Airwallex vs Nium: which fits a cross-border payment company?

By Polynopsis team · Last updated 28 October 2026

Airwallex and Nium both give payment companies multi-currency balances, FX and payouts by API, with Airwallex paying out to over 200 countries and regions in over 90 currencies and Nium to over 190 countries, more than 100 of them in real time. Airwallex issues Global Account details in 16 regions that settle straight into a multi-currency Wallet and publishes fee schedules such as its UK schedule, while Nium is funded by bank transfer to a client prefund account and agrees pricing with each client during onboarding.

Side by side

	Airwallex	Nium
What it does	Airwallex Global Treasury lets platforms collect, store, convert and pay out funds: Global Accounts and Linked Accounts to receive funds, multi-currency Wallets, conversion at interbank rates, payouts by API or direct debit authorisation, and onboarding for connected accounts. source	Nium Payouts send money between individuals and businesses in any direction (individual or corporate sender to individual or corporate recipient). Payouts go to bank accounts, cards and digital wallets, with cash pickup in some countries, and are sent by API, through the Nium Portal for single or batch payouts, through Nium Connect using Swift MT or ISO 20022 messages, or through a custom integration. source
Markets covered	Payouts to over 200 countries and regions in over 90 currencies, with local clearing connections in over 120 countries and regions. Global Accounts give local account details in 16 regions, including the US, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Indonesia and the UAE. source	Payouts reach over 190 countries, with real-time, on-demand payments in more than 100 countries. source
Payout and collection methods	Payouts go to bank accounts over local clearing or SWIFT, to Airwallex and PayPal wallets, and to USDC on supported blockchain networks. Global Accounts collect over local rails such as Faster Payments, BACS and CHAPS (UK), ACH and Fedwire (US), SEPA Instant, SPEI (Mexico), BI-FAST (Indonesia) and FAST (Singapore). source	Payouts go to bank accounts, cards or wallets in fiat or stablecoin over local rails, real-time networks and Swift, with USDC funding and settlement. Nium also offers multi-currency accounts in 100+ currencies and FX across 2,000+ currency pairs (product page, October 2026). source
Licences and regulation	Airwallex (UK) Ltd is an FCA EMI (900876), Airwallex (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. a MAS Major Payment Institution (PS20200541), Airwallex (Netherlands) B.V. a DNB EMI (R179622), AWX Lithuania, UAB a Bank of Lithuania EMI (licence 88), Airwallex Pty Ltd holds ASIC AFSL 487221, and Airwallex US, LLC holds state money transmitter licences. source	Nium's licence page lists NIUM Pte. Ltd. as a MAS Major Payment Institution (PS20200276), Nium Fintech Limited as an FCA authorised EMI (901024), UAB Nium EU as a Bank of Lithuania EMI (licence 14), Nium Pty Limited with ASIC AFSL 464627, Nium Canada Corporation as a FINTRAC MSB (M15669293) and Nium Japan K.K. as a Type I and Type II funds transfer service provider (00073). source
Company (founded, HQ, listed or funding)	Founded in Melbourne in 2015 and co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, with 85+ licences, 27 offices and more than 676,000 businesses served directly or through platform customers (June 2026). In June 2026 Airwallex raised a 320 million USD Series H led by Addition at an 11 billion USD valuation, up from 8 billion USD at its 330 million USD Series G in December 2025. source	Founded in 2014 in India and Singapore, with headquarters in San Francisco and Singapore. Nium raised a US$50 million Series E in June 2024, led by a sovereign wealth fund in Asia, at a US$1.4 billion valuation. source
How you hold and fund balances	The multi-currency Wallet holds all funds available for use. Global Accounts do not hold balances: payments received into them settle directly into the Wallet, and Linked Accounts let you and your connected accounts add funds by direct debit from external bank accounts. source	The client sends a bank transfer to Nium's virtual account number, then raises a prefund request with POST /api/v1/client/{clientHashId}/prefund. Nium matches the transfer to the request, approves it and makes the funds visible in the client prefund account. source
Balance and reporting APIs	GET /api/v1/balances/current returns available, pending, reserved, prepayment and total amounts per currency and account type, and GET /api/v1/balances/history returns paged entries with amount, resulting balance, fee, posting time and transaction type. source	GET /api/v1/client/{clientHashId}/balances returns an array of balances, each with currency, balance, account type (for example CLIENT_POOL or WALLET_POOL), a default flag and created and updated timestamps. source
Public pricing	Airwallex publishes fee schedules by market. The UK schedule (effective 17 October 2026) lists plans at 19 GBP a month (0 GBP with 10,000 GBP deposited in the month or held at month end), 49 GBP, or custom; free local GBP, EUR and CHF transfers; SWIFT at 10 GBP (SHA) or 20 GBP (OUR); and FX margins of 0.50% or 1.00%. source	No public price list. Nium's docs say pricing is configured in the client's account once agreed with Nium during onboarding, and can vary by customer segment for platform clients. source

Which to shortlist

Airwallex: Airwallex fits if you want local receiving account details in 16 regions that settle into one multi-currency Wallet, payouts to over 200 countries and regions including PayPal and USDC wallets, and a published fee schedule to model costs.
Nium: Nium fits if you want real-time payouts in more than 100 countries, need cash pickup in some countries, or want banks to connect through Swift MT or ISO 20022 messages with Nium Connect instead of an API.

Running both

Many payment companies use more than one provider per market. Polynopsis reads every partner, bank and wallet into one live position, so each balance, prefund and transfer in flight sits in one place whichever providers you choose.

Frequently asked questions

Which covers more payout destinations?

Airwallex states payouts to over 200 countries and regions in over 90 currencies. Nium states payouts to over 190 countries, with real-time delivery in more than 100.

How do I fund each one?

Airwallex settles payments received into your Global Accounts straight into your Wallet, and you can also add funds by direct debit from Linked Accounts. Nium credits your client prefund account after a bank transfer to its virtual account and an approved prefund request.

How do I read balances by API?

Airwallex returns available, pending, reserved and total amounts per currency from GET /api/v1/balances/current. Nium returns balances by currency and account type from GET /api/v1/client/{clientHashId}/balances.

Do Airwallex and Nium publish their prices?

Airwallex publishes fee schedules by market; its UK schedule lists plans from 19 GBP a month and FX margins of 0.50% or 1.00%. Nium agrees pricing with each client during onboarding.

Are both regulated in the UK and Singapore?

Yes. Airwallex (UK) Ltd (FCA 900876) and Nium Fintech Limited (FCA 901024) are UK EMIs, and Airwallex (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (PS20200541) and NIUM Pte. Ltd. (PS20200276) are MAS Major Payment Institutions.

Other comparisons

Sources

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