Payaza expands to Australia and New Zealand to tap cross-border trade corridors
Nigerian fintech Payaza has launched in Australia and New Zealand after securing key regulatory approvals.
Nigerian fintech Payaza has expanded into Australia and New Zealand after completing the regulatory processes required to operate in both markets and following four months of regulatory work.
In New Zealand, Payaza is registered to operate as an Authorised Money Service Business. At the same time, in Australia it has secured registrations as an Independent Remittance Dealer, Digital Currency Exchange Provider, and Virtual Asset Service Provider.
These regulatory authorisations enable the company to facilitate remittances, cross-border payments, foreign exchange services, and certain virtual asset transactions, strengthening its ability to move money between businesses across multiple jurisdictions.
“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,” CEO Seyi Ebenezer told Condia.
According to Ebenezer, the approvals will strengthen Payaza’s credibility with banks and financial partners while giving merchants in emerging markets access to payment infrastructure for transactions with businesses in Australia and New Zealand. The company sees both countries as gateways to expanding trade relationships with emerging markets across Asia and Africa, where demand for faster, cheaper cross-border payments continues to rise.
“It’s about opening up untapped trade lanes for our enterprise businesses,” he said.
Ebenezer argues that one of the biggest challenges in cross-border payments is the fragmentation of financial systems across regions. Rather than relying solely on correspondent banking networks, Payaza is pursuing regulatory authorisations across multiple jurisdictions to build its own settlement network, improving liquidity management and transaction routing.
“Capital flows smoothly across our own infrastructure, meaning we control the transaction speed, we drastically lower the processing costs, and we guarantee settlement uptime,” he said. “Each continent we add makes the entire global network stronger, faster, and cheaper for the merchant.”
Australia presents the most immediate opportunity for the fintech. It is one of the world’s largest economies, and many of its key trading partners — including the United States, Canada, and South Africa — are markets where Payaza already has an established presence.
Australia also maintains significant trade with markets that are strategically relevant to Payaza. For example, Nigeria exports predominantly crude petroleum to Australia, accounting for more than 99% of the country’s exports to the Australian market.
Australia also has substantial bilateral trade with South Africa, importing approximately $1.34 billion in goods from South Africa while exporting around $1.4 billion in products and services in return. These existing trade flows could provide a strong foundation for cross-border payment solutions.
The launch caps what has been a busy year for the fintech. In the first half of the year, Payaza says it processed ₦6.25 trillion ($4.17 billion) in transaction volume and launched Shopaza, an e-commerce platform that combines online storefronts with inventory management, logistics, and multi-currency payment capabilities.
Looking ahead, the company plans to expand adoption of Shopaza while investing further in alternative payment rails. It also intends to leverage recently secured investment-grade credit ratings from Augusto & Co., GCR Ratings (Moody’s affiliate), and DataPro to deepen access to local capital markets and strengthen settlement liquidity.
“We want to ensure that as intra-African trade accelerates, Payaza is the absolute default infrastructure moving the money,” Ebenezer said.
