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Payments/HN/pago-qr

Pago QR

Pago QR is the shared QR payment of Honduras's banks. The bankers' association Ahiba and the interbank processor Ceproban launched it in October 2024 [1]. It sits inside your own bank's app: the person being paid shows a QR code, you scan it with your bank's app, and the money moves in real time, even between different banks [2]. Payments are capped at L2,500. Nine banks offer it: Banco Davivienda, Banrural, Banco Ficensa, Banco Ficohsa, Banhcafé, Banco de Occidente, Banpaís, Banco Popular and Banco Promerica [3].
Country Honduras (HN)
What it is An interbank QR payment inside the banks' own apps, run by Ceproban [2]
Banks offering it Davivienda, Banrural, Ficensa, Ficohsa, Banhcafé, Occidente, Banpaís, Banco Popular, Promerica (read 20 Oct 2026) [3]
Since October 2024 [1]
Cost Free, according to Ahiba [1]; Banpaís says free up to L500, with possible bank charges above that [4]
Typical limit Payments of up to L2,500 [1]
Reaches Customers of the participating banks, anywhere in Honduras [4]
Code on paper? Yes: a shop can print its QR and display it [4]. Its format is not published

How Pago QR came to Honduras

Interbank payments in Honduras already ran through Ceproban, the Centro de Procesamiento Interbancario, which is owned by the country's main banks and operates the ACH-Pronto transfer system [2]. Pago QR adds a scan-to-pay layer on top, "desarrollada bajo la administración de CEPROBAN" ("developed under Ceproban's administration") [2].

  • October 2024: launch. El Heraldo reported in November 2024 that Pago QR had been available since October, promoted by the Asociación Hondureña de Instituciones Bancarias (Ahiba) together with Ceproban. At that date 9 of the 15 commercial banks offered it [1]. Ahiba's executive director, María Lydia Solano, presented it as a free substitute for cash up to L2,500. Ceproban's president, Gustavo Raudales, said small, medium and large businesses anywhere in the country would be able to accept it [1].
  • Banpaís. Banpaís's Pago QR page carries the date 28 May 2024, before the October launch; the page's metadata shows it was last modified on 10 October 2025, so the text you see may be newer than its date [4]. Its App Store listing describes Pago QR as generating codes to receive deposits and scanning codes to transfer to other banks [5].
  • October 2026: nine banks. The scheme's site, pagoqr.hn, lists nine affiliated banks [3], the same nine Banpaís names in its FAQ [4]. That matches the count of November 2024; we found no announcement of a bank joining or leaving.

Several banks that take part in ACH-Pronto, among them Banco Atlántida, BAC, Banco Lafise and Banco Azteca [2], are not on the Pago QR list [3]. Neither Ahiba nor Ceproban has published how many Pago QR payments are made.

How to use it

What you need: a phone with internet, your bank's app and a savings account at a participating bank [4]. There is nothing new to download [1].

  1. Switch it on. Open your bank's app and look for the Pago QR logo. It asks which account to link [1].
  2. Receive (ask for money). Choose Pago QR, type the amount you want, and show the QR code that appears. The other person scans it to pay [4].
  3. Pay. Scan the shop's or person's QR in your bank's app, choose the account to debit, and confirm [4]. You don't type an account number or an ID number [1].
  4. Check. Both sides get a notification in their bank app confirming the payment [4].

The payer and the payee don't need to bank at the same bank, as long as both banks are affiliated [4]. Ceproban says payments are processed in real time, seven days a week [2]. We found no published age or residency rule beyond your bank's own requirements for an account and its app.

Limits and fees

What the sources say
Maximum per payment L2,500 [1]
Fee to pay (Ahiba, Nov 2024) Free [1]
Fee to pay (Banpaís FAQ) Free up to L500; larger payments "podrían tener cargos según las políticas de cada banco" ("could carry charges according to each bank's policies") [4]
Fee to receive, for a shop (Banpaís) Free [4]
Per day, per month Not published

The two fee statements differ, and we found no other bank's price list for Pago QR. Limits change; check your bank's current terms.

Paying shops and businesses

Pago QR is aimed at shops as much as at people. Its site calls it a system for accepting contactless QR payments, with which "todos pueden aceptar pagos" ("everyone can accept payments") from their bank's app [3]. Banpaís tells business customers they can print their QR and put it somewhere visible, or show it from the phone at fairs and events. Receiving costs them nothing, and the money is in the account straight away [4]. No card terminal or other equipment is needed [4].

We found no list of shops that accept Pago QR and no online-checkout version.

Paying across borders

Pago QR is a domestic payment between Honduran bank accounts; Banpaís describes it as working nationwide among the affiliated banks [4]. Nothing we read says it can be paid from a foreign bank or wallet, or that it is linked to another country's QR.

How the Pago QR code works

Pago QR is a QR Code made by one bank's app and read by another's. Ceproban describes it as QR codes "interoperables entre las instituciones financieras del país" ("interoperable between the country's financial institutions"), with encryption and authentication protocols approved by the Banco Central de Honduras (BCH) [2]. There are two kinds of code in the sources: a code you generate for a single amount you ask for, and a shop's printed code that the customer scans [4].

The format is not published. Neither Ahiba, Ceproban nor the banks we read have published what the code contains or whether it follows EMVCo merchant-presented QR, the layout behind most national payment QRs. So we can't decode one, and only a participating bank's app is sure to read it.

How it differs from Tigo Money QR. Tigo Money QR belongs to one mobile wallet: since November 2021 you pay at Tigo Money agents by scanning a code in the Tigo Money app, from your wallet balance [10]. Pago QR moves money between bank accounts at different banks. Tigo Money is not on the Pago QR list [3], and nothing we read says either app can read the other's code. Barcoder's page on the wallet's code is Tigo Money HN.

How it differs from a central bank standard. Pago QR is the banks' own scheme. The BCH has not published a QR standard of its own. In August 2024 it published Pagos digitales para todos ("Digital payments for everyone"), which set out to identify the legal and regulatory reforms needed to make payment systems and e-money providers interoperable, and to explore a central bank digital currency [7]. The BCH's role in Pago QR, as Ceproban describes it, is approving its security protocols [2].

Other QR codes you will see. Some banks have QR features of their own. Banco Azteca's app, for example, scans QR codes to pay in shops and generates codes to receive money [6], but Banco Azteca is not on the Pago QR list [3]. Market vendors display cards with a QR that points to their bank accounts: one in San Pedro Sula told La Prensa in December 2025 he had used one for three years [9]. A Honduran electricity bill is paid by typing its NIC number, not by scanning (see the (HN report)). Before you scan a code on a counter, check which app it is meant for.

Safety: fake payment screenshots and impersonation

The risk for a seller is a "payment" that never happened. A San Pedro Sula market vendor lost more than L30,000 to a customer who sent fake screenshots of transfers; since then he checks each operation in his online banking in real time [9]. For buyers, Ahiba warns of WhatsApp scams in which criminals take over a contact's phone and ask for money, and reminds people that no bank will ask for your passwords by phone or WhatsApp [8].

  • Hand over the goods only after your own bank app shows the payment. With Pago QR, the payee also gets a notification [4]. A screenshot proves nothing.
  • Never share your bank password or codes with anyone who calls or writes [8].
  • If a contact asks for money by message, call them before you pay [8].

Pago QR and the alternatives in Honduras

Way to pay Best for Notes
Pago QR Small payments to people and shops at the nine affiliated banks Up to L2,500, no account number to type [1]
ACH-Pronto transfer Larger amounts, or a payee at a bank outside Pago QR Account number needed; banks charged L10 to L35 to send, per Ceproban in August 2024 (HN report)
Tigo Money People without a bank account, cash agents Wallet balance, *555# menu; see Tigo Money QR
Card Shops with a terminal 102,485 card terminals at the end of 2024, per the CNBS [9]

Sources

  1. El Heraldo, "Pago QR impulsa la digitalización e innovación comercial en Honduras", 19 Nov 2024. https://www.elheraldo.hn/economia/dineroynegocios/pago-qr-transacciones-digitalizacion-comercio-economia-honduras-ND22748115
  2. Ceproban, "Servicios", read 20 Oct 2026. https://ceproban.hn/index.php/servicios/
  3. Pago QR, "Inicio" (pagoqr.hn), read 20 Oct 2026. https://www.pagoqr.hn/
  4. Banpaís, "Realiza PAGO QR con BP en Línea App", 28 May 2024 (displayed; page modified 10 Oct 2025). https://blog.banpais.hn/productos-y-servicios/pago-qr
  5. Apple App Store, "Banpaís" (Banco Industrial, S.A.), read 20 Oct 2026. https://apps.apple.com/app/id1019342453
  6. Apple App Store, "Banco Azteca Honduras", read 20 Oct 2026. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id6475891967
  7. DPL News, "Honduras busca modernizar y lograr la interoperabilidad de sus sistemas de pagos", 14 Aug 2024. https://dplnews.com/banco-central-de-honduras-modernizar-sistemas-de-pagos/
  8. Ahiba, "Ciberseguridad", 17 May 2024. https://ahiba.hn/ciberseguridad/
  9. La Prensa, "Adiós al efectivo: pagos digitales ganan terreno en Honduras", 7 Dec 2025. https://www.laprensa.hn/fotogalerias/honduras/economia-comerciantes-pagos-digitales-honduras-fotogaleria-KN28527159
  10. Payment Media, "Tigo Money lanza código QR como nuevo método de pago en Honduras", 26 Nov 2021. https://www.paymentmedia.com/news-5644-tigo-money-lanza-cdigo-qr-como-nuevo-mtodo-de-pago-en-honduras.html

Researched 20 October 2026. Limits and bank offerings change; the banks' own pages are authoritative.

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