Santander has become the first Spanish bank that allows its customers Send Bizum to other European countries. It is something that is achieved thanks to the interoperability between Bizum, Bancomat and MB Waya connection that according to the bank will connect 50 million users and 186 financial entities. It is a first step waiting for a unique pawous solution for which no agreement is reached.
The first in Spain. Banco Santander has formalized the possibility of sending money through Bizum in a cross -border way. The agreement has been necessary between different payment solutions such as Bizum (Spain), Bancomat (Italy) and Mbway (Portugal), being limited instant payments to these two countries, for the moment.
After performing the corresponding successful pilot tests, the clients of this bank will be the first to be able to pay outside Spain. The method will be the usual: we will only have to write the mobile number of the user to which we want to send the payment, and this will be carried out immediately and without commissions.
It will not be alone. Santander has been the first to move token, but the possibility of sending Bizum out of Spain will be a standard before summer. Abanca, OpenBank, Caixabank, BBVA and Banco Sabadell are advancing in the implementation of this service, planned for the second quarter of 2025.
It has not been thanks to Europe. While Europe Follow in search of a unique solutionthe private company moves record. Cross -border payments are possible thanks to the European Initiative (European Payments Alliance), a joint project initiated by Bizum and followed by both Bancomat and MB Way, with the aim of adopting instant transfers paneuropeas using existing infrastructure.
In other words, it has been necessary for those responsible for the platforms to agree, in the absence of a European alternative that encompasses.
The European Bizum. The European Central Bank has been trying to advance in a system of instant payments to interconnect the different member countries. But he doesn’t get it. During the last two years we have seen progress as Free transfers in Europe, Tests with digital purseand brushstrokes on a “European Payment Initiative” which has barely advanced since 2022.
Countries like Spain They make 95% of immediate payments with Bizumbut this is not the only name that sounds as a candidate for possible means for European payments.
There are those who try strongly. Solutions such as Bizum, Bancomat, BM Way or Swish were born as responses to the national need to be able to pay freely and free. The problem for the EU? None have been thought from scratch as a single payment solution.
This is where solutions such as Weroa proposal towards “a unique payment solution, all in one, instantaneous and paneuropea, capable of covering over time all cases of payment that consumers and professionals require.” Banks such as German and French They are already promoting this servicenot yet compatible with solutions like Bizum.
Nothing clear. The ECB points out that “instead of combining strength and sharing resources to develop paneuropeas solutions, national communities have often preferred to preserve the legacy of the investments made in the past”, an attack on models such as Bizum and a clear look at proposals such as Wero.
With many delays and few proposals on the table, the road to a “European bizum” continues to draw distant. But, meanwhile, in Spain we will not take to pay with virtually any bank outside our borders.
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