Singapore fintech Nium to acquire Wirecard Forex India
B2B payments platform Nium has agreed a deal to acquire Wirecard Forex India for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition will allow Nium to provide payment services across India
Wirecard Forex offers foreign currency exchange, pre-paid card and remittance services across India.
The firm is licensed by the Reserve Bank of India as an Authorized Category II Money Exchange Dealer (AD II).
The acquisition includes Wirecard’s AD II licence, allowing Nium to provide payment services across the subcontinent, including currency conversion, money transfer and pre-paid card issuance.
“We’re seeing an accelerated move to digital payments as companies modernise their infrastructure to capitalise on the post-COVID economic recovery,” says Prajit Nanu, Nium’s co-founder and CEO.
“More companies are turning to our global payments stack to embed financial services quickly.
“This acquisition broadens our licensing portfolio, extends the suite of digital payments services we can offer in India, and provides us with a physical footprint to provide more support in metro areas.”
The Singapore-based firm claims to have issued around 30 million physical and virtual cards since launch and is licensed in 11 jurisdictions.
The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, and once confirmed all 190 of Wirecard Forex’s employees will join Nium.
The deal marks Nium’s second acquisition in as many months following its agreement to acquire Ixaris, a travel payments optimisation firm, in June.
Wirecard sales
Wirecard fell into insolvency in 2020, and many pieces of the business have been sold off over the last year.
US-based holding company Syncapay bought its North America business in October.
Bulgarian end-to-end payment service provider Paynetics acquired the corporate pay-out card portfolio of Wirecard UK and Ireland the same month.
In August, PagSeguro Internet – a wholly-owned and fully-controlled subsidiary of PagSeguro Digital – signed a binding agreement to acquire 100% of Wirecard Brazil SA.
