Spain leads the way in interoperability and digitisation of person-to-person payments within Europe
- Domestic P2P payments: from mass adoption to the leap to merchants
- Towards more interoperable international P2P payments
- Remittances: an increasingly digital flow... but still with friction
Nuek, the payment infrastructure technology company of Minsait (Indra Group), presents the 2025 Report “Digitisation of payment flows between individuals”, prepared in collaboration with Analistas Financieros Internacionales (Afi), and focused on the digitisation of payment flows between individuals, both domestic and international (remittances).
The study finds that payments between individuals (P2P) have moved beyond the purely experimental phase and are entering a stage of scaling, functional convergence and internationalisation. Payment solutions are establishing themselves as a real alternative to cash in several markets; on the other hand, users are beginning to demand that the applications they use on a daily basis in their payment environment also allow them to send money abroad with the same ease, cost and speed.
In this global scenario, Spain is consolidating its position as a European leader in the adoption of instant payments between individuals and in the digitisation of international remittances, thanks to the penetration of Bizum and interoperability with Portugal and Italy. The digital channel is now the majority channel for all age groups and offers significant savings compared to the physical channel, although challenges remain in terms of transparency and traceability.
Domestic P2P payments: from mass adoption to the leap to merchants
According to the survey of the banked population included in the Nuek report, instant transfers are already the means used by 25% of users to pay other people. In Spain, instant transfers between individuals, especially through Bizum, have achieved significant penetration, placing it among the leading European countries alongside Portugal and on a par with other countries such as Brazil. Although Brazil (Pix) and Portugal (MB Way) have managed to unseat cash as the preferred means of payment between individuals, Spain is rapidly moving in that direction, with Bizum establishing itself as a real alternative to physical money.
Furthermore, once critical mass has been reached in payments between individuals, these solutions are spreading to commerce, especially online. In Brazil and Portugal, more than 30% of users prefer these solutions for their online purchases.
Towards more interoperable international P2P payments
The next step in this evolution is clear: to take these same domestic experiences to the international arena. The Nuek Barometer shows that, in almost all the countries analysed, a majority of users who already use domestic instant P2P transfers would be willing to use the same solution to make payments between countries.
In fact, in Spain, they are already spreading to online commerce, following a similar trend to that already seen in Brazil and Portugal, where more than 30% of users with bank accounts prefer these methods for their online purchases.
However, the reality of the offering still lags behind this expectation. Most domestic P2P solutions do not yet allow money to be sent abroad, although pilot projects are already being rolled out. In Europe, the alliance between Bizum (Spain and Andorra), MB Way (Portugal) and Bancomat Pay (Italy) already allows immediate P2P payments across borders between the four countries, following the gradual rollout of the service that began in 2025.
This market movement is complemented by regulatory momentum: the European Regulation on instant payments, approved in 2024, requires providers in Spain and the rest of the European Union (EU) that offer transfers in euros to also allow instant payments in less than 10 seconds, 24 days a week and throughout the EU, with fees that may not exceed those for ordinary transfers.
The result is a phase change: from isolated domestic P2P systems to an ecosystem that is becoming more connected, regulated and interoperable, both within each region and between regions.
"The growth of person-to-person payments reflects a fundamental transformation: users no longer compare one bank with another, but rather their payment experience with that of any other mobile application. They expect to operate without barriers, in real time and transparently, regardless of the country in which they or their families are located,‘ says Javier Rey, executive director of Nuek. ’The challenge now is for technology, regulation and collaboration models between financial and non-financial players to live up to that expectation, both in domestic payments and remittances."
Remittances: an increasingly digital flow... but still with friction
The international dimension of payments between individuals is particularly evident in remittances, a flow that, although lagging behind domestic payments, is undergoing an accelerated process of digitisation:
- 63% of the banked population that uses remittances already uses websites or applications to send or receive money from abroad.
- In Spain, the digital channel for sending and receiving remittances is the most popular across all age groups (~80%), exceeding the European average and well above Latin America, where the face-to-face channel remains relevant for those over 55 years of age.
Beyond convenience, the report quantifies the economic advantage of the digital channel. In Europe, users could save $2.6 (€2.23) for every £200 sent by migrating from the physical channel to the digital channel.
Despite digitalisation, 40% of Spanish users still encounter friction in remittances, especially in traceability, transparency and crediting times, indicating that there is still room for improvement to match the experience of this type of payment domestically.
"What we see in this report is that payments between individuals in their domestic and international versions (remittances) are no longer two separate worlds. Users want a seamless experience, where the same solution they use to split a bill in their city allows them to send money to another country with the same degree of immediacy, cost control and visibility of the payment status. That is where the next competitive advantage in payments will be played out," adds Rey.