Nium Unveils Industry Predictions for 2022

Experts from global payments and card issuance leader share what’s hot and what’s not in fintech innovation

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., December 20, 2021 – Nium, a leader in global payments and card issuance for businesses, today unveiled its predictions report for 2022, examining the latest trends in regulation, crypto, travel, and global payments.

According to McKinsey, the disruption caused by the pandemic has exposed a number of gaps in the global payments infrastructure, but following a 5% dip in global payment revenues in 2021, the payments industry is on track to recoup its losses, and climb back to a 7% growth rate in the year ahead. 

Nium believes that the payments industry is poised for massive growth as the world builds back post-pandemic. Today, the creation of a better payments infrastructure that helps cut business costs and risk, and improves experiences for customers, is more critical than ever. 

To help the industry prepare for 2022, Nium experts have provided their predictions on the most significant payments milestones in the regulatory, cryptocurrency, travel, and global payments landscapes, including:

• The US will (Finally) Catch Up with Real-Time-Payments (RTP): A myriad of regulatory and tech-related issues has kept the U.S. behind other geographies in implementing RTP, but there’s a clearer path ahead in 2022. As American banks catch-up with RTP, it will open up commerce, competition and ultimately better customer experiences across the globe.

• Industry Consolidation Will Continue: Smaller fintechs unable to offer genuine innovation or unique access to data are struggling to win the attention of either customers or investors, and are at risk of joining the 75% of fintechs that fail. Instead, many will opt to sell out and merge into market leaders.

• Regulation Will Ramp Up: As payments methods like cryptocurrency and Buy Now, Pay Later continue to gain in popularity, global regulators are starting to take notice. 2022 will see increased scrutiny and stricter rules, offering greater protection for consumers – but prompting new product innovation, too.

• Crypto Will Take Over Fintech: Over the last decade an enormous fintech ecosystem has evolved, and by the end of 2022 it’s widely expected to be worth over $300B. Until then, there’ll be a surge of acquisitions in the fintech space by crypto companies as they attempt to keep ahead of competition by acquiring licenses as part of the deal.

• BNPLs Will Become Brokers: Buy now pay later (BNPL) is now a $100 billion industry globally, but the easy, short-term loans that have popularized BNPL are only possible because they exist in a gray area between payment licenses and lending licenses – and regulators are starting to take notice.

• Travel’s Revival Will Accelerate Payments Innovation: Following a monumental year of loss, the travel industry is set to rebound in 2022 as COVID restrictions ease across the globe. To meet the demand while improving margins and cash flow, travel companies will be forced to innovate – in particular, enterprise resource management (ERP) and treasury management systems (TMS) will see imminent upgrades.

Learn more about the future of the payments industry by downloading Nium’s Global Payment Predictions Report 2022.

About Nium

Nium is a leading embedded fintech company that provides banks, payment providers, and businesses of any size with access to global payment services. Its modular platform powers frictionless commerce, helping businesses pay and get paid across the globe with services for pay-outs, pay-ins, card issuance, and banking-as-a-service. Once connected to the Nium platform, businesses have the ability to pay out in more than 100 currencies to over 190 countries – 85 of which in real time. Funds can be received in 27 markets, including Southeast Asia, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, India, and the US. Nium’s growing card issuance business is already available in 34 countries, including Europe (SEPA), the UK, Australia and Singapore. Nium’s license portfolio covers 11 of the world’s jurisdictions, enabling seamless global payments and rapid integration, regardless of geography.

Nium was named to the CB Insights Fintech 250 (2020, 2021), which highlights the most promising Fintech companies globally. 

For more information, visit: https://www.nium.com.