This brief announcement appears in CrowdFund Insider, featuring a 2014 startup based in Singapore called InstaReM, specializing in cross border payments and remittance. The article is short on details but basically says that the company has developed an API-based platform that allows for custom issuance of cards by corporates. The piece also hints that there are broader B2B digital payments capabilities coming.
Payments and transfer Fintech InstaReM has launched an API-based digital platform that will enable start-ups, Fintech companies, and other corporations to launch their own branded cards. InstReM says its “card issuing platform” will offer next-generation digital payments as a B2B solution.
After checking the company website, we found that they are associated with Community Federal Savings Bank in the U.S., therefore we expect that CFSB is the sponsored issuer for corporates wishing to utilize the InstaReM platform for a USD offering. The article makes no mention or reference to the currency capabilities for card issuing, so we must assume it is currently USD only. The company has a money transfer license in a number of countries, but that is much different than card issuing, which requires a licensed banking entity for issuing sponsorship in each local currency market in which the card would be issued. We are pretty sure that a U.S. chartered savings bank is not going to be that entity across multiple markets, so the assumption must be that InstaReM is targeting U.S. fintechs for now. However, we did see a separate article about InstaReM applying for a banking license in Singapore, so that would certainly take care of Singapore dollars, and perhaps several other currencies through the ASEAN organization if rules allow.
‘Prajit Nanu, co-founder and CEO of InstaReM, said they believe that anyone who wants to have their own branded card program should be able to do so….Nanu said the card-issuing platform is “flexible, scalable and designed to support the ambitions of our enterprise partners, especially in the Fintech sector.” ‘
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group