Bizum

Bizum is Spain’s bank-backed instant payment platform, launched as a joint initiative by the Spanish banking sector and now used by over 30 million people, which represents virtually the entire adult banking population in the country. Originally a P2P transfer tool, Bizum has expanded rapidly into e-commerce, processing over 100 million online payments in 2025, and is now extending into physical retail through Bizum Pay, a contactless in-store payment feature launched in May 2026.

Payments are account-to-account, routing funds instantly and directly between the customer’s bank account and the merchant’s, bypassing card networks entirely. Settlement is immediate and final, which significantly reduces payment reversal risk and simplifies reconciliation. Authentication is bank-level and PSD2-compliant, making fraud rates extremely low compared to card-not-present transactions.

For merchants targeting Spanish consumers, Bizum’s adoption trajectory makes it increasingly difficult to ignore. Its share of Spanish e-commerce payments grew from 2.7% in 2023 to over 10% in 2024, and the growth curve is still steep. Merchants already offering Bizum report measurable reductions in cart abandonment among Spanish shoppers, particularly on mobile.

On cost, Bizum is notably cheaper than card processing. Because it routes through domestic bank infrastructure rather than international card schemes, the transaction costs are lower, and there are no interchange or scheme fees in the traditional sense. For non-Spanish merchants, direct onboarding requires a Spanish bank account and business registration, but several PSPs, including Adyen, offer Bizum access without local incorporation, making it reachable for European merchants selling cross-border into Spain.

If Spain is a meaningful market for your business and Bizum is not yet in your checkout, that is a conversion gap worth closing.

Relevant markets: Spain