Instant transfers and batch payments
Santander's real-time payment offering gives clients access to Spain's mobile payment system Bizum and SCT Inst, the SEPA instant credit transfer scheme. It also includes the European Central Bank's TIPS settlement service and EBA Clearing's pan-European RT1 platform.
The bank expanded those capabilities through Instant Bulk Payments, which supports real-time transfers in batches, and Verification of Payee checks.
According to Banco Santander's business banking website, its instant transfers for companies take no more than 10 seconds and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Companies can send them between all countries that use the euro and submit multiple payment orders in one batch. Every instant transfer includes Verification of Payee, and transfers made at branches have no maximum amount.
Payee checks and corporate adoption
Verification of Payee checks the recipient's name against the account details held by the receiving bank before a payment is sent. The requirement has applied to eurozone payment providers under the EU Instant Payments Regulation since October 2025, according to the IPID Blog.
The blog also reports uneven uptake for corporate payment batches. In a 2026 survey conducted by the European Association of Corporate Treasurers and VDT, 57.2% of the 174 respondents had opted out of Verification of Payee for bulk payments, while 6.4% had fully implemented it. For payroll runs, 72.0% had opted out of the checks and 1.8% had opted in.
Recognition across transaction banking
The Spanish cash management title was among eight honors Santander Corporate & Investment Banking says it received at the 2026 Euromoney Transaction Banking Awards, following its recognition in 2025. Those awards included World's Best Trade Finance Bank and Latin America's Best Transaction Bank. Santander CIB also reported recognition across Argentina, Brazil, Spain, the United States, Uruguay and Chile, including cash management awards in key markets.
BBVA won two adjacent categories in the same awards: Spain's best trade finance bank and Latin America's best cash management bank.
Separately, Santander CIB reports that Santander finished 2025 in first place globally for export finance for a fourth consecutive year. The bank recorded $18.2 billion in transactions and a 14.5% share of the global market, and also ranked first in Europe and Latin America.
