TBC News

Instarem is an app that allows you to send money overseas faster and at competitive exchange rates and low fees every time.     

1. How did Instarem begin?  

Instarem came about when CEO Prajit Nanu was on a holiday in Thailand, and he found himself struggling with hefty FX fees charged while paying by card. He was constantly frustrated by the long-drawn out process of overseas transactions made between banks.   

Realising that many others shared the same concerns, Prajit was set on simplifying cross-border transactions and improving the payments experience for not only consumers, but businesses as well.   

Instarem was founded in 2014. Instarem is now a part of NIUM, a global payments company with over 700 colleagues in 17 countries, which became a unicorn in 2021.  

2. How many were the company’s initial products/services? How about today?  

At the beginning, Instarem only offered cross-border payments across a few key markets.   

Today, Instarem is a leading digital cross-border payments platform offering transfers to over 170 markets, 65 in real-time, bridging currency borders by making global money transfers quick, easy, and cost-effective. Instarem is a trusted licensed service provider with licenses in Australia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, UK, US, EU, and Canada.  

Instarem is constantly upgrading its offering based on customer insights.  

In 2021, Instarem launched the amaze card, APAC’s first smart card, in Singapore. Post-pandemic, the amaze card is Singapore’s most sought after travel card. It allows users to link up to 5 Mastercard credit or debit cards and earns them rewards of up to 4 miles-per-dollar (mpd) as they spend.  

Recently, Instarem introduced real-time payments to Malaysia and is one of the first players to have enabled real-time transfers into the country.  

3. Would you define Instarem as a B2B or B2C company?  

Instarem serves both individuals and businesses.  

With customer-centric services, our mission is to grow and reinvent the cross-border payments industry for everyone. No matter the geographical location, everyone will benefit from an improved and digitalised payments system.   

4. What region has Instarem seen the most growth opportunities at?  

Instarem has seen most growth from APAC audiences around the world, sending money back to their home countries and from businesses making payments in the region.   

With Prajit’s Asian roots and strong connection with the Asian community, Instarem is truly Asian at its core.   

5. How did the pandemic affect your business? How did you adapt with the shifting business landscape?  

To keep up in this era of digitalisation and constant entry of technological disruptors, Instarem continues to develop and innovate new services to stay relevant among our customers.  

6. To date, how many customers has Instarem served overall?  

Instarem does not disclose specific customer numbers.  

7. Can you share the size of Instarem’s existing Filipino expat audiences? What services/features do they have the greatest demand for?  

The majority of our Filipino customers work away from home and support their families back in the Philippines financially.    

Funding their transfers via their credit card and having the option to collect these transfers in cash were important to our Filipino customers, so we introduced both options within Instarem.  

Instarem has access to all banks and wallets through the Phillipine Instapay network.   

8. In what countries is ‘cash payout’ available?   

Instarem’s cash payouts are available exclusively for customers in the Philippines at over 21,000 locations across the Philippines with key agent partners including Palawan Pawnshops, Cebuana, M Lhuillier, LBC, and BDO. The cash payout option is available when sending money from Australia, Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Lithuania and the United States.  

9. Are customers allowed to have multi-currency accounts?  

Users can simply download the Instarem app on the App Store or Google Play Store and register for a free Instarem account. Upon verification of their account, Instarem users may start to transfer money quickly and securely through the Instarem app, allowing transfers to more than 170 countries.   

10. Are there any plans soon to expand to other countries?  

Instarem is always looking to deliver products customers need, regardless of where they are.   

11. What are Instarem’s plans for the Philippine market?  

Instarem has plans to launch a Philippine corridor, enabling instant, real-time payments to our Filipino customers.