Nium: Ripple partner gets in-principle approval from India’s RBI for payments
“These licenses make Nium a one-stop shop for all payment needs in India. For the end customer, Nium is making it seamless for Indians to shop the world.”
Nium, a leader in real-time global payments, has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India for two significant payment licenses. These are the Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) Licence and the Payment Aggregator (PA) Licence.
The PPI Licence allows Nium to issue prefunded, pre-loaded cards in India. These cards can be used for various consumer and business purposes, such as employee expenses and domestic wallets. Nium plans to collaborate with strategic card partners to offer a seamless user experience.
A one-stop shop for all payment needs in India
The PA Licence will enable Nium to provide merchant onboarding and acquiring services. This includes creating online spaces for merchants, improving fund flow processes, and integrating advanced technology for smoother online transactions. It also connects Nium to India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), enhancing its role as an end-to-end acquiring solution provider.
With these new licenses, Nium aims to expand its services in India, promoting financial inclusion and offering advanced payment solutions to businesses. These licenses, in addition to Nium’s existing 11, enable the company to facilitate seamless global and local payments for customers and merchants in India. Additionally, they support Nium’s continued issuance of prepaid Forex cards for the Nium Forex brand.
Anupam Pahuja, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at Nium, said: “We’re honored to be among the few trusted by the RBI with these licenses and we look forward to helping India further its leadership in payments innovation. Nium prides itself on applying its expertise in global payments to advancing payments ecosystems around the world. These licenses make Nium a one-stop shop for all payment needs in India. For the end customer, Nium is making it seamless for Indians to shop the world.”
Nium’s Ripple-powered brokerage solution is low cost
Nium leverages Ripple’s blockchain-based platform, RippleNet, which is designed to facilitate faster and more cost-effective cross-border payments.
By leveraging RippleNet, Nium can offer improved payment services, particularly in international money transfers. The partnership enables Nium to tap into Ripple’s advanced blockchain technology, enhancing the efficiency, speed, and reliability of its payment processing across various global corridors.
Nium has pointed to three major benefits of its global payments network and new brokerage solution: cost savings of up to 90%, improved customer satisfaction, and increased demand for new partnerships.
- Cost savings of up to 90%: Global financial institutions leveraging the Nium brokerage solution can save up to 90% on each transfer, and use those savings to drive P&L gains or increase volume by offering customers lower cost transfers.
- Improved customer satisfaction: Decreasing friction associated with investing in the U.S stock market for international investors drives customer loyalty and brand affinity.
- Increased demand for new partnerships: By leveraging Nium’s network to optimize payments to U.S. brokerage accounts, global FIs can reach new customers by taking advantage of Nium’s low-cost transfers to drive new brokerage partnerships.
Nium Global FX to lock and hold an FX rate
Last October, Nium launched Nium Global FX, a product designed to provide guaranteed and competitive foreign exchange (FX) rates. Businesses can leverage Global FX to lock and hold an FX rate for up to 24 hours and schedule FX conversions for a future date.
This capability is instrumental in helping businesses mitigate the risk associated with currency fluctuations and enhance their cash flow management. Global FX offers businesses the flexibility to lock and hold funds in over 60 different currencies, enabling instant payments to employees and vendors across the globe. Nium’s transparent pricing structure was a key feature, allowing businesses to conduct FX trades with a straightforward, single markup.
To further aid businesses in making informed decisions, Nium introduced an FX rate comparison calculator. This tool provides real-time access to the latest interbank rates and historical data, allowing users to compare costs with other providers and uncover hidden markups and fees.
