Nium
Nium is a payments infrastructure company that lets businesses send money across borders, hold balances in foreign currencies and issue their own payment cards. Banks, payroll providers, travel companies and payment firms connect to Nium through one API to pay suppliers and staff in more than 190 countries. The company was founded in 2014 and has its headquarters in San Francisco and Singapore.
A business that pays abroad through its own bank often depends on a chain of correspondent banks, which adds fees and days to each transfer. Nium connects instead to local payment systems and real-time networks, and in more than 100 markets a payout can reach the recipient in real time. In Europe, Nium operates under e-money licenses from the Bank of Lithuania and the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Payouts to bank accounts, cards and wallets
Nium pays out to more than 190 countries in more than 100 currencies, and in over 100 markets the payment runs as a real-time transfer. Depending on the country, the money reaches a bank account, a card or a mobile wallet, and it travels over local payment systems or SWIFT. Nium fixes the exchange rate before the payment leaves and screens payers and recipients against sanctions lists, including those of the US Treasury agency OFAC.
In the twelve months up to October 2026, Nium processed $84 billion in payments for more than 1,000 customers. The payroll providers Rippling and Gusto, the bank J.P. Morgan and the payments company Ebury are among the clients that Nium names, and Ebury sends more than half of the payments in its main corridors through Nium in less than 60 minutes. For B2B cross-border payments in euros, Nium raised its SEPA Instant limit to EUR 999,999,999.99 in August 2026, so that large transfers no longer have to fall back to a standard SEPA credit transfer.
Virtual and physical cards in more than 30 markets
Nium runs custom card programs in more than 30 markets without a BIN sponsor, because Nium is itself a principal member of Visa and Mastercard. Businesses issue physical and virtual cards, single-use or multi-use, for supplier payments, expense management, loyalty rewards and employee incentives. In the twelve months up to August 2026, Nium issued more than 41 million card credentials in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe, tens of millions of them for travel companies.
In Europe, Nium added the card business of Ixaris, a London company with an office in Malta, and completed the purchase in August 2021. Ixaris issued virtual Visa and Mastercard cards for companies in travel, media, marketing and insurance, more than 10 million of them in 2019. In August 2026 Nium also started card issuing in the United States with just-in-time funding, which moves money onto a card only at the moment of payment.
Licenses in the EU and the UK
In the European Union, UAB Nium EU in Vilnius holds e-money institution license No. 14, which the Bank of Lithuania granted on 28 September 2017. The license covers issuing and redeeming e-money, money remittance, card payments, direct debits and credit transfers, and Nium uses it across the European Economic Area through passporting. The group also holds an e-money license from the Malta Financial Services Authority, one of the more than 40 licenses, authorizations and registrations that Nium holds worldwide.
In the United Kingdom, Nium Fintech Limited has been an authorized electronic money institution of the Financial Conduct Authority since 18 August 2020. NIUM Payments UK Limited has held the same status since 23 March 2018, and Nium Solutions Limited has been an authorized payment institution since 3 April 2018. Outside Europe, Nium holds a major payment institution license in Singapore, further licenses in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, and money transmitter licenses in 36 US states.
Stablecoin funding and stablecoin cards
Since August 2026, businesses can fund their Nium account in USDC, which Nium converts to US dollars and pays out in local currency to more than 190 countries. The clients hold no crypto wallets or private keys, because regulated partners of Nium receive and convert the stablecoins. In May 2026 Nium joined the Circle Payments Network as a payout partner, so that financial institutions settling over the network of Circle reach the Nium payouts through one integration.
In March 2026 Nium launched card issuing for stablecoin holders on Visa and Mastercard. A company that holds stablecoins connects through one API and issues cards to its users, and the balance converts to fiat money when the card pays a merchant. Nium takes care of the conversion and the card network rules for these stablecoin cards, and says this cuts the launch of a card program from months to days.
Upcoming payments events in Europe
What is Nium?
Nium is a payments infrastructure company for businesses, with cross-border payouts, multi-currency accounts, foreign exchange and card issuing on one platform. Banks, fintechs, payroll providers and travel companies use Nium to move money to recipients in more than 190 countries.
A bank or an e-money institution?
Nium is not a bank and holds no banking license in Europe. Its European companies are e-money and payment institutions under the supervision of the Bank of Lithuania, the Malta Financial Services Authority and the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Instarem and the change of name
Prajit Nanu and Michael Bermingham founded the company in 2014 as Instarem, a platform for consumer money transfers, and it took the name Nium in 2019. Instarem continues as a money transfer brand of the group, and UAB Nium EU uses it as a trading name in Europe.
Who is Nium Fintech Limited?
Nium Fintech Limited is the British e-money institution of the group, registered at Companies House under number 09039850 and authorized by the FCA under firm reference number 901024. Its office is on Gracechurch Street in the City of London, at the same address as NIUM Payments UK Limited and Nium Solutions Limited.
Headquarters and offices
Nium has its headquarters in San Francisco and Singapore and runs offices in London, Valletta, Amsterdam, Vilnius, Mumbai and Tokyo. Nium opened its regional headquarters for Europe in the City of London in September 2023, and the licensed EU company UAB Nium EU is based in Vilnius.
Nium and Finance Loop
Finance Loop covers cross-border payouts and card issuing in its Payments & Digital Money track. With Venturebloxx, Finance Loop published the report Stablecoins: The Operating Layer for Global B2B Payments, which examines stablecoins in cross-border business payments, the field Nium entered with USDC funding. Visa, one of the investors in Nium, is an event and network partner of Finance Loop.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.