Bizum to allow users to send money to accounts in some other European countries: these are the first additions

Until now, sending or receiving money through the electronic money transfer service Bizum was only possible between Spanish accounts, i.e. if the IBAN numbers began with ES. However, this limitation has now been scrapped.

The payment service provider has reached agreements with some banks in Andorra and it will allow people to send money from and to this country, where accounts start with AD. But Andorra is not the only European country with which Bizum is in negotiations. The platform has also reached agreements with similar services in Italy and Portugal, so we can expect the same operations to be available there soon as well, though the introduction date depends on each bank.

The Spanish consumers' organisation (OCU) has said that the service is already offered to holders of accounts with Banco Santander, Abanca, Openbank, CaixaBank, BBVA and Banco Sabadell. The aim is for it to be fully operational before the summer. It will be up to the different banks to inform their customers about this new service.

Regardless of where the account is located - Andorra, Italy or Portugal - the operation will be the same as before: money can be sent to another person registered in the system by entering the recipient's mobile phone number or selecting it from the address book. Then, the amount must be indicated and the operation authenticated by the bank's security system. Once the operation is completed, the recipient will receive the money in their account immediately.

Bizum has shed some light on another aspect: what if your phone number has another country of origin? It doesn't matter. The use of Bizum International Payments depends on the bank account with which the mobile phone number is associated and not on the origin of the phone number itself. This means that if you buy a new phone outside Spain or Andorra and you get a foreign number, there will be no problem, as long as that phone is connected to a Spanish or Andorran IBAN (and soon Portuguese or Italian).