Global payments provider Nium has partnered with OZ Câmbio to launch real-time payment rail to help Brazilian businesses transfer funds to major markets. OZ Câmbio will use Nium’s global playout infrastructure to aid businesses in making payments from Brazil to countries such as China, Hong Kong, the US, and the UK.

The company’s officials have stated that the first product they will integrate and build new businesses with Nium will be a white-label platform for SMEs. Through this partnership, the two companies want to accelerate the rate of transfers, while providing transparency, traceability, and automated compliance. As in Brazil traditional banks and financial institutions tend to not cater to SMEs, fintech innovation has grown in the last decade, speeding up global payments, while reducing transaction costs.

Currently, there are more than 21 million small- and medium-sized enterprises in the region, and they represent the main target of digital banks and lending fintechs. Central Bank of Brazil’s data shows that the number of legal entities that own a bank account has risen approximately 35% between 2018 and 2022, reaching 17.5 million, from 11.4 million. As per Nium’s representatives, as Brazilian importers do business with exporters from Asia represents the largest business sector at the moment, the integration of their services will improve transactions, while also making them more affordable.

Brazil’s payment rails According to McKinsey & Company’s report, both the pandemic and the economic environment changed the spending patterns globally, with the number of non-cash transactions growing by 6% from 2019 to 2020. Real-time functionality increased mobile wallet adoption in Brazil, the country introducing its national real-time payment system, PIX, which aims to make banking and consumer interactions more inclusive. In 2021, as Pix grew in popularity, Brazil recorded 8.7 billion real-time transactions, leading to an estimated cost savings of USD 5.7 billion for businesses and individuals. Moreover, other payment methods, including BNPL and digital wallets have been used more often.

Through the use of e-wallets, the has also been minimised in the country, as they tokenize the details of the financial identity. More information about Nium Nium has recently been making a variety of developments. Back in June 2023, Nium expanded its payroll payments solution, aiming to support the needs of payroll platforms worldwide.

The product has an extended network and currency coverage in Canada, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, while also including features such as FX transparency, beneficiary pre-screening and payee confirmation, schedule payouts, and direct debit in the US, the UK, and the EU. CellPoint Digital partnered with Nium in March 2023 to provide businesses with a frictionless, optimised end-to-end money movement process. Both companies aimed to simplify commerce in every aspect, including buying, selling, transferring money, managing FX, and making payments. At the beginning of 2023, Nium upgraded to Zero-Deduction wire transfers for payroll and procurement, supporting seven new payout currencies, and providing real-time transaction tracking with SWIFT gpi. Through this, financial institutions, payroll, and procurement firms benefit from lower costs, broader reach, transparency, and faster settlement of cross-border wire transfers.

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