TWINT: Switzerland's real-time bank transfer (a2a)
TWINT is a real-time bank transfer (a2a) used in Switzerland. Switzerland's domestic mobile wallet — jointly owned by the Swiss banks, dominant for CHF e-commerce and P2P. Millions of active Swiss users across every major bank; effectively the default domestic wallet. This page covers how the flow works, where consumers use it, and which merchants should accept it.
How the TWINT flow works
TWINT is a mobile wallet jointly owned by the major Swiss banks. Consumers link a Swiss bank account or debit card and authorise payments with a PIN inside the TWINT app.
At checkout the merchant displays a TWINT QR (or triggers a push to the shopper's app). The shopper scans/confirms and authorises with PIN or biometrics.
Funds move via the shopper's bank account; the merchant's PSP receives a confirmation and settles in CHF.
TWINT is also the default P2P method in Switzerland and is widely used for in-person QR payments at retail, F&B and vending.
Typical use cases
- Any Swiss e-commerce, in-app or in-person checkout.
- P2P and P2M in Switzerland.
- Charities, events and small merchants using TWINT QR without card acquiring.
Consumer reach
Millions of active Swiss users across every major bank; effectively the default domestic wallet.
Who should accept TWINT
- Any merchant selling to Swiss consumers.
- Cross-border merchants targeting Switzerland who otherwise only offer international 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 TWINT works for your stack.
Settlement time
How fast TWINT 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 Switzerland.
Book a founding-partner call →Refund mechanics
How TWINT 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 TWINT has any dispute construct at all, which recall/return/indemnity vectors actually exist on the rail, how consumer-protection rules in Switzerland 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 TWINT vs. reselling a partner, coverage depth and reliability, effective pricing bands, and who to pick when Switzerland volume is your primary use case.
Book a founding-partner call →KYC & licensing notes
Requirements to accept TWINT — local entity vs. cross-border MoR, licensing regime governing the rail in Switzerland, KYC obligations at onboarding and per-transaction, and FX/reporting rules for foreign merchants.
Book a founding-partner call →Frequently asked questions about TWINT
What is TWINT?
TWINT is a real-time bank transfer (a2a) used in Switzerland, in the Europe region. Switzerland's domestic mobile wallet — jointly owned by the Swiss banks, dominant for CHF e-commerce and P2P. 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 TWINT cover?
TWINT is recorded against Switzerland 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 Switzerland country hub lists every other alternative and local method tracked for that market alongside TWINT.
What does TWINT cost a merchant?
Pricing for TWINT 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 Switzerland profile.
Which PSPs and aggregators give access to TWINT?
Access to TWINT 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 TWINT in Switzerland today, whether each is direct or resold, and where onboarding is currently restricted sits in the founding-partner PSP coverage matrix.
Is TWINT available for Any Swiss e-commerce, in-app or in-person checkout?
Yes. That is one of the documented use cases for TWINT in Switzerland: Any Swiss e-commerce, in-app or in-person checkout. 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 TWINT?
TWINT 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 Switzerland are documented in the operational section of this profile, available to Payment Methods List founding partners.