Yappy, Panama’s Version of Venmo, Now Works With Banistmo and Its 600,000 Clients

Article written: October 8, 2026

Is there a Venmo or Cash App in Panama?

Yes, and almost everyone here already uses it. It’s called Yappy, and it lets you send money to anyone using just their cell phone number, no account numbers and no waiting for a bank transfer to clear. This October, Banistmo added Yappy to its mobile banking app, opening it up to more than 600,000 Banistmo clients.

For expats, that is a big deal. Banistmo is one of the banks many foreign residents use, and until now those clients had to bank elsewhere to get on Panama’s most popular payment app.

What Is Yappy and How Does It Work?

Yappy launched in 2019 as an exclusive service of Banco General, Panama’s largest bank. You link your phone number to your bank account, and from there you can send and request money in seconds. It works much like Venmo or Zelle in the United States.

Features include:

• Send and request money using a phone number
• Split bills in equal or unequal amounts
• Pay at stores and restaurants by scanning a QR code
• Set up recurring payments that send automatically
• Authorize payments with fingerprint or facial recognition
• Collect group gifts at events with “Lluvia de Yappys”

The numbers show how deeply it has taken hold. According to Yappy’s general manager Yolianna Alfaro, more than 1.8 million people have linked a phone number to a bank account, about 34,000 merchants accept it, and the average user makes 40 to 43 transactions a month. In a country of roughly 4.5 million people, that is a large share of the adult population.

Why Was Yappy Limited to Banco General?

Because it was built by Banco General for Banco General clients. In its early years, if your money was at another bank, Yappy simply was not an option. You had to fall back on ACH transfers with full account numbers, or on cash.

That created a familiar situation for many expats: the handyman, the fruit vendor, the landlord or the friend splitting dinner would ask “¿Tienes Yappy?”, and if you banked somewhere else, the answer was no. Some newcomers ended up opening a Banco General account just to use it.

Yappy later opened its network to other financial institutions, and that is the change now reaching Banistmo.

What Changes for Banistmo Clients?

Banistmo clients can now set their Banistmo account as their primary Yappy account from the settings in their digital banking, then send and receive money directly with Yappy users at other banks. They can do it from inside the Banistmo app or from the standalone Yappy App.

Banistmo keeps its existing options too, including Kuara, Xpress and transfers by cell number within the bank. Bank president Aimeé Sentmat de Grimaldo described the move as part of the bank’s strategy to push “transactional interoperability,” meaning the ability to move money freely between banks.

Which Panama Banks Work With Yappy?

According to Yappy’s website and local reports, these institutions are connected:

Yappy says four more banks are in the process of joining, though it has not named them yet.

How Can Expats in Panama Start Using Yappy?

You need a Panamanian bank account at one of the participating banks and a local phone number. Download the Yappy App (available on the App Store, Google Play and Huawei AppGallery) or open your bank’s app, register your number and link your account.

Once you are set up, paying the cleaning lady, the plumber, a food stand at the weekend market or your share of a group dinner works the same way it does with Venmo back home.

Cash is still common in Panama, especially with small vendors and in the interior, and Yappy itself says replacing it will take years. Next on its list are online shopping, public transport payments and simpler sign-ups. But with Banistmo on board, the days of opening a second bank account just to say “yes, I have Yappy” are coming to an end.

Sources: La Estrella de Panamá, La Prensa, Yappy.