Singapore – Nium, an international payments company, has opened a new Singapore headquarters. Under the direction of Pratik Gandhi, co-founder and COO at Nium, the new headquarters act as a strategic hub for servicing clients in Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.

In addition to Gandhi, Anupam Pahuja, who was recently named executive vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East, will oversee the headquarters and draw on his experience growing global companies like PayPal to keep Nium moving ahead.

Nium is developing measures that will help the larger regional fintech community demonstrate its commitment to Singapore. It intends to work with the public and private sectors to create a Singapore centre dedicated to finding, developing, and fostering ‘BizTech talent. This new classification of employment recognizes the growing necessity of fusing technical proficiency with business acumen.

Prajit Nanu, co-founder and CEO at Nium, said, “When I started Nium, I had big dreams for what it could be – none of which would have been possible without the support of the government, investors, and clients that are part of the thriving fintech community in Singapore. This headquarters will be home to our growing regional team and the door will always remain open for entrepreneurs looking to solve the next set of global challenges with innovation.”

Malaysia – Nium, the global platform for modern money movement, has announced the availability of real-time payments into Malaysia, further strengthening the company’s real-time payments capabilities across the globe. With the addition of Malaysia, Nium now processes over 75% of transactions globally in real-time, and increases its total real-time payment markets to a market-leading 100 countries.

Pratik Gandhi, COO and co-founder at Nium, said more countries are turning to Nium to bring their legacy systems into the modern age.

“We enable money to move around the world – instantly, easily, and securely – while helping businesses position themselves for more opportunities in the digital future,” Gandhi said.

With real-time payments in Malaysia and other emerging markets around the world expected to surge in the coming years, Nium is uniquely positioned to help global businesses drive faster payments, better manage liquidity, satisfy their customers, and ultimately grow their business faster across the globe.

Nium has also announced it has secured an expanded license in Malaysia. Nium is now able to onboard licensed corporations of all sizes to its platform – including Financial Institutions and PSPs – with higher outbound limits, up to MYR6,000,000 per day, and the ability to control end user pricing.

The “International Remittance Hub” (IRH) license is issued by the central bank of Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), and it provides Nium with in-market capabilities including Pay Out in more than 190 countries, with over 100 in real-time, as well as technology and compliance cost savings for businesses, and settlement in local currency (MYR).

Taipei, Taiwan OwlTing Group, a global blockchain services company, has announced a partnership with Nium, the global platform for modern money movement, to power OwlPay, OwlTing’s new real-time cross-border payments service for e-commerce and travel platforms in Southeast Asia. The new service covers automatic reconciliation, online currency swaps, and cross-border payment services, to streamline traditional payment processes and significantly enhance operational efficiency for enterprises. 

Una Peng, senior manager of OwlPay, said that they are optimistic about the benefits OwlPay brings to global enterprises, cross-border e-commerce platforms, as well as online travel agencies (OTAs) offering various products and services. 

“OwlPay’s partnership with Nium provides a new B2B payment experience. OwlPay not only allows enterprises to integrate cash flow and information flow, but helps them achieve operational excellence without the need to build an internal payment infrastructure that costs extra time and effort, Peng said.

Using developer-friendly APIs, OwlPay connects to business’ internal management systems and provides a one-stop service for the administration of orders and providers, financial reconciliation, online audit, and payment process automation. In addition, Nium’s competitive exchange rate, extensive settlement network, and support of more than 100 currencies with online currency exchange adds a unique advantage for businesses to complete real-time international remittance on the web interface.

Peng added, “ It is estimated that OwlPay can save up to 50% labor cost for the financial team. Currently, the average cross-border remittance fee falls between 25 to 30 USD per transaction, while OwlPay charges lower than 10 USD with same-day settlement. Payees can receive full payments even for a small amount, which makes OwlPay a faster and cheaper payment solution tailored to the needs of global enterprises.”

In addition, OwlPay supports six currencies for deposit, and the funds can be directly exchanged to local currency for payouts. By depositing funds to designated accounts in Singapore or Hong Kong in advance, enterprises can leverage OwlPay’s worldwide network and payout to global vendors in just a few clicks. Singapore- and Hong Kong-based enterprises can even enjoy further cost reduction through domestic deposits and experience OwlPay’s powerful services instantly.

Darren Wang, Founder and CEO of OwlTing Group, commented, “As a leading blockchain company, we’re actively looking for global partners to make B2B payments faster and cheaper. We are very pleased to cooperate with Nium to grow from domestic financial services to multi-currency, cross-border payments services. OwlPay’s services will expand from Asia to North and South America, and Europe. 

“With OwlPay, we aim to help global enterprises enhance operational and capital arrangement efficiency with a new type of payment and send real-time remittances to other countries with ease. We plan to introduce stablecoins and various settlement networks to explore the infinite possibilities of financial innovation and digital payment development,” Wang adds.

Singapore Nium, the global platform for modern money movement, has acquired Socash, a Singapore-based alternative payments network platform in a definitive agreement. The acquisition provides Nium with the team and technology to enable multiple forms of local payment acceptance for digital commerce, especially in emerging markets. Cash is still a preferred method of payment across the Asia Pacific and Latin American markets, and the acquisition of Socash allows Nium to accept cash for transactions online – bridging the physical and digital worlds. 

Socash brings together financial institutions and digital commerce merchants into a thriving network that allows consumers to deposit, withdraw, and make payments with cash from more than 30,000 local shops, cafes, and grocery stores.

Together, Nium and Socash become the full-stack, platform-of-choice for global merchants with capabilities for local acceptance, multicurrency accounts, foreign exchange, and global payouts.The acquisition is expected to close in third quarter of 2022, subject to customary regulatory closing conditions.

Pratik Gandhi, co-founder and COO of Nium, said that the Socash team has built an impressive platform that bridges payments in the digital space with payouts in the physical world.

“When compared to current in-app payment costs, we estimate Socash saves up to 30 percent in commissions paid. With this acquisition, Nium can offer a lower-cost payment processing alternative for digital merchants, spanning local payment acceptance through to global payouts,” Gandhi said.

California, USA – Fintech Nium has appointed Robin Gandhi, former vice president of payments at travel management and expense management firm TripActions, to be its new chief product officer.

In his new role, Gandhi will be responsible for defining and executing product strategy to expand leadership in existing markets and pursue new addressable markets for Nium. His role includes end-to-end product life cycle ownership, from product vision and strategy to oversight of technology development. Gandhi will work closely across Nium to ensure continued customer success and market share growth. 

During his stint at TripActions, Gandhi has led the product, engineering, design, and operations efforts for the firm’s Liquid offering, which is the next-generation payments and issuing platform that powers TripActions travel capabilities and end-to-end expense management product. 

Prior to this, Gandhi was at the Dutch payment platform Adyen, where he was the general manager of its global issuing offering, managing go-to-market and product, as well as running acquiring, product, data, and partnerships for North America. He has also worked with global card schemes, banks, financial institutions, and third-party partners that make omnichannel commerce possible for their merchants across the globe. 

Commenting on his appointment, Gandhi said, “I couldn’t be more excited to join Nium and continue delivering on its promise of simplifying the payments experience for businesses and powering frictionless commerce.”

Meanwhile, Prajit Nanu, Nium’s CEO and co-founder, said, “Robin is a deeply experienced leader with an incredible vision for product management and a wealth of industry knowledge across the payments ecosystem. He will be an essential part of our leadership team and I’m personally looking forward to seeing him take our product efforts to the next level.”

Sydney, Australia – Tat Capital, an Australian-based financial services company has launched its newest financial solution Tat:BizPay which aims to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in utilizing credit limits in corporate cards to help SMEs make payments, including commercial rent, or other supplier payments.  

The capital solution, powered by fintech Nium, allows business owners to convert their credit card limit into an interest-free cash flow stream for their business, for up to 55 days. The platform will allow business owners to use their credit card to pay local vendors that do not accept credit cards. Businesses now gain full control of costs, by eliminating fees and charges associated with other credit solution options.

Furthermore, the new Tat:BizPay allows greater flexibility, ease and speed to the payment of salaries, rent, and suppliers, while saving businesses up to 1.1% on borrowing costs and loan processing fee charges and reducing foreign exchange (FX) conversion charges for international transfers.

According to Ram Gorlamandala, founding director of Tat Capital, Tat:BizPay is the “perfect example of Tat Capital’s philosophy of providing smarter, more equitable paths to wealth.”

“Innovation in Financial Technology means that we are now able to deliver products and services that are as credible, robust and secure as banks, but free of legacy issues; while being more obtainable, affordable and better suited to the small to mid-sized business sector,” Gorlamandala said.

He added, “Daily, due to our networks and relationships here and across the Indian Subcontinent, we are exposed to significant business issues and some very interesting business solutions. And occasionally, we uncover a smart and simple solution that is perfect for local businesses. The Tat:BizPay working capital offering, powered by Nium, is one of these solutions.”

Meanwhile, Michael Minassian, regional head of Nium’s Consumer and SME Business (Instarem) commented, “More than ever, SMEs around the world need access to working capital and credit lines. We are delighted that our collaboration with Tat Capital gives more local businesses a simpler and smarter way to bolster their cash flow.”

Tat:BizPay will be first rolled out to Tat Capital clients and later on to any SMEs in the wider market once existing clients are operational.

Singapore – Philippine-based financial services Cebuana Lhuillier and Singapore-based fintech Nium have announced a new partnership in launching the remittance app Quikz in Singapore to increase the remittance reach of Filipinos residing in Singapore. 

The Quikz app will be powered by Nium’s Remittance-as-a-service (RaaS) solution and Cebuana Lhuillier’s huge network of pay-out locations in the Philippines, allowing   Filipinos based in Singapore to enjoy improved convenience, security, and real-time global transactions in sending money to the Philippines. 

Yogesh Sangle, executive vice president and global head of consumer and SME business at Nium, said, “With millions of Filipinos living and working overseas for their loved ones back home, the convenience and transparency in remittance processes play such an essential role – especially with continued social distancing measures and lockdowns in place.”

He added, “We are extremely excited that Cebuana Lhuillier, a home-grown Filipino brand, shares a common goal with Nium, and we are proud to co-establish and power this new platform through our enhanced remittance capabilities.”

Meanwhile, Jean Henri Lhuillier, Cebuana Lhuillier’s president and CEO, commented, “Cebuana Lhuillier’s core of Financial Inclusion always pushes us to provide better micro-financial services to Filipinos, wherever they may be. This new partnership with Nium strengthens our remittance services to ensure that Filipinos around the world have access to fast, reliable, and safe transactions.”

Cebuana Lhuillier currently has more than 2,500 branches in the Philippines. Besides Nium, a partnership with technology provider Ripple has also been forged in order to facilitate low-cost payments.