CaixaBank, Bankinter and Unicaja have extended in-store Bizum Pay payments to almost 20 million users in Spain, around 60% of Bizum's customer base. The expansion gives the platform a better chance to challenge Apple Pay and Google Pay at checkout. Spanish financial and business outlets, including Europa Press and El Economista, have reported the same basic stage.
CaixaBank customers have seen the biggest change so far. The bank has enabled Bizum Pay for 100% of its clients and says more than 517,000 payment terminals are ready to accept the service. Bankinter has also opened it to its full customer base, while Unicaja has activated it for people who already use Bizum.
Unicaja has connected Bizum Pay’s in-store payments as part of its 2025-2027 strategy, pointing to continued expansion among Spain’s major retail banks.
Customers of Banco Sabadell, Abanca and Caja Rural entities already had access to the digital wallet.
The physical rollout began on 18 May 2026. Initially, only selected customers at certain banks could pay with Bizum Pay, and relatively few shops had compatible terminals. Four months later, more banks, customers and businesses have joined. September marks an acceleration in the sector's rollout.
For merchants, the technical work is fairly simple. In most cases, they do not need to replace the existing payment terminal. Businesses only have to ask their bank or payment provider to activate the service, then keep using the same device.
The service is still not available everywhere. A payment works only when both sides are ready: the customer's bank must have enabled in-store payments, and the merchant's terminal must support Bizum. So, the number of users and compatible terminals have not grown at exactly the same pace in the first months.
Bizum says more than 1.6 million establishments can now accept the service. That covers roughly three out of every four bank terminals in Spain, or 75%. More than 25 large retail chains are also adding it in stages. Bizum wants practically all of its users to be able to pay this way by the end of the year.
The process is similar to using other digital wallets. Customers unlock their phones and hold them near the terminal using NFC. After selecting Bizum, they pay from the linked bank account, and the money reaches the merchant through an immediate transfer instead of a card network. Bizum says the funds move within seconds.
The wallet can also hold debit and credit cards, and users can choose a backup payment method. If a shop does not yet accept Bizum, the purchase can go through that alternative without leaving the wallet or starting again.
That gives banks more than another customer service. Around thirty Spanish financial institutions own Bizum. Its move into physical shops puts those banks in a payments business long dominated by international card networks. Customers pay nothing; the merchant pays a small commission, as with card transactions.
The first usage figures are still modest. Bizum says customers who already use the service in shops make an average of three payments a week. The company has not disclosed the total number of purchases since May. CaixaBank has reported nearly 25,000 payments worth more than €400,000 since its pilot began in mid-July. That comes to about €16 per transaction.
Bizum is also building a European route for the service. Spanish users can already send and receive instant payments with users of equivalent systems in Italy, Portugal and Andorra. The roadmap calls for this interoperability to reach online commerce and physical shops in 2027, allowing Spanish users to pay with Bizum in other European countries.
The service has moved quickly from peer-to-peer transfers into retail payments. Wider access alone will not guarantee that people keep using it. Bizum now has the banks and terminal coverage needed to make regular shop payments possible. The real test is whether customers keep using it after the launch period.
For Spain's banks, this is a direct attempt to capture part of the transaction revenue controlled by card networks. The expansion marks a real commercial shift, even if its success will be measured by purchases rather than registered access.
