Payment methods in Papua New Guinea

Oceania

5methods

3banks

BSP's Wantok Wallet launched February 2025, requiring no smartphone or internet — uses USSD for rural financial inclusion.

Market takeaways

BSP's Wantok Wallet launched February 2025, requiring no smartphone or internet — uses USSD for rural financial inclusion.
Digicel's CellMoni has approximately 1.6 million individual users (53% of Digicel's PNG customer base).
Approximately 4.4 million Papua New Guineans are registered mobile phone users.
Kina Bank introduced Kina Pei in 2025, enabling smartphone tap-to-pay for digitized Visa debit cards.
Mobile wallets are estimated to potentially bring up to 50% of the unbanked into formal finance.

Population

10.3M

Online population

~2.5M

Banked population

~20%

Credit card population

<5%

Payment method breakdown

Cash75%
Mobile Money / Wallet15%
Card8%
Bank Transfer2%

Card scheme breakdown

Market data coming soon.

Cross-border e-commerce

Market data coming soon.

Featured payment methods in Papua New Guinea

Popular options based on coverage and prominence in this market.

CellMoni (Digicel PNG)

Mobile money service operated by Digicel PNG, with approximately 1.6 million individual users (53% of Digicel PNG's customer base). CellMoni supports peer-to-peer transfers, airtime purchases, and merchant payments, making it one of the most widely used financial services in Papua New Guinea.

BSP Wantok Wallet

Launched February 14, 2025 by BSP Financial Group, Wantok Wallet operates via USSD, requiring no smartphone, no internet access, and no bank account. Users can send and receive money, top up phones, pay bills, and withdraw cash at agents. By April 2025, BSP had 48,646 registered users. Designed specifically for PNG's rural population.

BSP Mobile Banking App

BSP Financial Group's smartphone-based mobile banking app for account holders. Supports fund transfers, bill payments, and balance checking. BSP is the Pacific's largest bank and the dominant financial institution in PNG.

Visa / Mastercard

International card acceptance is limited primarily to larger merchants, hotels, and supermarkets in Port Moresby and Lae. Cards are issued by BSP, ANZ, and Kina Bank to qualifying account holders.

Kina Pei (Kina Bank)

Launched in 2025 by Kina Bank, Kina Pei enables customers to digitize their Visa debit card to tap and pay using their smartphone. This brings NFC contactless payment capability to Kina Bank customers. Kina Bank also offers WhatsApp Banking, allowing users to conduct transactions via the messaging platform.