crypto is the future of payments, you’d better sit up and listen.

Hi, I’m Taneia Bhardwaj, and today we’re chatting with Eric Barbier on his latest venture, TripleA Technology, a crypto payment gateway that helps merchants to easily accept Bitcoin payments. So, if you’re in the fintech or payment’s world and have questions around cryptocurrency adoption, this should be of interest to you.

I began by asking Eric what really led him down the crypto path.

Eric Barbier: Hi Taneia, thanks for having me on the show. So really, the goal of TripleA is to help the hundreds of millions of Bitcoin owners and cryptocurrencies in general. You have this huge number of users who are currently not able to spend most crypto because most merchants don’t accept crypto payments. So really, our goal is to enable merchants to easily accept crypto payments.

And obviously, what is interesting for them is that they are able to target a global and international audience of those hundreds of millions of Bitcoin users so then they can increase their revenues no matter where they are around the world. Whether they have a credit card or not, whether they want to use a credit card or not online, targeting people who may be underbanked.

So really, we see crypto payment as a kind of a universal alternative payment method for those merchants.

TB: I’m curious to know how crypto solves the anxiety and friction that’s normally associated with cross-border payments.

EB: Absolutely. So, the user experience is first. For many people in Asia we’re all very familiar with QR code payments. And that’s exactly how it works today. So the user experience for crypto payment is very similar to what you would expect from an Alipay or WeChat pay. So, it’s very, very straightforward. As long as you have a Bitcoin wallet, our solution is compatible with it. In terms of cross-border payments, it really enables merchants to have a global footprint of users because it’s exactly the same technology across the world. It doesn’t have to integrate a payment method per country. Very often I’m getting the question from some merchants who are asking about crypto saying, hey, but in which country can you work? The users of a crypto can be pretty much anywhere around the world and that’s one of the big benefits compared to most payment methods, which tend to be local.

TB: That sounds really powerful. How easy is it, though, to integrate from merchants and currently, which are the cryptocurrencies that you’re supporting?

EB: We have been focusing on Bitcoin because 99 percent of the users holding crypto hold Bitcoin and that’s really the main cryptocurrency being used. We are looking at adding stable coins as a next step, in particular Libra. I’m a big believer that Libra, which will launch later this year, will have an amazing impact on cryptocurrency adoption. So really, our goal is to enable our merchants who will be able to accept Libra as soon as it goes out later this year.

TB: I also wanted to get your thoughts on the narrative that’s been built around the crypto universe. I’ll start with security concerns. How do you respond to arguments that the cryptocurrency infrastructure is still young and susceptible to hacking and often use as a conduit for illicit activity?

EB: There are two sides to it. First, the Bitcoin network from general cryptocurrency has never ever been hacked. Some people’s wallet has been hacked because people were not careful, but it has never been possible to have a double-spend, taking somebody else’s money and so on. So that’s one side. The other side, which we are taking very seriously at TripleA is that we are now regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the new Payment Services Act.

We are regulated for merchant acquiring as well as digital payment tokens, which is MAS’ name for cryptocurrencies. So as such, we are doing everything you would expect from a payment service provider in terms of checks, including full KYC, transaction monitoring, and sanction screening. We have a very strong anti-money laundering and financing for terrorism program. The great thing about crypto is that because of the blockchain, we’re able to trace every single transaction.

Every single transaction is being scored and analysed, depending on where the crypto is coming from. We’re able to assess whether the crypto is coming from legitimate sources or not. We can also scan against crypto addresses which have been blacklisted by Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This is something that OFAC has recently added, blacklisted crypto addresses. This is something where we are putting everything in place to make sure that all the transactions, which are being processed on our network, are legitimate.

TB: The other piece is regulation. Now, one would imagine that you cannot achieve crypto adoption at scale unless regulation catches up. How are you viewing the way we’ve seen regulators react in Asia share versus, say, Europe and the United States?

EB: I’m very lucky to be based in Singapore because Singapore is probably the first main jurisdiction around the world to put in place a comprehensive regulatory framework under the new Payment Services Act, which has started earlier this year. Singapore is the most advanced jurisdiction on that front.

We’ve been seeing other markets in Asia, countries like Japan and South Korea, who have always been promoting cryptocurrencies. That’s been quite positive. Europe has a comprehensive payment service directive which can be used for crypto. Unfortunately, there are very few entities which have been licensed for that. So very few of them are really leveraging the existing Payment Services Directive (PSD) ecosystem In Europe. There’s been a couple of initiatives in every country of the European Union, but it’s still in the early stage.

I would say in the U.S. it’s further out, except New York which has a big licence, there’s been no proper regulation scheme put in place so far. There were some discussions at the Congress but so far, we haven’t seen anything there. I would really say that Asia is leading in terms of regulation for crypto followed by Europe and then the US.

TB: Well, I’m going to move away now from TripleA and for the next set of questions, it would be great if you could put on your entrepreneur or an investor hat. Let’s begin by talking about what are some of the trends for FinTech that you’ll see emerge from these COVID-19 types?

EB: What we can highlight is that what this crisis has been changing and really my expertise is cross-border payments, remittances and so on, is that what has skyrocketed is really the move to digital remittances.

We can really see the digital channel of the existing players, the digital-only players to really explode during this time. It’s very true to say that COVID-19 has really made everything faster and all the changes are way, way faster. This move to digital for an industry which was 70 percent cash-based, is moving at an incredible pace into digital transactions. So, I think that’s the most important lesson we can get from this crisis.

TB: Is that a trend that you see continuing or is it just to shift you think we’re seeing because of the unprecedented circumstances that we find ourselves in?

EB: There will be a bit like what happened to India during demonetisation. I’m sure some people will go back to the old habit of cash. However, just because this crisis has been going on for a long time and there’s still a lot of restrictions in many countries, especially for foreign workers, on how much they are allowed to go out, they are locked down, it tends to be harder for most of them than for many people around the world.

It means that this habit-forming of using a digital channel will, in my opinion, prevail for most of it. We may obviously see a bit of a drop of digital, some people going back to cash. But I would expect that at least 50-60 percent of the new users will stick to digital.

TB: What would your advice be for startups that are building a financial service infrastructure much like you’ve done very successfully?

EB: Frankly, crisis, you know, I’ve had to go through the 2008 crisis and TransferTo was only two years old and really, business was not impacted. Well, as long as what you’re building is making sense. I don’t think there’s an issue. The only thing you need to be aware of as an entrepreneur is ability to raise capital.

2008 was tough, especially for raising capital, because it was a financial crisis. I see a lot of very good news on this front because you can see that the fundraising did not stop. I am seeing good news and am aware of final due diligence phases and so on. So, there’s still a lot of money which is being pumped into fintech right now. But obviously, as an entrepreneur, you need to always be prepared for the worst-case scenario to make sure that you have enough cash to last until the end of a crisis.

TB: Without putting you on the spot, if you were to deploy cash right now, what would interest you?

EB: You know, on my side, what I’m looking actively for is always obviously fintech. I really like payments.

I believe that payments can always be improved. And there’s always a lot of innovation. One area I really think is still underserved is over cross-border B2B business payments. I think this is something which is still captured ninety-five percent by banks. So, there’s a huge opportunity for startups to compete. And very frankly, it’s always better to compete against banks rather than the more dynamic actors. I believe that the cross-border B2B space, is a huge market and is still a sector which needs to be disrupted. So that’s typically where I’m looking at investing right now.

TB: Thank you, Eric, for sharing your story and insights with us. It’s been a pleasure.

EB: Thanks a lot for having me on your show. Great talking to you.

TB: Well, that’s it from us here today. Before we log-off, we’d really appreciate your thoughts and feedback on the show. Drop us a line on theniumpodcast@nium.com If you have any ideas or suggestions on who you’d like us to feature or topics that you’d like us to take up, do pass them along. Thanks for listening.

Check back next week for a new episode or subscribe to our RSS feed

The post Nium Podcast: Cryptocurrency – The Future of Payments appeared first on NIUM.

Nium Partners with Visa to Offer Card Issuance in Australia

Megan Thorne — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 01:00:00 +0000

SINGAPORE, 9 June, 2020 – Nium, a global financial technology platform, has become a Visa issuer in Australia as part of its membership in Visa’s Fintech Fast Track programme. With this licence, Nium is able to provide end-to-end issuing, processing and onboarding services, and shorten the lead time for Visa card issuance to just four to six weeks.

Nium plans to use the issuance license to extend its portfolio to clients in Australia and beyond, providing end-to-end B2B and B2C issuing services globally. Through this partnership, Nium will be able to:

Conduct real-time funds transfers to both physical and virtual Visa Credit and Debit cards, for instance, deposition of payroll into Visa cards
Enable secure digital payments through tokenization for in-stores, online payments and at ATM points
Unlock simple payment experiences for businesses and consumers around the world through multi-currency cards with multi-pocket/wallet spend management features

Currently, business owners rely on outdated card management systems as part of their corporate bank accounts. There is limited or no digital access, and significant time is spent on reconciling expenses and claims. Integrating and managing a card issuing programme can generate significant competitive advantage for businesses, such as an increase in productivity, but it also can pose a significant challenge as it requires deep vertical expertise and considerable commitment from the business.

Nium would streamline and simplify access for companies with end-to-end card issuing solutions, allowing them to operate intelligent digital wallets that can easily be used across millions of points of sale within Visa’s global acceptance network.

“One of Nium’s primary goals is to improve business efficiency through the introduction and facilitation of financial technology, and this partnership with Visa allows us to do that at scale. The flexibility of our APIs tools and turnkey infrastructure, coupled with Visa products and services, allow us to support different use cases for Spend Management seen across various business models and platforms, from companies looking to reconcile T&E for employees, businesses looking to pay suppliers and vendors overseas, or innovative technology companies looking to send payments to their community, we are able to customise the solution for each and every single one of them,” said Gitesh Athavale, Head of Product (Cards), Nium.

For instance, Nium has recently worked with Australian SME banking solutions provider, Budgetly, to offer corporate cards to their SME clientale. The card will be linked to Budgetly’s analytics tools to help small businesses with cash flow monitoring and expense tracking.

“Businesses in Australia are starting to recognise the need for a digital solution that will revamp existing corporate card management system. The antiquated system that involves physical paperwork to edit card management settings, lack of rewards interface and delayed expense tracking will no longer survive in today’s age where digitisation is king, and we are glad to be partnering with Nium to provide a robust digital solution for the next generation of business owners whom are demanding a better banking experience,” said Simon Lenoir, Founder and CEO of Budgetly.

Nium is also working with Australian music platform Emanate, to disburse royalties to musicians and artistes via the corporate StreamCard. Fees are topped up automatically once the artistes’ music has been played, enabling them to access and use the funds across all Visa’s points of sales immediately.

“As a music community dedicated to increasing speed and fairness for our artists through technology, Emanate is excited to be able to use a progressive and financial services product like Nium. Our goal of giving musicians near real-time access to streaming royalties is becoming much easier thanks to the Nium-powered Emanate StreamCard. This will change the lives of our musicians from day one. Imagine releasing a song in the morning, and that night your plays cover a round of beers with your friends to celebrate. It’s never been done before,” said Sean Gardner, CEO Blockchain Music Pty Ltd (Emanate).

This announcement comes shortly after Nium introduced the addition of Visa and BRI Ventures as new investors to the six-year-old startup in May 2020.

About Nium

Nium is a global financial technology platform redefining the way consumers and businesses send, spend and receive funds across borders. The company is continuously innovating to provide the most relevant and agile solutions to meet the needs of consumers and businesses, having evolved from solely focusing on consumer remittance via InstaReM, to also providing fintech solutions for businesses from 2019. Nium is regulated in Australia, Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States of America, and processes billions of dollars a year for banks and payments institutions, the next generation of e-commerce players, OTAs and retail users across the world. Nium’s investors include Visa, BRI Ventures, Vertex Ventures, Vertex Growth, Fullerton Financial Holdings, GSR Ventures, Rocket Internet, Global Founders Capital, SBI Japan, FMO (Netherlands Development Finance Company), MDI Ventures, Beacon Venture Capital and Atinum Investment.

Learn more about Nium’s cards issuance solution.

Media Contacts:

media@nium.com

CARD SOLUTIONS

Grow revenue, reduce cost, and simplify the payment process by adding Nium’s card issuing capabilities to your business.

The post Nium Partners with Visa to Offer Card Issuance in Australia appeared first on NIUM.