How long does an international payment take in Spain?

A comprehensive guide to understanding cross-border payments to and from Spain.

Spain is a dynamic economy with trading partners across Europe, Latin America, North Africa and beyond. As a member of the European Union and eurozone, Spain benefits from seamless euro-denominated transfers across the continent. Yet the execution times and costs of international payments still depend on the payment methods and systems used, the countries and currencies involved, as we explain in this article.

1. How long does it take to send money to and from Spain?
2. What is SEPA?
3. Which countries are included in SEPA?
4. What are the different ways to make bank payments across the SEPA region?
5. Who oversees SEPA payments?
6. What is the extent of SEPA payment usage in Spain?
7. What other ways are there to make payments to and from Spain?
8. What are some worked examples of international payments involving Spain?
9. How much do international payments to and from Spain cost?
10. Why are international payments to and from Spain so complex?

1. How long does it take to send money to and from Spain?

International payments to or from Spain typically take 1-5 days. That’s the short answer. The slightly longer answer explains the reasons for this wide variation in execution times.

The payment methods and systems used, as well as the countries and currencies involved are just some of the factors determining how long an international payment involving Spain takes.

Transfers in euro within the SEPA zone can be instant or arrive the next business day. Whereas transfers in other currencies and/or outside the SEPA zone can take 2-5 business days.

2. What is SEPA?

SEPA stands for single euro payments area. The aim of SEPA is to make paying and getting paid cross-border within the SEPA zone the same as domestic payments. The political and economic goal was to create a single market for payments.

That’s quite an undertaking as 530 million people live in the SEPA zone. And they make around 184 billion electronic payments each year.

3. Which countries are included in SEPA?

The SEPA zone consists of 41 European countries.

This includes countries which do not use the euro as a currency, such as Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Romania and Sweden. It also includes countries which are not part of the European Union, such as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK.

The color-coded map on the European Central Bank website both explains the status of countries in Europe and highlights the complexity. There are countries that are a:

• EU Member State with euro as its currency
• EU Member State with a currency other than the euro
• Non-EU SEPA country
• Non-EU non-SEPA country

Spain is an EU Member State with euro as its currency. We’ll explain the complexities behind international payments to or from Spain in more detail after we’ve explained the different SEPA payment methods.

4. What are the different ways to make bank payments across the SEPA region?

There are three main bank-to-bank payment schemes within SEPA:

• SEPA Credit Transfer
• SEPA Instant Credit Transfer
• SEPA Direct Debit

Let’s take each in turn.

SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT)

A SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) is a bank-account-to-bank-account payment initiated by the payer. This makes it a ‘push’ payment.

SCT payments in euro can be made in 41 SEPA countries.

Payments are made for the full original amount – there are no deductions. A payer may only be charged by their own payment provider.

Payments typically take one business day.

Most euro credit transfers in SEPA every year – more than 29 billion – are made via the SCT scheme.

SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst)

A SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) is a real-time bank-account-to-bank-account payment initiated by the payer. This makes it a ‘push’ payment, just like a SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) payment.

SCT Inst is an RTGS (real time gross settlement) system and is available 24x7x365. Funds are available on the payee’s account within a maximum of 10 seconds. However, according to February 2026 data from the European Payments Council, about 99% of SCT transactions are completed in less than five seconds.

Each payment is processed individually, which makes it the opposite of batch-style payments. Transactions also settle individually and irrevocably. That means payments are final and once processed, they cannot be recalled.

A SCT Inst must be made in euros, but the accounts – which must be in the SEPA area – do not have to be denominated in euros.

SCT Inst was launched in 2017 as an optional service. Payment service providers (PSPs) must adhere to scheme rules. However, they have flexibility to enter into agreements with other participating PSPs on quicker execution times, transaction limits and so on.

SEPA Direct Debit (SDD)

There are two SEPA Direct Debit schemes used to make over 21 billion transactions annually within SEPA:

• SDD Core, primarily for consumers
• SDD B2B, exclusively for businesses

Both SDD Core and SDD B2B are ‘pull’ payment methods. The payee requests money from the payer with their prior approval and the sum is credited to the payee’s account.

A SEPA direct debit must be made in euros to accounts located in the SEPA area. But the accounts themselves may be held in any other SEPA currency.

SDD payments typically take a minimum of two business days.

5. Who oversees SEPA payments?

The European Payments Council (EPC), a banking and payments association, oversees the design of the single set of tools and standards for SEPA.

The European Commission establishes the legal framework for SEPA, particularly with the first Payment Services Directive (PSD), later revised as PSD2 and PSD3.

While the SEPA payment scheme rules apply in all SEPA countries, other rules stemming directly from EU legislation, such as rules on the equality of charges for euro transactions or interchange fees, do not apply outside the EU/EEA.

6. What is the extent of SEPA payment usage in Spain?

All three SEPA payment schemes are used in Spain. But when it comes to the volumes and values transacted, it’s a tale of opposite extremes between cards and SEPA payment schemes.

By volume, card payments accounted for 65% of total transactions made in the first half of 2025, while credit transfers accounted for 16%. That’s according to the latest figures from Banco de España, the central bank of Spain.

But when it comes to value, the situation is reversed. Credit transfers accounted for 88% of the value of electronic payments made, while cards accounted for only 3%. This shows that cards are the most widely used payment method for small payments in Spain, but when it comes to larger payments Spanish businesses and consumers prefer credit transfers.

So much so, the total number of credit transfers made in Spain in the first half of 2025 increased by 12.7% compared to the first half of 2024, reaching 1.5 billion transactions or €5.7 trillion. Meanwhile, direct debit volume increased by 1.8% year-on-year, reaching 1.1 billion transactions or €352 billion, Banco de España figures show.

7. What other ways are there to make payments to and from Spain?

There are various ways to transfer funds internationally to and from Spain. This includes making in-person or remote bank transfers, money transfer operators, card networks and digital payments, such as PayPal.

Bank transfers naturally require both sender and recipient to have bank accounts in their respective countries. They rely on a network of international correspondent banks participating in the SWIFT interbank system to move money behind the scenes.

Money transfer operators, sometimes also known as money service business (MSBs), range from large multi-national brands, such as Western Union and MoneyGram, to unregulated and unregistered businesses that operate without a license.

Card networks are increasingly promoting their platforms for person-to-person (P2P) remittances as well as traditional payments between consumers and businesses. Visa Direct and Mastercard Send allow transfers to and from card and digital accounts globally.

PayPal is a way to pay and be paid for goods and services, but also to make cross-border P2P transfers.

8. What are some worked examples of international payments involving Spain?

Every business needs to make and receive payments. Unsurprisingly, B2B is a healthy and growing market. The value of B2B payments will grow 40% by 2028 to reach $124 trillion globally, Juniper Research says.

There’s an increasingly cross-border dimension to today’s payments. Those trading via e-commerce shops, iGaming, investment or gig economy platforms need to make and accept payments to and from Spain quickly and easily.

Likewise, Spanish companies wanting to pay suppliers in other countries or make intra-company payments to overseas subsidiaries need a cross-border payment solution.

Whether it’s a one-off or recurring payment, full or instalment payment, the more digital the payment, the more international it is these days.

9. How much do international payments to and from Spain cost?

Some examples of international payments to Spain with indicative execution times and costs include:

Payments from the UK to Spain using a bank takes up to one business day. It can cost between £0.50 and £15-25 as a transaction fee, depending on whether the payment is made using the SEPA Credit Transfer scheme or SWIFT. Some banks may also add a mark-up on the exchange rate for the currency conversion from GBP to EUR.

Payments from Germany to the Spain using a bank takes anything from 10 seconds to one business day, depending on whether the payment is made via the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer or SEPA Credit Transfer system. Generally, credit transfers within the eurozone are free or charge or cost the same as a domestic transfer e.g. €0.20.

Payments from the US to Spain using a bank takes up to five days via the SWIFT network. It costs $25-50 in transaction fees, plus a mark-up on the exchange rate.

Using a money service operator (e.g. Western Union) may be cheaper, incurring $0-3 in transaction fees, as sometimes brands run promotions waiving the transaction fee, plus a mark-up on the exchange rate.

Some examples of sending €140 from Spain with indicative execution times and costs, drawn from Q3 2025 World Bank data, include:

Payments from Spain to China using a bank takes up to five days via the SWIFT network and costs 5.32% on average, ranging from 3.75% at the low end to 7.52% at the high end.

Payments from Spain to Philippines using a bank takes up to five days via the SWIFT network and costs 2.91% on average, ranging from 1.26% at the low end to 4.34% at the high end.

Payments from Spain to Columbia using a bank takes up to five days via the SWIFT network and costs 5.48% on average, ranging from 1.69% at the low end to 26.74% at the high end (from a bank branch).

10. Why are international payments to and from Spain so complex?

Just because international payments are important, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they work well. International payments often take too long and cost too much, certainly when compared to domestic transfers. What’s more, it’s not always clear where the funds are and when they’ll arrive.

So much of the payment process seems to be a ‘black box’. So much is either hidden or out of the sender’s or receiver’s control. For example, which banks are involved, which systems they use, and whether payments cross a business day, weekend or time zone. That’s quite apart from any language or currencies differences.

No wonder that daily cut-off times, unexpected delays, nasty fee surprises, failed payments, and wasted time sorting out back-office admin are commonplace. Far from being efficient, international payments are the quite the opposite: inefficient.

Inpay is in the business of making international payments flow. Our network covers 100+ countries and gives access to the 36 SEPA countries with our instant SEPA solution, as well as the UK with GBP and other local payment offerings.