Singapore-headquartered payments infrastructure firm Nium received a Payment Institution licence from the Banco Central do Brasil on 4 November 2025, granting the company direct access to Brazil's domestic payment rails and positioning it to serve local financial institutions and fintech clients without relying on correspondent banking intermediaries. The authorisation marks a significant step in Nium's expansion in Latin America, one of the company's stated strategic growth markets.
The licence enables Nium to connect clients to PIX — Brazil's real-time instant payment system — as well as to TED bank transfers and boleto, the widely used bank slip payment method that remains important for retail and business transactions across the country. Direct access to these three rails covers the principal instruments used in Brazilian domestic payments, giving Nium and its clients a comprehensive settlement capability within one regulatory framework.
BRAZIL AMONG TOP-FIVE CORRIDORS FOR NIUM
Nium identified Brazil as one of the top-five corridors by volume in its global cross-border payment business, placing it alongside a small group of markets that are strategically critical to the company's commercial performance. The country's scale, with a population of more than 200 million and a payments landscape reshaped by the rapid mass adoption of PIX since its 2020 launch, makes direct market access a commercially meaningful step for the firm rather than a peripheral regulatory achievement.
By holding a domestic licence and connecting directly to PIX, TED, and boleto rails, Nium can eliminate the correspondent banking step that has historically added cost and settlement delay to cross-border transactions involving Brazil. For its institutional clients — which include banks, remittance operators, and corporate treasury functions — the ability to settle funds in Brazil in near-real time via PIX, on a round-the-clock basis, removes a significant bottleneck in payment corridors where Brazil is the beneficiary country.
The boleto access is particularly relevant for clients making bulk disbursements or collections in Brazil, where the instrument retains broad acceptance among businesses and individuals who may not hold a bank account or prefer not to share banking credentials for transaction purposes. For payroll, supplier payments, and disbursement programmes, boleto remains an important instrument alongside electronic transfers.
BROADER LATIN AMERICA EXPANSION STRATEGY
The Brazilian licence adds to Nium's regulatory footprint across more than 40 markets globally and reinforces its positioning as a payments infrastructure provider for financial institutions requiring access to multiple domestic payment systems through a single partner. Latin America represents a region where demand for embedded cross-border payment capabilities has been growing rapidly, driven by rising remittance volumes, increasing digitalisation of financial services, and demand from regional fintechs seeking to expand internationally.
The licence was obtained in the context of Brazil's evolving payment institution regulatory framework, with Joint Resolution No. 14 published on 3 November 2025 establishing updated tiered capital requirements for payment institutions. Nium's authorisation under these conditions confirms that the company met the applicable prudential thresholds for its licensed category of activities, providing institutional clients and regulatory counterparties with assurance about the firm's financial standing.
Nium said in a statement published on its newsroom that the authorisation would allow it to offer PIX, TED, and boleto payment rails directly to Brazilian financial institutions and fintechs. The company added that Brazil is among the top-five corridors for its global cross-border payment volumes, reflecting the importance of the market within its broader network of settlement relationships across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.