Nium Partners with Visa to Provide Instant Money Transfers in Southeast Asia
11/21/2019
Nium, a fast-growing digital cross-border payments platform, is enabling users to make real-time money transfers to Visa debit cardholders across Southeast Asia powered by Visa’s real-time1 push payments solution – Visa Direct.
Nium Pte. Ltd. (formerly known as InstaReM Pte. Ltd.) is the first fintech-based money transfer service provider in Southeast Asia to support instant money transfers into recipients’ bank accounts through their 16-digit Visa debit card numbers. Now live in Singapore, this solution is designed for both peer-to-peer and business-to-business transfers. In the first phase, remittances can be made to various Southeast Asia countries which include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Prajit Nanu, co-founder and CEO of Nium said, “At Nium, we understand that individuals’ and businesses’ need to receive money quickly, especially in markets where there are no instant payment solutions like FAST or IMPS. The partnership using Visa’s push payment solution and secure network will allow our consumers to transfer money in a faster, convenient and more secure way.”
According to a recent Visa survey2, more than one in three respondents in Singapore make international money transfers at least once a year. The survey findings also indicated that close to half (49 percent) of the respondents expect their funds to be successfully transferred in less than a day, indicating the need for an efficient cross-border money transfer solution. Singapore has a Vietnamese community of roughly 12,000 people3, many of whom are migrant workers who remit money back to their families.
Visa Country Manager for Vietnam and Laos, Dang Tuyet Dung, said, “Remittances are incredibly important for many families here, and in fact, Vietnam is among the top 10 receivers of remitted funds in the world4. As such, having fast, reliable, and cost-effective means of sending money isn’t just a necessity from a microeconomic point of view—it also helps to drive the macroeconomy. Nium is the first Fintech partner from Visa’s Fintech Fast Track programme to deliver real-time remittance using our push payment solution Visa Direct. We’re looking forward to working with them as they continue to develop easy means of remitting funds between Southeast Asian nations.”
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 Actual fund availability depends on receiving financial institution and region. Visa requires fast-funds enabled issuers to make funds available to their recipient cardholders within a maximum of 30 minutes of approving the transaction.
2 Visa commissioned YouGov to interview 1,060 Singaporeans in October 2019 to understand their usage and preference of international money transfers.
3 https://vanhoadoanhnghiepvn.vn/cong-dong-nguoi-viet-o-singapore-la-cong-dong-luon-doan-ket/
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit About Visa, visa.com/blog and @VisaNews.
About Nium
Singapore-headquartered Nium (formerly known as InstaReM), is a digital cross-border money transfer platform founded by the team that created InstaReM in 2014. The Nium platform empowers businesses to send , spend & receive across borders, with a mission is to democratize money movement across the globe . Nium is regulated in the U.S., the European Union, Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia and Malaysia, and processes billions of dollars in a year for banks, payments institutions and retail users across the world. Nium’s investors include Global Founders Capital, Vertex Ventures, Fullerton Financial Holdings, GSR Ventures, SBI-FMO Emerging Asia Financial Sector Fund, MDI Ventures, Beacon Venture Capital, Vertex Growth Fund and Atinum Investment. For more information, visit https://www.nium.com/