Raynor de Best
Content expert covering payments and (crypto)currencies
Digital payments landscape in Spain - statistics & facts
Digital payments in Spain are expected to pick up due to an increase in account-to-account (A2A) payments facilitated by local scheme Bizum. Spain does not yet have the highest market share of A2A payments in European e-commerce, but that might change as Bizum develops. What digital payment characteristics and payment trends are noteworthy for Spain?
Spain's domestic efforts to innovate payments will be key going forward. A successful roll-out of contactless payments, especially, could mean a rapid decline of cash in a country known for using it relatively often.
Bizum, combining A2A, real-time payments, and contactless in Spain
Bizum is the main brand to keep an eye out for in Spain. A collaboration between leading banks in the country - and only one of a few such bank-led payment initiatives in Europe - Bizum has similarities with UPI in India and Pix in Brazil in that it allows for consumer bank transfers to be processed in real-time. Bizum's user base grew consistently since 2017, and is believed to grow even more with the arrival of Bizum Pay - a contactless payment variant that would use the infrastructure of Apple Pay in Spain.Cash remains popular in Spain
That said, the share of cash in Spain is relatively high. It consistently ranks as the country's most popular payment method in POS, although its use has been declining due to the use of cards and A2A payments like Bizum. This trend - cash declining while it is used relatively more often than in other of Europe - is typical for Southern Europe. Spain, Italy, and Portugal have some of Europe's highest share of cash money, according to payment diaries. This may also explain why Bizum announced a cooperation with Italy's Bancomat and Portugal's SIBS in 2023, as the three countries attempted to create a cross-border payments network.Local brands and buy now, pay later
Even though international brands like PayPal and Klarna are common buy now, pay later (BNPL) in Spain, the country has domestic BNPL brands that appeal to a wide audience. Aplazame ranks among Europe's most downloaded BNPL apps, for instance. The Madrid-based company provides payments in installments, but also allows for deferred payments for up to 15 days. Barcelona's SeQura has Swedish origins, and has been described by some as a Spanish "clone" of Klarna. Nevertheless, Spain's BNPL solutions are less popular than Klarna. This is unlike Italy, where local app ScalaPay is a firm competitor to the BNPL provider from Sweden.Spain's domestic efforts to innovate payments will be key going forward. A successful roll-out of contactless payments, especially, could mean a rapid decline of cash in a country known for using it relatively often.
