PayU expands across Central America

By Edlyn Cardoza

Today, PayU, one of the leading online payment service providers operating in over 50 emerging markets, announces that it is expanding into Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.

Central America is an emerging e-commerce market, expected to deliver high growth over the next five years thanks to rapidly increasing financial inclusion and internet access. International purchases are prevalent, accounting for almost two-thirds of e-commerce in Panama and El Salvador in 2021. This growth, combined with a young, digitally savvy demographic and a combined population of over 180m people, makes Central America a key strategic market for consumer e-commerce.

PayU will offer card processing for US dollars and local currencies, including Lempira, Colon, and Quetzal, as well as full PCI compliance. Strong security and anti-fraud capabilities will be integrated, including authentication protocol 3DS Secure 2.0 and advanced machine learning tools deployed to manage transaction risk.

Access to these markets will deliver significant revenue-generation opportunities to global and regional merchants already using PayU’s payment solutions and attract new merchants looking to take advantage of Central America’s growing e-commerce landscape. PayU is already active across Latin America and parts of Central America, including Panama, so this expansion bolsters an already strong regional offering.

“At PayU, our mission is to build a world without financial borders where everyone can prosper. Our expansion into Central America is another important step on that journey and it reflects our commitment to providing the smoothest online payment experience for consumers in high-growth markets and merchants globally,” said Mario Shiliashki, Global CEO of PayU’s Global Payments Organization. “Especially in these economically challenging times worldwide, we’re proud to be making fully compliant payment processing across Latin and Central America even easier, while driving growth for international merchants through access to new markets and consumer segments.”

PayU is the e-payments and FinTech business of Prosus, a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Focused on empowering people through financial services and creating a world without financial borders where everyone can prosper, PayU is one of the most prominent investors in the FinTech space, with investments totaling over $1 billion to date.