BBVA joins Swift retail payment scheme at launch in Spain

BBVA has joined Swift’s new global retail payments scheme from its go-live, becoming the first Spanish bank to take part in the initiative, the bank said. The scheme is designed to make international payments for consumers and small and medium-sized businesses faster, more predictable and available around the clock, supporting objectives in the G20 programme for improving cross-border transfers.

BBVA said payments under the model can be credited to beneficiaries’ accounts in Spain for the full amount in approximately 25 seconds, at any time and on any day of the year. The bank said payers are shown the transaction cost, foreign-exchange rate and expected crediting time before sending funds.

How the scheme works

Swift’s retail scheme establishes a shared rulebook for participating institutions. That common framework sets expectations for speed, transparency and predictability across banks that may operate in different markets and payment systems.

In the first phase, BBVA is taking two roles. As debtor agent, it sends outbound international payments on behalf of customers. As gateway intermediary, it acts as a Spanish entry point for funds sent by foreign banks into Spain.

BBVA said it will initially handle incoming payments from banks in markets including China, Australia and Türkiye. Eva Rubio, head of global transaction banking at BBVA CIB, said the bank’s participation from launch reflected its focus on faster and more transparent international payments for customers.

Swift said the scheme aims to make international retail transactions closer in user experience to domestic payments. Marianne Demarchi, Swift’s chief executive for Europe, said the launch was part of the continuing development of cross-border payments and that users were beginning to see the benefits.

BBVA Directa links Swift to Spain’s instant rails

BBVA processes payments received through the Swift retail scheme using BBVA Directa, its international payments service. The bank said BBVA Directa has been operational since September 2025 and uses Iberpay’s instant payments infrastructure in Spain.

The structure connects Swift’s global messaging and payments network with Iberpay’s domestic instant settlement infrastructure. In practice, an overseas financial institution can send an eligible payment through the Swift scheme, while BBVA uses local instant-payment rails to credit the beneficiary in Spain.

Juan Luis Encinas, chief executive of Iberpay, said the combination of BBVA Directa, Swift and Spain’s instant payments infrastructure shows how a One-Leg-Out model can extend domestic instant-payment features to international transfers. One-Leg-Out refers to payments where one side of the transaction is connected to an instant-payment system and the other side is outside that scheme or region.

European expansion planned

BBVA said it plans to add more international payment corridors after the initial rollout. The bank is also participating in the European Payments Council initiative to extend the One-Leg-Out instant payments model across Europe.

The EPC’s One-Leg-Out Instant Credit Transfer scheme, known as OCT Inst, builds on SEPA Instant Payments principles. Giorgio Andreoli, the EPC’s director general, said the model helps financial institutions address customer expectations and G20 targets for speed, reach and transparency in cross-border payments. He said BBVA’s implementation shows OCT Inst can work with non-European payment infrastructures and complement Swift’s scheme.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.