AfghanistanPay Limited, the United Kingdom program manager of the Digital Local Currency (DLC) Program, and HesabPay, Afghanistan's Da Afghanistan Bank licensed electronic money institution, have joined forces. Together they operate the Local Program Provider that moves Afghanistan's cross border transactions out of informal cash and into a regulated, recorded, two way banking channel, built to global sanctions and AML/CFT standards and structured to be Shariah-compliant under the Hanafi mazhab.
Neither a global program nor a local licence can transform a country's cross border banking alone. AfghanistanPay Limited brings the DLC Program, technology, brand, and global compliance posture. HesabPay brings the local licence, the regulatory relationships, and the domestic payment rails. Combined in a single joint venture, they become the Local Program Provider for Afghanistan.
AfghanistanPay logo
Owner and country program manager of the Digital Local Currency Program, a proprietary regulatory, technical and operational framework for regulated, bi-directional cross border access to local currencies. It governs the global standard, the technology, the brand, and the sanctions and AML/CFT compliance posture of the venture.
HesabPay logo
An Electronic Money Institution licensed by Da Afghanistan Bank, with established domestic payment rails, regulatory relationships and operational capability. HesabPay is the local anchor and operational home of the program inside Afghanistan, holding the economic majority so the venture stays consistent with Afghan law.
The joint venture is backed by a parent guarantee from Zinzir Ltd (Delaware), giving the partnership enforceable international recourse while keeping the operating structure firmly Afghan and locally licensed.
The partnership does not operate in isolation. AfghanistanPay Limited acts as the Country Program Manager within AsiaPay, the regional syndicate for Asia, which sits inside a global syndicate of banks and regulated entities under the Digital Local Currency (DLC) Global program. The joint venture is the Local Program Provider that connects Afghan member banks to that syndicate. One syndicate, one set of standards, rules and terminology, with the Afghani kept firmly at the centre.
The head organisation that defines the standards, settlement model, and compliance framework used across every market.
The regional program for Asia, coordinating national programs and connecting them to the global settlement network.
The UK program company (CPM) that carries the DLC standard into Afghanistan and is the sole upstream link between the local venture and the wider DLC Syndicate.
The ring-fenced joint venture company inside Afghanistan that onboards Afghan member banks and operates the program on regulated domestic rails.
The venture never holds, touches, or moves customer funds. It is a RegTech infrastructure program: through HesabPay's licensed rails, a nominated Anchor Bank, and a network of regulated member banks, it connects the world's banking rails to Afghanistan's own, so that value moving in either direction, Afghani out to any foreign local currency or any foreign local currency in to the Afghani, travels through channels that a regulator can see, approve, and trust.
Because members stand together. Alone, a single bank or entity carries little weight before a central bank, a regulator, a government, or a ministry of finance. United in one syndicate, members gain the power of aggregation and consolidation, presenting one standard, one set of rules, and one voice to the institutions that decide. That unity is what lets every member offer services, rates, and fees that non members simply cannot match, an advantage that is impossible to reach alone.
Hoshmand Afghanistan is the joint venture company, registered in Kabul and owned by a United Kingdom program manager and a Da Afghanistan Bank licensed electronic money institution, backed by a Delaware parent guarantee.
The joint venture company inside Afghanistan, owned by AfghanistanPay Limited and Zinzir Ltd (HesabPay), registered in Kabul and operating as the Local Program Provider.
Owner and Country Program Manager of the Digital Local Currency Program, holding the global standard, technology, brand and compliance posture of the venture.
An Electronic Money Institution licensed by Da Afghanistan Bank, providing the local licence, domestic payment rails and settlement anchor for the venture inside Afghanistan.
All activity is conducted under Afghan law and Da Afghanistan Bank and FinTRACA supervision, in parallel with global sanctions and AML/CFT standards, and structured to be Shariah-compliant under the Hanafi mazhab.
When a country runs on cash and informal transfer, it looks like less bureaucracy and less formality. But the real cost is hidden. Money that moves in the dark cannot be counted, cannot be taxed fairly, cannot be trusted by the outside world, and cannot be used to build the country up. The more of an economy that runs on unrecorded cash, the weaker and less trustworthy that economy becomes in the eyes of the global financial system.
Unrecorded transactions leave no trail. Governments lose the ability to measure the real economy, plan services, or prove where value comes from. What looks like freedom becomes a blind spot.
When transactions are invisible, public revenue falls and public services shrink. The cost of an untrusted economy is paid by ordinary people, through higher prices, weaker benefits, and fewer opportunities.
A cash heavy economy is an unaccountable one. Foreign banks, investors, and partners price in that risk, corridors close, correspondent relationships fall away, and every Afghan pays more to reach the world.
As cash transactions rise, the whole economy loses ground, and every member of society is affected. Formalisation reverses that: each recorded transaction makes the next one cheaper, safer, and more trusted.
For the public of Afghanistan, formality is not red tape, it is the foundation of a stronger economy. Recorded transactions are what let a country prove its worth to the world, protect its own revenue, and turn everyday activity into national credibility.
The venture targets every transaction in both directions: originated from any foreign local currency into the Afghani, and from the Afghani out into any foreign local currency. Each one is moved into a channel that is approved and accepted by the regulator of Afghanistan or of the counterpart country. In doing so, the partnership helps Afghans everywhere support their country's economy, and lets everyone benefit from the transparency and accountability that follows, whichever way the value flows.
The program's architecture gives the global diaspora and domestic institutions the same everyday financial power, delivered entirely through regulated banking channels rather than third party card networks.
Bi-directional currency purchase and transfer. Inbound, foreign customers instruct their home banks to purchase Afghani for beneficiaries in Afghanistan. Outbound, regulated Afghan institutions help their customers buy foreign local currencies. Every leg settles through prefunded, licensed settlement accounts.
Two-way digital wallets and custody. Foreign customers can remotely open wallets, virtual IBANs and domestic-branded cards within the Afghan regulatory framework, while Afghan customers can hold and manage foreign local currencies, all on regulated payment rails and in the user's own name.
Global merchant and payment acceptance. Foreign merchants serving Afghanistan can accept domestic Afghan cards and instruments as a local method, while Afghan customers spend foreign local currencies at participating merchants across the network, settled via AFN or foreign-currency accounts.
The venture is governed in parallel and on equal footing by Afghan law, the global sanctions and AML/CFT framework, and Shariah standards under the Hanafi mazhab. Where these ever differ, the stricter standard applies.
Every corridor and every transaction is built to satisfy Afghan supervision and the global compliance regimes at once, with screening, monitoring and reporting throughout.
The structure, revenue, funding and settlement are designed to avoid riba and impermissible risk, overseen by a qualified Shariah Reviewer, so Afghan institutions and customers can participate with confidence.
Programme and customer funds sit in segregated, non-interest-bearing accounts at a nominated Anchor Bank. The venture never earns interest on them, and any incidental prohibited income is given to charity rather than kept, keeping the model clean for everyone it serves.
AfghanistanPay targets the primary hubs of the Afghan global diaspora and the highest value trade routes, converting today's informal "shuttle trade" into a secure, recorded economy, settled through local banking rails on both sides.
AE
Global hub for finance, electronics, and vehicles.
UZ
The primary energy and flour settlement corridor.
TR
Major hub for business relocation and textiles.
CN
Technical machinery and solar energy equipment.
IN
Primary market for high value agricultural exports.
Separately, each Afghan abroad is a single customer of a foreign bank. Together, through AfghanistanPay's member banks, they become a unified financial community with the scale to earn better rates, reliability, and speed. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Afghans who legally live and work outside the country are the program's founding community. When they join through a member bank, they stop being isolated individuals and become a collective demand toward a single currency, and they share in the benefits of aggregating that demand and those transactions. On their own, that advantage is lost; together, it is unlocked.
Through its member banks, AfghanistanPay can offer the roughly 12 million strong Afghan diaspora a unified Afghani financial platform and set of tools that work everywhere, not through Visa or a similar third party, but through the domestic banking channels of the country where they live, work, earn, and spend. One nation, one set of financial tools: privileged in rate, in reliability, and in speed. An Afghan living and working in the United States, in Europe, or in Türkiye can use an Afghani financial product built for Afghans, while it behaves exactly like any other regulated local bank product in that country.
Aggregated demandBetter rate · reliability · speedDomestic channels, not card networksStudents carry some of the most predictable and important flows of all: tuition, living costs, and family support crossing borders every term. Today these often travel through informal hands, at poor rates and with no record. Through a member bank, a student's tuition and maintenance can move in a formal, recorded channel, giving families proof of payment, protecting the student, and building a verifiable financial history that supports visas, enrolment, and future banking.
Tuition & living costsProof of paymentVerifiable recordRefugees are the community most exposed to the risks of cash and informal transfer, high fees, loss, and no way to prove what they received. By bringing support and remittances into recorded channels through member banks, AfghanistanPay gives displaced families safer access to funds, a documented financial identity, and a route back into the formal system wherever they are hosted. Transparency here is not a burden; it is protection.
Safer access to fundsDocumented identityProtection from exploitationSmall and medium enterprises are the backbone of Afghanistan's private sector and the engine of its cross border "shuttle trade." Today much of that trade settles in cash, outside any bank's view. AfghanistanPay lets these businesses settle with foreign suppliers and buyers through recorded, bulk settled corridors, replacing expensive legacy remittance with formal B2B channels. The result is lower cost, a real trading record, and the credibility to grow, borrow, and be trusted by counterparties abroad.
B2B corridor settlementLower cost than legacy remittanceA trading record that builds creditTravellers, for business, family, pilgrimage, or medical care, need to carry value across borders without carrying risk. Instead of moving cash, a traveller can hold and spend through the KEEP and SPEND/ACCEPT programs, drawing on funds in their own name through regulated channels at destination. Better rates, less risk, and a clean record of every transaction, the same convenience any foreign visitor expects, delivered for Afghans.
Carry value, not cashSpend through local railsClean transaction recordThe joint venture is guided by a board drawn from both partners, with deep experience in fintech, cross border settlement, investment, and regulatory compliance.
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Dubai based entrepreneur and investor specializing in fintech, RegTech, and digital currency ecosystems across the GCC and Southeast Asia. Founder and Managing Partner of Burj Investments, and Co founder/CSO of Digital Local Currency, driving strategic growth, investment, and innovation in cross border financial technologies.
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Afghan American entrepreneur and founder chairman of Afghanistan Holding Group in Kabul, whose ventures span professional services, internet, media, and fintech, including the HesabPay payments platform. A University of Pennsylvania engineer and Warwick Business School MBA, he brings deep experience in financial inclusion and private sector development across Afghanistan.
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An experienced executive with over eight years of progressive expertise in financial management, audit, compliance, risk management, and institutional development. Possesses a strong track record of working with national and international organizations to strengthen financial governance, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance.
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Results oriented Country Director at AfghanistanPay with extensive experience in management consultancy and recruitment. Expert in strategic leadership, business development, and partnerships. Executive Director at SMART LANDWALK, delivering scalable solutions in higher education, talent mobility, and organizational growth to drive success in global markets.
Membership is open to banks and regulated entities that want to operate under one standard and gain the collective standing of the syndicate before regulators and central banks. For membership and corridor inquiries, connect with the AfghanistanPay team, and offer your customers services, rates, and fees that non members cannot.
