New features

• Introduced a new Transaction Prescreening capability for scheduled transactions. This functionality enables payroll clients to send transactions to Nium for compliance or risk-related checks before the scheduled date of the transactions. It’s recommended to initiate a scheduled payout five to seven days in advance if the client wants to prescreen the transaction. A new preScreening boolean field, with a value as true/false, is introduced in the payout object of the Transfer Money API. New transaction types are introduced for prescreening transactions: Remittance_Debit_External_Prescreening and Remittance_Debit_Prescreening (self-payment).

• Note: The reverted FX conversion feature is improved by changing the URL names of the Conversion APIs listed below to clearly distinguish between a conversion within a customer’s wallet and a transfer from one customer’s wallet to another customer’s wallet.

  Introduced the capability to perform FX conversions within a customer’s wallet using locked FX rates as well as scheduled settlement. This service helps you convert your funds from any of the supported Nium payin currencies into any of the Nium payout currencies at transparent and guaranteed FX rates. The converted amount can then be used to send payouts or spend through a card.

  • You can choose from a range of lock periods (up to 24 hours) for the FX quote so that you have time to confirm the rate with your customers or internal users and initiate the FX conversion.
  • You can also choose from a range of conversion schedules (up to two business days) so that you get the necessary time to fund with the source amount required for the FX conversion.

  Refer to the FX Overview guide for more information on this capability.

  The following new APIs are introduced to support this capability:

  • Create Quote API: Creates an FX quote for a pair of currencies based on a lock period and conversion schedule.
  • Fetch Quote by ID API: Fetches the details of an FX quote using the quoteId.
  • Create Conversion API: Converts funds within a customer's wallet from a source currency to a destination currency at either a market FX rate or a locked FX rate obtained using the Create Quote API.
  • Fetch Conversion by Id API: Fetches the details of an FX conversion using the conversionId.
  • Cancel Conversion API: Cancels an FX conversion that’s yet to be settled.

Enhancements

• Direct Debit

  1. Introduced an option for faster settlement time for Direct Debit ACH in the US. Reach out to your Nium sales representative for more information.

  2. Introduced additional webhooks when there’s a change in the status of your funding instrument:

  • DIRECT_DEBIT_FUNDING_INSTRUMENT_APPROVED — when the status of your fundingInstrument changes from Pending to Approved. After this, you can call the Fund Wallet API to initiate a debit from your bank account.
  • DIRECT_DEBIT_FUNDING_INSTRUMENT_FAILED — when the status of your fundingInstrument changes from Pending to Failed. After this, you can call the Get Funding Instrument Details API to know the reason for the failure and act accordingly.
  • DIRECT_DEBIT_FUNDING_INSTRUMENT_CANCELLED — when the status of your fundingInstrument status changes from Approved to Cancelled. You receive this as an acknowledgement that the customer has cancelled the mandate via their bank.

• Enhanced the ability for a client to embed the card widget within the client’s domain. A new clientDomain field is introduced in the request body of the Get Card Widget API. This field contains the domain name where the widget needs to be embedded.

New feature

We have introduced a new Unblock PIN API that allows you to unblock a card’s personal identification number (PIN) when an invalid PIN number is entered more than four times. You can query the PIN status using the Fetch PIN Status API. This API is applicable for Physical cards only and available for clients in the APAC region.

API breaking changes

We've identified that the previously announced FX conversions APIs require a few critical improvements. As a result, we're reverting the feature effective immediately and plan to relaunch the revised APIs shortly. Stay tuned for an updated announcement.

New features

We've introduced a beta version of AI-powered docs. OpenAI now backs our docs to provide human-like interaction with the Ask a question search field. You can find this feature in the header section of all documentation pages.

Enhancements

We've made enhancements to the daily downloadable Client Account Fees Report by adding the following new fields:

• Fee Source: This field indicates the source of the fee levied by the system, the default fee setup or the client charge fee API.
• Fee Type: This field applies only to fees levied by the system and indicates whether the fee was set up as a percentage or a flat fee.
• Fee Value: This field applies only to fees levied by the system and contains the defined value of the fee in the client setup.
• Fee Value Currency: This field applies only to flat fee types and indicates the currency in which the fee value was defined.
• Additional Fee Type: This field applies only to fees where clients have opted for additional fees as part of the payout request. It shows the fee type chosen by the client, either fixed or percentage.
• Additional Fee Value: This field applies only to fees where clients have opted for additional fees as part of the payout request. It contains the amount value that was added to the fee.

Deprecation notice

The designation parameter in Unified Add Customer, Customer List V3, and Customer Details V2 APIs, is deprecated and becomes unsupported on December 16, 2023.

New features

Note: We have identified that a few critical improvements are required to the below announced FX conversions APIs. As a result, we have reverted the feature effective immediately and will be re-launching the revised APIs shortly. Stay tuned for an updated announcement.

We are introducing the capability to perform FX conversions within a customer’s wallet using locked FX rates as well as scheduled settlement. This service helps you convert your funds from any of the supported Nium payin currencies into any of the Nium payout currencies at transparent and guaranteed FX rates. The converted amount can then be used to send payouts or spend through a card.

• You can choose from a range of lock periods (up to 24 hours) for the FX Quote so that you have time to confirm the rate with your customers or internal users and initiate the FX conversion.

• You can also choose from a range of conversion schedules (up to two business days) so that you get the necessary time to fund with the source amount required for the FX conversion.

Refer to the FX Overview guide for more details on this capability.

The following new APIs are being introduced to support this capability:

• Create Quote API: Create an FX quote for a pair of currencies based on a lock period and conversion schedule.
• Fetch Quote by id API: Fetch the details of an FX Quote using the quoteId.
• Create Transfer API: Convert funds within a customer's wallet from a source currency to a destination currency at either a market FX rate or a locked FX rate obtained using the Create Quote API.
• Fetch Transfer by id API: Fetch the details of an FX Transfer using the transferId.
• Cancel Transfer API: Cancel an FX Transfer that is yet to be settled.

Enhancements

• cardProductId parameter, that is required request body parameter in the Add Card V2 API, has been changed from a 3-digit number to UUID format. This change is only applicable to new clients. Clients that are setup previously with a 3-digit cardProductId can continue to use it.

• addressLine1 and addressLine2 parameters in the Address object of all card lifecycle APIs, Add Card V1 & V2, Update Card Details V2, Block and Replace Card, and Renew Card, have additional validation. As per the new validation rules, only chars in the below regex pattern are allowed.
  Regex: [a-zA-Z0-9.'-#@%&,:/ ]+

• Revised posting logic on transaction settlements for all Wallet based Clients. Previously, A separate transaction was posted for Settlement Debit and Settlement Credit depending on if the fluctuation was higher or lower respectively. In the revised logic, fluctuations are accounted for by reversing the original transaction including relevant fees that were charged and posting a new transaction as Settlement Direct Debit for the new amount (higher or lower) and recalculate all relevant fees and markups.

  There is no impact to wallet clients as the amount being debited or credited has not changed, only the methodology has been updated.
  This change is not applicable to clients on Delegated Mode (RHA).

  Following are example scenarios where this change is applicable:

  • FX Rates have fluctuated in the time period between authorization and settlement.

    
    

    Example: The FX rates have fluctuated between SGD (billing Currency) and USD (authorization currency i.e., the receiving wallet).

    
    

    Fluctuated higher-

    • FX rate between SGD and USD was 1.33510 at the time of authorization.

      
      

      FX rate between SGD and USD has become 1.34100 at the time of clearing.

    Fluctuated lower-

    • FX rate between SGD and USD was 1.33510 at the time of authorization.

      
      

      FX rate between SGD and USD has become 1.33100 at the time of clearing.

  • FX Rates have fluctuated between the transaction currency and the billing currency in the time period between authorization and settlement.

    
    

    Example: The transaction was performed in PHP (Philippine Peso) and the billing currency is SGD (Singapore Dollar).

    
    

    Fluctuated higher-

    • FX Rate between PHP and SGD was 0.02410 at the time of authorization.

      
      

      FX Rate between PHP and SGD has become 0.02490 at the time of clearing.

    Fluctuated lower-

    • FX Rate between PHP and SGD was 0.02410 at the time of authorization.

      
      

      FX Rate between PHP and SGD has become 0.02380 at the time of clearing.

  • There has been a change in the transaction amount between authorization and clearing.

    
    

    Example: The cardholder has left a tip in a restaurant due to which the transaction amount during clearing is higher than the transaction amount at the time of authorization.

Enhancement

The responses for the Confirm Funding Instrument API, the Get Funding Instrument List API, and the Get Funding Instrument Details API responses are enhanced to include the new bankName field in the funding instrument linked for direct debit.

API breaking change

This is a reminder notice about the breaking changes to beneficiary APIs that are enhanced with two new fields, beneficiaryContactName and beneficiaryEntityType. The fields are required to make a local payout to a business in South Africa with the South African rand (ZAR) currency. Details on the changes are available in an earlier communication in the May 9, 2023 changelog.

The changes will become effective on June 15, 2023.

New feature

Activate Card V2 API is a new operation that features the concept of an activation code to help cardholders activate their cards using it. The activation code is provided in the card kit cardholders receive with the physical copy of the card.

• The platform generates an activation code for all PHY-type cards using the Add Card V2 API only. This feature is not available if the Add Card V1 API is used when creating cards. The activation code is sent in the embossing file to the personalization vendor and printed on the letter accompanying the card.

• The API structure mirrors the structure of all other Card V2 APIs with logical tags. The API includes the activation code as a required field to activate the physical card. This prevents cards from being activated immediately upon creation.

Deprecation notice

Activate Card V1 API is deprecated and becomes unsupported on December 31, 2023.

Activate Card V2 is the latest version of this API.

Enhancement

Search and filter transactions in the Transaction Report of the client portal, with additional filter options using a card hash ID, transaction status, or settlement status. The transaction status and settlement status now support searching with multiple values.

New features

• Link a corporate customer to an individual customer is a new feature for Spend Management and Payroll Management use cases. You can now link an individual customer, or employee, to their corporate customer and create that hierarchy in the system.

  Note: For details on how to link a corporate customer to an individual customer or the Spend and Payroll Management feature, refer to the Platform tab.

  • Spend Management: Assigns a card to an employee linked to a corporate account. You can issue cards using the Add Card V2 API and provide the customer details as mentioned below:

    • customerHashId: the customerHashId of the corporate customer
    • walletHashId: the unique walletHashId of the corporate customer
    • childCustomerHashId: the customerHashId of the individual customer

    The card is issued to a corporate customer and is linked to an individual customer.

    You can fetch the childCustomerHashId with the Card Details V2 and Card List APIs. The query parameters are enhanced to include the clientHashId, customerHashId, walletHashId, and childCustomerHashId to help filter the results.

  • Payroll Management: Assigns a card to an employee for their own account. You can issue cards using the Add Card V2 API and provide the customer details as mentioned below:

    • customerHashId: the customerHashId of the corporate customer
    • walletHashId: the unique walletHashId of the corporate customer
    • childCustomerHashId: NULL

    The card is issued to an individual customer.

• Card List V2 API retrieves a list of all cards issued to a wallet using the walletHashId and the customerHashId path parameters.

  • The API structure mirrors the structure of all other Card V2 APIs with logical tags.
  • The API shows the delivery address on file, the address where the card is delivered, and its embossing details.
  • Card List V1 API is deprecated and becomes unsupported on December 31, 2023.

• A transaction is declined if the Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process is in the pending status. This change is in accordance with compliance regulations. All cards associated with the customer and their wallet are also temporarily blocked until the status changes to verified.

Enhancements

• Search and filter cards in the client portal using a new Search and Filter feature entering a card number, a card hash ID, and a card proxy number, on the customer details screen. The functions help find a card among multiple ones attached to a wallet.

• Card Details V1 and V2, and Card List V1 and V2 APIs provide device details for Mastercard. Before, device details were only available for Visa cards.

New features

• Spend and Payroll management:

  • Link a corporate customer to an individual customer is a new feature for Spend Management and Payroll Management use cases. You can now link an individual customer, or employee, to their corporate customer and create that hierarchy in the system. Only an individual customer can be linked to a corporate customer. The opposite isn’t true.

    To establish a connection or relationship between the individual customer and the corporate customer, you need to configure the relationship with the childMustHaveParent parameter set to true. If this flag is false, you have the option to establish the connection, but the hierarchy is not enforced by the system.

    • Spend Management clients need to be configured with the billingAddressAsCorporate parameter set to true. This parameter allows the billing address of an Individual customer to be the same as the business address of a corporate customer.
    • Payroll Management clients need to be configured with the billingAddressAsCorporate parameter set to false.

    To setup the hierarchy, you need to onboard the corporate customer first and then onboard the individual customer using the Unified Add Customer API. The fields below have been impacted:

    • parentCustomerHashId: A new required parameter has been added if the childMustHaveParent flag is set to true.
    • kycMode: accepts MANUAL_KYC value if the billingAddressAsCorporate parameter is set to true.
    • billingAddress: details are optional if the billingAddressAsCorporate parameter is set to true.

    You can fetch the parentCustomerHashId for an individual customer with the following enhanced APIs:

    • Customer List V3 API: Allows all individual customers to have the parentCustomerHashId parameter value available. You can fetch all the Individual customers linked to a corporate customer by providing the parentCustomerHashId parameter as a part of the query parameter.
    • Customer Details V2 API: The parentCustomerHashId parameter, in the individual customer details section, provides the customerHashId of a corporate customer to which the individual customer is linked.

  • Transaction management is enhanced with the update of the following APIs to include the transactions that individual customers make on the cards issued to corporate accounts:

    • Transactions API: The childCustomerHashId parameter is added for all the transactions. The value includes the customerHashId of the individual customer for the applicable transactions. The childCustomerHashId can be used as a query parameter in this API.
    • Client Transactions API: The childCustomerHashId parameter is added for all the transactions. The value includes the customerHashId of the individual customer for the applicable transactions. The childCustomerHashId can be used as a query parameter in this API.

• Electronic document verification, or E_DOC_VERIFY, is now available as an option in kycMode for Know Your Customer (KYC) applicants in all regions. Corporate customers in Australia (AU), Singapore (SG), and the United States (US) previously completed the applicant KYC verification process via MANUAL_KYC, which delays the approval process. Using E_DOC_VERIFY, customers can now complete the KYC verification process for non-resident applicants following the redirect URL of Nium's KYC vendor and uploading documents on the vendors' UI resulting in real-time approvals. E_DOC_VERIFY is also available for Electronic Know Your Business (eKYB) and manual KYB. E_DOC_VERIFY is also available for European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) applicants.

  Enable E_DOC_VERIFY by passing the businessDetails.applicantDetails.kycMode=E_DOC_VERIFY object in the Onboard Corporate Customer API. Refer to Region-specific KYB requirements to see the available applicant and stakeholder KYC modes. Refer to the applicant KYC information on the following pages to learn how to integrate: AU, SG, US

• Customer account statement generates a statement that gives a list of all transactions your customer makes on the platform, including deposits, withdrawals, spending, fees, payments, and refunds. You can give your customers an account statement periodically or based on their specific requests to help them keep the information for their records or to reconcile their transactions. You can now generate an account statement for your customers via the Account Statement API as a PDF or a CSV document. Contact your Nium representative to use this feature.

Enhancements

• Customer List V3 API features a new query parameter, named customerType, so you can fetch your customer list based on your customer type. The accepted values are INDIVIDUAL or CORPORATE.

• Unified Add Customer API makes the new customer onboarding delivery address parameters listed below optional. You can now choose to use the fields but they’re not required.

  • deliveryAddress
  • deliveryAddress2
  • deliveryCity
  • deliveryCountry
  • deliveryLandmark
  • deliveryState
  • deliveryZipCode

New features

Introduced the Direct Debit capability on Nium's payments network for UK and EU customers. The capability provides convenience to UK-based and EU-based businesses to fund from their UK and EU bank account respectively into their Nium-issued wallets using Direct Debit. To support this feature, new APIs have been added and the existing APIs have been modified as mentioned below. The transaction type for this payment method in Nium's system is WALLET_CREDIT_MODE_DIRECT_DEBIT. Contact your Nium representative to activate this feature.

Refer to the Direct Debit user guide for more details on this feature.

• addFundingInstrument API — Links the customer’s bank account to their Nium wallet. Additional data elements have been added to receive bank account details in setting up Direct Debit for UK and EU customers.

• confirmFundingInstrument API — Receives the one-time password (OTP) entered by the customer for validation by Nium against the OTP generated by Nium before setting up a Direct Debit mandate. This is a new API.

• getFundingInstrumentDetail API — Provides the details of the account that's linked.

• getFundingInstrumentList API — Provides the list of accounts that are linked.

• fundWallet API — Initiates the payment instruction to pull the funds.

Enhancements

Introduced the new field statementNarrative in the Fund Wallet API to allow you to pass information that you would like to display in the payer's account statement for every debit transaction done via Direct Debit. The information that you can pass has a maximum length of 10 characters for the US and UK and a maximum length of 140 characters for EU.

API breaking changes

Introduced two new fields in both V1 and V2 of beneficiary APIs. These fields are required for making a local payout to a business in South Africa with South African rand (ZAR) currency.

The updated APIs that include the new fields are addBeneficiary, updateBeneficiary, beneficiaryDetail, and beneficiaryList.

• beneficiaryContactName (beneficiary_contact_name in v1) - This field requires the name of the contact person of the business.

• beneficiaryEntityType (beneficiary_entity_type in v1) - This field requires a beneficiary entity type and needs to be one of the following lowercase values:

  • sole_propriatorship
  • partnership
  • privately_owned_company
  • publicly_owned_company
  • government_owned_company
  • go
  • financial_institution

The changes are effective June 15, 2023.

New features

In the previous year, we implemented restrictions on card issuance to countries that were approved in the Payment Instruction File (PIF) submitted to the card schemes. However, following additional feedback from the schemes, we have updated our approach and now restrict card issuance based on card type: physical or virtual.

With this new approach, you have the flexibility to configure the countries where you want to issue virtual cards (pending approval from the schemes), even if physical card issuance to those countries is not permitted.

For example, VISA has granted approval for virtual card issuance in Vietnam for a client based in Singapore, but physical cards are still prohibited.

Enhancements

In the previous release notes, we announced that ADD_ON type additional cards will no longer be supported from Sep 30th, 2023. With this release, ADD_ON cards will not be renewable via the Card Renewal API.

API breaking changes

Removed the maskedCardNumber field from the response object of Add Card API v2. If needed, you can use Card Details API (v1 or v2) to get the maskedCardNumber field.

The maskedCardNumber field still exists in Add Card API v1.

Deprecation notices

Add-on Cards are no longer issued after September 30, 2023.

• Add Card API v1 will return an error if the card being created is an 'Add-On’ card after Sep 30th, 2023. Clients must make the change to either switch to Add Card API v2 or ensure that cardIssuanceAction field in Add Card API v1 is passed as 'NEW' to indicate creation of the primary card.

• All existing Add-On cards are going to continue to work.

Refer to the Deprecated APIs page for the complete list.

New features

• Fetch Corporate Constants API

  Fetch Corporate Constants API is now available for you to look up the enum values related to the onboarding of your corporate customers. This API returns acceptable values of various fields that need to be passed via the Onboard Corporate Customer API.

  There are many fields in Onboard Corporate Customer API which are of type enum and some of these fields have values that change often, such as intendedUseOfAccount and IndustrySector. Integrating this API helps you handle these changes without the need of any further development on your end when values are updated.

  Keeping enum values updated is beneficial to customers as it improves the approval rates and reduces the approval turnaround time.

  You need to integrate the Fetch Corporate Constants API and display the output to customers as a dropdown list while they complete your onboarding form. Use this API for all possible fields such as businessType, documentType, annualTurnover, intendedUseOfAccount, etc. For further details, see the Fetch Corporate Constants user guide.

• Regenerate KYC URL API for Onboarding Corporate Customers

  The KYC URL returned in the response of Onboard Corporate Customer has an expiration time; and once expired, the link cannot be used to complete the applicant KYC.

  Use the Regenerate KYC URL API to generate a new KYC URL with a renewed expiration time.

  This API can be used for all regions if applicantDetails.kycMode='E_DOC_VERIFY' and in Singapore for both E_DOC_VERIFY and E_KYC.

API breaking changes

Introducing a new validation on businessRegistrationNumber. The change is applicable to Nium clients in all geographies that are onboarding corporate customers in the US. Going forward, you are expected to send only 9 digit numerals in this field. Any other format will result in a validation error.

The change is effective July 1, 2023.

Deprecation notices

Starting Sep 1, 2023 many of the enum values for the below listed fields will be removed or updated to support a newer version of our risk scoring model. Make use of the new Fetch Corporate Constants API to get the latest values that are supported for these fields.

Going forward integrate this API instead of hardcoding the new enum values for the associated fields.

Once your integration is completed, please reach out to Nium support to get your template configured for the latest risk model.

A few values are deprecated in the following fields of the Onboard Corporate Customer API:

• riskAssessmentInfo.industrySector
• riskAssessmentInfo.annualTurnover
• riskAssessmentInfo.intendedUseOfAccount
• riskAssessmentInfo.totalEmployees

Refer to the Deprecated APIs page for the complete list.

New features

• Updated Fetch Remittance Life Cycle Status API with additional remittance statuses in its response. The new statuses provide granular information about each state of the transaction. The new statuses are:

  • INITIATED — This status indicates that the transaction is accepted for processing.
  • IN_PROGRESS — This status indicates that the transaction is undergoing compliance review.
  • RFI_REQUESTED — This status indicates that Nium's compliance has raised a request for information (RFI).
  • RFI_RESPONDED — This status indicates that the customer has responded to the RFI.
  • COMPLIANCE_COMPLETED — This status indicates that Nium’s compliance has completed its review and that the transaction is going to be sent to the beneficiary’s bank.
  • REJECTED — This status indicates that the transaction is rejected due to compliance reasons.
  • SCHEDULED — This status indicates that the transaction is scheduled and is going to be processed on the set date.

  The description of the new statuses is available in the statusDetails field of this API.

• Added the Saudi riyal (SAR) currency for the Payin use case of collections and funding through an international wire transfer.

Enhancements

The response body of the Card Transaction Reversal webhook event type is updated to include the notification of additional transaction reversal scenarios. We now support transaction aging scenarios in addition to the merchant reversals.

New features

Electronic Know Your Business (eKYB) identification process for onboarding US corporate customers.

The eKYB check is now available for onboarding US corporate customers for clients in all countries where Nium operates. Using eKYB, corporate customers can get approved soon after submitting their application. Applicants aren't required to upload documents, making this an automated process. See the US Corporate Customer Onboarding guide for more information about the implementation instructions of the eKYB process. Contact Nium customer support to get your template configured for eKYB to use this feature.

Enhancements

Updates to the Customer List report that can be downloaded from the UI portal.

• The following fields are added to the report:

  • Billing Country
  • Case Id
  • Client Hash Id
  • Client Id
  • Client Name
  • Compliance Region
  • Registered Date
  • Segment
  • Wallet Compliance Level

• The following fields are removed from the report:

  • Compliance Profile
  • Designation
  • KYC Status
  • Preferred Name

API breaking changes

We've introduced two additional required fields for onboarding corporate customers in the US.

• businessDetails.applicantDetails.additionalInfo.applicantDeclaration
• businessDetails.description

The required fields apply to Nium clients in all countries. Applications missing any of the required fields result in a validation error. The changes are effective July 1, 2023. Clients are required to collect a declaration from the applicant during the time of corporate customer onboarding for the eKYB and manual KYB processes. This update only applies to corporate customers in the US.

Clients are required to show the following text to the applicant and collect a click-to-accept agreement for the declaration.

"I certify that I am the authorized representative of the customer and all information provided and documents submitted are complete and correct. I have read and accept the Nium Terms and Conditions."

After the applicant accepts the declaration, they send a Yes value for the below field in the Onboard Corporate Customer API.

businessDetails.applicantDetails.additionalInfo.applicantDeclaration