Nium Adds Speed, Cost Savings, and Transparency for OZ Câmbio

Executive Summary

For more than 20 years, OZ Câmbio (OZ) has established itself as a leader in the highly regulated Brazilian foreign exchange market. Its services include an international B2B trade platform, mass payments and settlement, and FXasS (foreign exchange as a service).

In August 2023, OZ signed a strategic partnership agreement with Nium to use its global payout infrastructure to help Brazilian businesses move money seamlessly from Brazil to major markets, such as China, Hong Kong, the U.S., the U.K., and beyond.

Nium will help power OZ’s SME Cross Border Platform, a new offering for processing international transactions. It’s an ideal FX solution for import/export operations, developers/IT professionals who work for foreign contractors, and companies with extensive international payrolls. It can settle payments made with a wide variety of methods including Brazil’s popular Pix, TED, credit/debit cards, or boleto (bank transfer tickets).

The new OZ platform is a white-label solution that can be offered to other business partners such as Autonomous Investment Agents (AIA), fintechs and financial institutions.

The Challenge

In Brazil, LatAm’s largest economy, traditional banks and financial institutions do not cater to SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) which is one reason for why the region has established such a reputation for fintech innovation during the last decade. Cross-border payments are far too slow compared for the modern business world. They can take days, or even more than a week in some instances using traditional payment rails, and they are often not transparent or traceable by either of the business parties.

Catering to SMEs is a growing business opportunity in Brazil. Based on the latest data from the Central Bank of Brazil, the number of legal entities with a bank account rose by nearly 35 percent from 11.4 million to 17.5 million between 2018 and 2022: the largest jump on record since 2005. That growth rate is close to double the increase in the number of individuals with bank accounts which advanced 18.9 percent in the same period.

The Solution

With Nium as its strategic partner, OZ has greatly sped up global payments so they take just minutes – typically in the same amount of time it takes to enjoy a Brazilian espresso. In addition to speedy payments, OZ and its growing list of customers benefit from automated compliance, added transparency, and substantially reduced transaction costs. Nium is one of the world’s leading money movers with a distinct combination of global reach and in-market expertise, including regional best practices and how to meet compliance guidelines most effectively.

“We chose Nium for its advanced technology and broad payouts reach in 190+ countries around the world including some of the most mature economies such as China, Hong Kong, the U.S. and the U.K.,” said Rodrigo Xavier, CEO of OZ Câmbio. “That, combined with the real-time speed of their payments at considerably lower transaction costs, and the company’s broad market knowledge in emerging and established markets, makes it an ideal partner to handle payouts abroad from Brazil to the rest of the world.”

The Results

Nium and OZ have emerged to serve SME customers desperately in need of payment solutions that are fast, safe, affordable, and compliant for every region of most interest to OZ’s roster.

“One of our larger business sectors today, Brazilian importers doing business with exporters from Asian giants such as China and Hong Kong, will now be able to transact business almost instantly and much more affordably,” said Rodrigo Xavier, CEO of OZ Câmbio.

Nium’s sophisticated technology and global network provides OZ and its customers with a new payments rail that knocks out a lot of the time, complexity, and cost of conducting global business. For example, in terms of increased speed and lower transaction costs, OZ’s customers now pay as little as 30 percent of what it costs for other international transactions and the payout recipients receive it within minutes vs. days.