Sources: Superintendencia de Bancos de Panamá and provider disclosures, 2024–2025.
How Panama pays
Panama runs on the US dollar, with the balboa used for coins, which makes it a simple market to price in. Visa and Mastercard lead online, and the domestic Clave debit network connects most local bank cards. As a regional banking and logistics hub, it also sees plenty of cross-border card traffic.
The local wallet to know is Yappy, Banco General's phone-number payment app, which is used for everything from splitting bills to paying online; Nequi also operates in Panama. For an enterprise merchant, the value is approvals and reach: cards, wallets and local methods behind one integration, routing across acquirers, frictionless 3DS and retries, with Spanish-language checkout and dollar settlement.
Why merchants run on us here
Yappy and Nequi
Panamanians pay by phone number with Yappy, and Nequi is gaining ground alongside it.
Clave and the global schemes
Local debit runs on the Clave network, with Visa and Mastercard on most cards.
Cross-border traffic
Routing across acquirers and retries protect approvals on the international cards a hub economy sees.
One integration, dollar settlement
Cards, wallets and local methods behind one integration, in US dollars, with 3DS and Spanish-language checkout.
Payment methods
Cards
Visa
Mastercard
American Express
Discover
Diners Club
JCB
UnionPayBuy Now, Pay Later
Sandbox BNPLDigital wallets
PayPalExpress checkout
Apple Pay
Google PayGateways
Sandbox BNPLPayPal
Airwallex
Stripe
Adyen
Unlimit
Worldpay
Checkout.com
Authorize.net
MPGS
Cybersource
Sandbox GatewayAirwallex (Enterprise)
Braintree
CommerceHub
Fiserve
NMI
Nuvei
OrbitalBuilt for enterprise
Everything it takes to run payments in Panama
Local payment methods are only half the job. We carry the operational weight — acquiring, settlement, FX, licensing and reconciliation — so you can treat Panama like any other market in your stack.
One integration, every local method
Connect once and reach every card scheme, wallet, bank rail and installment provider in Panama through a single API — no separate contract or integration per provider.
Local acquiring, higher approvals
We route to local acquirers and retry failed payments across alternate rails, so domestic cards and wallets authorize at local rates instead of being declined as cross-border traffic.
Settlement, FX & repatriation
Collect in the US dollar (USD), alongside the balboa and settle in your base currency. We handle the FX conversion and the local rules for moving funds out of the country — the part most global merchants underestimate.
Licensing handled locally
Process through our locally licensed partner entities. You launch without standing up a local entity or chasing a payments license of your own.
Payouts & reconciliation
Pay out to sellers and process refunds on the same rails you collect on, and reconcile every flow — pay-in, payout, refund — in one ledger, in local or base currency.
Fraud, disputes & compliance
Real-time screening, chargeback and dispute handling, and KYC/AML that matches local regulator expectations — built in, not bolted on.
Ready to launch in Panama?
Talk to our payments team about going live in Panama — coverage, local acquiring, settlement and timelines for your business.