NBB partners with TerraPay for cross-border payments

By Divya Shah

Why it matters: The partnership highlights how banks are increasingly using FinTech infrastructure to expand cross-border services without building costly local connections. It demonstrates growing demand for interoperable payment networks, digital wallets, and real-time settlement capabilities, creating opportunities for fintech providers that enable faster market entry, scalability, and global payment connectivity.

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has partnered with UK-based PayTech, TerraPay, to strengthen its international payments network and expand its cross-border payment capabilities. 

Through the collaboration, NBB gained access to TerraPay’s digital payment infrastructure, enabling the bank to extend its international reach, simplify cross-border payout operations, and connect customers to a broader range of payment destinations worldwide. 

According to NBB, the partnership reduced the complexity associated with maintaining multiple direct integrations while providing faster access to new markets and payment corridors. By leveraging TerraPay’s global connectivity, the bank aimed to accelerate international payment services and improve transaction efficiency for its customers. 

Ani Sane, co-founder and chief business officer at TerraPay, said, “Banks want to extend their international payment reach without having to build and maintain separate connections into every market, wallet, and local payment system. 

“By combining TerraPay’s global payout network with Swift connectivity, NBB can use its existing banking infrastructure to access more than 12 billion bank accounts, digital wallets, and local payment systems through a single global network,” Sane added. 

He further said that this partnership gives NBB a faster and more scalable way to expand into new corridors, broaden customer choice, and improve the cross-border payment experience, while allowing the bank to retain control of the customer relationship and its core banking infrastructure.” 

The agreement reflected a broader industry trend toward modernising international payment infrastructure in 2026. Financial institutions, including TPBank, Terrabank, and Banco Ganadero also adopted TerraPay’s cross-border payment services to enhance global transaction capabilities and improve access to international payout networks. 

For NBB, the partnership represented another step in its ongoing digital transformation strategy. In 2019, the bank implemented TCS BaNCS to modernise its core banking platform, replacing the legacy TC4 system.  

The latest collaboration with TerraPay is expected to help NBB expand into new payment corridors more efficiently while offering customers faster and more seamless cross-border payment experiences.