NayaPay Launches Global QR Payments for Pakistanis via Alipay+

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 9, 2025--

NayaPay, one of Pakistan’s fastest growing fintech platforms, has launched global QR payments in collaboration with Alipay+, Ant International ’s global wallet gateway.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251209591389/en/

The partnership enables millions of NayaPay users to scan-and-pay at Alipay+ merchants initially across more than 50 countries, connecting Pakistani consumers to an extensive global ecosystem spanning retail, dining, transport, healthcare, entertainment and more.

With this innovative feature, paying abroad just got faster and more affordable. With NayaPay, Pakistanis can now scan and pay securely worldwide with lower costs, less friction, and a seamless checkout experience wherever they go. Alipay+ connects 40 international mobile payment partners to more than 150 million merchants globally.

The launch reinforces NayaPay’s commitment to delivering world-class payment experiences to Pakistani consumers and businesses, adding global QR acceptance to its growing suite of services including Visa debit cards, local and international money transfers, bill payments, home remittances and more.

Danish A. Lakhani, CEO NayaPay said: “When we started NayaPay, our ambition was to give Pakistanis the same freedom and confidence with money that people enjoy in the world’s most advanced markets. This step brings us closer, not only by making payments abroad seamless but by making them universally accessible and easy on the pocket. Whether our users are studying, working or exploring the world, they deserve a global payment experience that keeps up with them.”

Pan Yan, Head of Strategic Partnership Office for Alipay+, Ant International, said: “Our goal at Alipay+ is to connect anyone, anywhere in a seamless, digitally-enabled manner. The growth of mobile platforms like NayaPay is transforming how millions of people travel and interact with local merchants. Through this next step of our collaboration, we’re jointly making it easier for Pakistanis to explore the world, and do so with the same trusted and familiar experience, just like home.”

Today’s announcement marks the next phase of the growing partnership between Alipay+ and NayaPay, which began in early 2024 when NayaPay became Pakistan’s first fintech to enable direct QR payments at over 80 million merchants in China. The expanded integration now brings that seamless experience to markets worldwide, offering Pakistanis greater convenience, acceptance and cost-efficiency when traveling or shopping internationally.

About NayaPay

NayaPay is a fintech platform, authorised by the State Bank of Pakistan, empowering underserved consumers and SMBs with better access to financial services. Any Pakistani citizen can open a NayaPay wallet on their smartphone in minutes and use the app to make everyday payments, send and receive money, split bills, get virtual and physical Visa debit cards and much more. For entrepreneurs, NayaPay offers access to business accounts, payment acceptance and powerful financial management tools with an easy-to-open e-money account and Visa debit cards.

In 2024, NayaPay was recognised on the Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list, placing it among the most innovative companies across the Asia-Pacific region. In the same year, NayaPay was named to the CB Insights Fintech 100, recognising it as one of the world’s most promising private fintech companies.

About Alipay+

Ant International's Alipay+ is a global wallet gateway with cross-border payment and digitisation services that help connect global merchants to consumers. Consumers enjoy seamless payments a broad choice of deals and the convenience of digital services using their preferred payment app/e-wallet while travelling abroad. Many small and medium-sized businesses already use Alipay+ digital tools to enhance efficiency and achieve omni-channel growth.

NayaPay Launches Global QR Payments for Pakistanis via Alipay+

After decades of political maneuvering through Congress and government agencies, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina may finally achieve federal recognition through the National Defense Authorization Act the House plans to vote on this week.

If the legislation passes, the Senate could vote on final passage as soon as next week.

The Lumbee’s efforts to gain federal recognition — which would come with federal funding, access to resources like the Indian Health Service and the ability to take land into trust — have been controversial for many years both in Indian Country and in Washington. But their cause has been championed by President Donald Trump, who promised on the campaign trail last year to acknowledge the Lumbee as a tribal nation.

The issue of federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe has been batted around Congress for more than thirty years. But the political opportunity it represented in the last election could be what pushed it over the finish line, said Kevin Washburn, former assistant secretary of Indian Affairs at the Interior Department and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

“It comes up every four years because North Carolina is a battleground state and the Lumbee represent tens of thousands of people,” Washburn said.

The Lumbee Tribe has nearly 60,000 members, and both Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris promised the Lumbee federal recognition during the 2024 campaign. Trump won North Carolina by more than 3 points. Shortly after taking office, Trump issued an executive order directing the Interior Department to create a plan for federal recognition for the Lumbee.

It's the first time either the White House or the candidates for president have been so engaged in a federal recognition case, Washburn said.

Interior's plan was sent to the White House in April. The administration has denied requests for its release but has said it advised the Lumbee to continue trying to gain federal recognition through Congress.

The Lumbee were recognized by Congress in 1956, but that legislation denied them access to the same federal resources as tribal nations. As a result, their application for recognition was denied for consideration in the 1980s, and the Lumbee Tribe has tried to get Congress to acknowledge them in the decades since. The Office of Federal Acknowledgement is the federal agency that vets applications, although dozens of tribes have also gained recognition through legislation.

“Only Congress can for all time and for all purposes resolve this uncertainty,” Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery testified last month before the Senate Committee for Indian Affairs. “It is long past time to rectify the injustice it has inflicted on our tribe and our people.”

But others, including several tribal leaders, argue that the Lumbee's historic claims have shifted many times over the last century and that they have never been able to prove they descend from a tribal nation.

“A national defense bill is not the appropriate place to consider federal recognition, particularly for a group that has not met the historical and legal standards required of sovereign tribal nations,” said Michell Hicks, chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

The National Defense Authorization Act is usually a bipartisan bill that lays out the nation’s defense policies. But this year the vote has taken on a new political dynamic as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces mounting scrutiny over military strikes on boats off Venezuela’s coast.

__

The story corrects the name of the Eastern Band chief to Michell Hicks, not Michelle.

FILE - Members of the Lumbee Tribe bow their heads in prayer during the BraveNation Powwow and Gather at UNC Pembroke, March 22, 2025, in Pembroke, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce, file)