…targets global trade with Oceania market entry
Payaza, the Nigerian fintech building cross-border payment infrastructure for businesses, has expanded into Oceania with its launch in Australia and New Zealand, bringing its operations to four continents.
The expansion follows the completion of regulatory processes in both markets. In New Zealand, Payaza is registered as a Money Transfer Service (MTS) provider, authorizing the company to facilitate money and value transfer services in compliance with local regulations. In Australia, the company has secured registrations as an Independent Remittance Dealer, Digital Currency Exchange Provider and Virtual Asset Service Provider.
These regulatory authorisations enable Payaza to facilitate cross-border payments, remittances, foreign exchange services and permitted virtual asset transactions across multiple jurisdictions, strengthening its ability to move money securely and compliantly for enterprise businesses, merchants and SMEs.
The move into Australia and New Zealand marks another step in Payaza’s strategy to build regulated payment infrastructure across key global trade corridors. Having started in Africa, Payaza has since expanded into Europe, North America and now Oceania, with a focus on helping businesses trade within and beyond Africa while making it easier for global companies to transact with African markets.
The Chief Executive Officer of Payaza, Seyi Ebenezer added “Our expansion into regions like New Zealand is a calculated move to capture high-value, cross-border trade corridors that traditional institutions heavily overcharge for. It is about opening up untapped trade lanes for our enterprise businesses.”
Cross-border trade remains a major challenge for businesses operating across emerging and developed markets, with many companies facing high transaction costs, slow settlement timelines, liquidity constraints and fragmented payment systems. Payaza’s regulatory expansion is designed to reduce these frictions by giving businesses access to compliant payment rails across more markets.
According to Ebenezer, Payaza is building a settlement network that allows the company to manage liquidity and transaction routing more efficiently across jurisdictions, rather than relying solely on traditional correspondent banking structures.
“Capital flows smoothly across our own infrastructure, meaning we control the transaction speed, we drastically lower the processing costs, and we guarantee settlement uptime. Each continent we add makes the entire global network stronger, faster and cheaper for the merchant”, said Ebenezer.
The Oceania launch also strengthens Payaza’s credibility with banks, regulators and financial partners, while opening new payment corridors for merchants in emerging markets seeking to transact with businesses in Australia and New Zealand. Both countries are important gateways for trade flows involving Asia-Pacific, Africa and other high-growth regions.
According to a statement issued by the company, the expansion comes during a period of strong growth for Payaza. In the first half of 2026, the company processed ₦6.25 trillion, approximately US$4.17 billion, in transaction volume. It also launched Shopaza, an e-commerce platform that combines online storefronts, inventory management, logistics and multi-currency payment capabilities for businesses.
Payaza is also investing in alternative payment rails and deeper settlement liquidity, supported by recently secured investment-grade credit ratings from Agusto & Co., GCR Ratings, a Moody’s affiliate, and DataPro. These ratings are expected to strengthen Payaza’s access to local capital markets and support its long-term liquidity strategy.
“We want to ensure that as intra-African trade accelerates, Payaza is the absolute default infrastructure moving the money,” Ebenezer said.
With its entry into Australia and New Zealand, Payaza now operates across Africa, Europe, North America and Oceania, reinforcing its ambition to become the trusted payment infrastructure for businesses tading with Africa and across global markets.
