Bizum: Spain's real-time bank transfer (a2a)
Spain's bank-owned mobile payment scheme — dominant for P2P and rapidly growing in e-commerce.
How the Bizum flow works
Bizum is a payment scheme jointly owned by the Spanish banks. Consumers register their phone number inside their bank's app, linking it to a bank account.
For e-commerce the merchant's PSP triggers a Bizum request to the shopper's phone. The shopper receives a push notification inside their banking app and authorises with biometrics or PIN.
Funds move bank-to-bank in real time; the merchant is credited within seconds.
Bizum has near-universal recognition in Spain for P2P and is being rolled out aggressively for online commerce and in-store QR.
Typical use cases
- Spanish e-commerce, in-app checkout and increasingly in-person QR.
- P2P and charity/event flows.
- Small merchants who prefer a bank-app UX to card acquiring.
Consumer reach
Over 25 million active Spanish users; effectively every banked adult uses it for P2P.
Who should accept Bizum
- Any merchant selling to Spanish consumers.
- Cross-border merchants targeting Spain who otherwise only offer cards.
Operational detail
The operational half of every method profile — settlement, refunds, disputes, PSP coverage and licensing — is reserved for Payment Methods List founding partners. It's the part vendor sites won't publish and the part that actually decides whether Bizum works for your stack.
Settlement time
How fast Bizum funds land after the payer confirms, behaviour outside scheme hours, whether the rail settles gross or net, and the realistic T+n to sweep to USD/EUR — plus the PSPs where the advertised timeline actually holds in Spain.
Book a founding-partner call →Refund mechanics
How Bizum refunds are executed end-to-end when the rail has no scheme-level reversal — payer-initiated pulls, credit transfers, or PSP-fronted refunds — plus partial-refund support, time limits, and the API surface each PSP exposes.
Book a founding-partner call →Chargeback exposure
Whether Bizum has any dispute construct at all, which recall/return/indemnity vectors actually exist on the rail, how consumer-protection rules in Spain route claims back to merchants, and observed loss rates versus cards.
Book a founding-partner call →PSP coverage matrix
Which acquirers and aggregators run direct rail connections to Bizum vs. reselling a partner, coverage depth and reliability, effective pricing bands, and who to pick when Spain volume is your primary use case.
Book a founding-partner call →KYC & licensing notes
Requirements to accept Bizum — local entity vs. cross-border MoR, licensing regime governing the rail in Spain, KYC obligations at onboarding and per-transaction, and FX/reporting rules for foreign merchants.
Book a founding-partner call →