Bizum: Spain's real-time bank transfer (a2a)
Bizum is a real-time bank transfer (a2a) used in Spain. Spain's bank-owned mobile payment scheme — dominant for P2P and rapidly growing in e-commerce. Over 25 million active Spanish users; effectively every banked adult uses it for P2P. This page covers how the flow works, where consumers use it, and which merchants should accept it.
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 →Frequently asked questions about Bizum
What is Bizum?
Bizum is a real-time bank transfer (a2a) used in Spain, in the Europe region. Spain's bank-owned mobile payment scheme — dominant for P2P and rapidly growing in e-commerce. The profile on this page documents the checkout flow step by step, the use cases it fits, the consumer base that can pay with it, and the merchant types that should carry it. Last reviewed July 31, 2026 by Ale Aznar.
Which countries does Bizum cover?
Bizum is recorded against Spain in the Europe region, which is the market where its consumer reach is meaningful for merchants. Cross-border acceptance depends on the acquirer or merchant-of-record you use rather than on the rail itself. The Spain country hub lists every other alternative and local method tracked for that market alongside Bizum.
What does Bizum cost a merchant?
Pricing for Bizum is not a single published number: it moves with monthly volume, vertical, entity type and whether you connect through a direct acquirer or an aggregator. Effective pricing bands per provider, plus the fixed-fee and FX components that sit alongside the headline rate, are part of the founding-partner dataset rather than this public Spain profile.
Which PSPs and aggregators give access to Bizum?
Access to Bizum runs either through an acquirer with a direct rail connection or through an aggregator reselling a partner's connection, and the two differ in reliability and reporting. The list of providers processing Bizum in Spain today, whether each is direct or resold, and where onboarding is currently restricted sits in the founding-partner PSP coverage matrix.
Is Bizum available for Spanish e-commerce, in-app checkout and increasingly in-person QR?
Yes. That is one of the documented use cases for Bizum in Spain: Spanish e-commerce, in-app checkout and increasingly in-person QR. Vertical eligibility is ultimately set by the provider you onboard with, not by the rail, so regulated categories such as gambling, crypto and adult content are commonly excluded even where the real-time bank transfer (a2a) itself supports the flow. Confirm the restriction list with your acquirer.
What are the settlement time and currency for Bizum?
Bizum is a real-time bank transfer (a2a), so the payer-side confirmation and the merchant-side payout are separate events with different timing. Settlement windows, cut-off behaviour outside scheme hours, the payout currency, and the realistic timeline to sweep funds out of Spain are documented in the operational section of this profile, available to Payment Methods List founding partners.