Singapore’s Nium announces Visa card issuance services in Australia

Singapore-based fintech firm Nium announced today that it can now issue Visa cards in Australia as part of its ongoing partnership with the payments giant.

The announcement comes after the startup raised funding from Visa last month.

Photo credit: Dzmitry Kliapitski / 123RF

With the Visa issuance license, Nium can conduct real-time fund transfers to physical and virtual Visa credit and debit cards and enable in-store, online, and ATM payments through tokenization, as well as facilitate payments via multicurrency cards with multi-wallet spend management features.

It aims to streamline the process so businesses can easily operate digital wallets that can be used with Visa-supported POS systems.

The startup claims the new service, which was first launched in Singapore, can shorten the lead time for Visa card issuance from the usual six months to four to six weeks.

According to Nium, many business owners still rely on outdated card management systems, with limited or no digital access. White-labeling card solutions can help them become more cost-efficient.

“The flexibility of our APIs tools and turnkey infrastructure, coupled with Visa products and services, allow us to support different use cases […],” said Gitesh Athavale, head of product (cards) at Nium.

Nium is part of Visa’s Fintech Fast Track program, which helps fintech startups build and deliver new commerce experiences on Visa’s network.

The company currently operates in Australia, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and the US. It claims to be processing billions of dollars in transactions a year.

Other fintech companies in Asia Pacific issuing Visa cards include Sequoia-backed unicorn Airwallex, which raised US$160 million in April. It has launched borderless cards with Visa, enabling businesses to pay suppliers and let employees make corporate purchases.

UK-based fintech companies Revolut and TransferWise also have existing cooperations with Visa and Mastercard.