Wallets/twint
TWINT
0 standards supported
Overview
TWINT is Switzerland's #1 mobile payment app + Swiss bank-consortium A2A wallet [1, 2, ch-cro]. Mid-2025 baseline: 6+ million users (over half of Switzerland's 8.8M population).
TWINT acceptance [3]:
- 81% of Swiss bricks-and-mortar shops
- 84% of Swiss online shops
- Surpassed Apple Pay + Google Pay as Switzerland's most popular mobile-payment solution
Usage pattern [2]:
- 75% of TWINT transactions are commercial (purchases at merchants)
- ~65% of commercial tx happen on-site (physical retail)
- 1 in 4 transactions = P2P money transfer between private individuals
- Frequently used at checkout + public transport tickets + parking
March 2025 — TWINT named Switzerland's strongest brand per BrandAsset Valuator study [4].
Swiss bank-consortium model: TWINT is owned by major Swiss banks — distinctive vs Big-Tech mobile wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay). Mirrors Bahraini BENEFIT, Polish BLIK, Swedish Swish, Norwegian Vipps, Spanish Bizum, Italian Bancomat Pay bank-consortium models.
History
2014 — Twint AG founded by PostFinance + UBS + Credit Suisse + Raiffeisen + Zürcher Kantonalbank + other Swiss banks (Twint + Paymit standards merged 2016).
2016 — Twint + Paymit merged as unified Swiss bank-consortium standard.
2017-2024 — Mass Swiss adoption [2]: Multi-million-user growth.
Mid-2025 — 6M+ users + 81% bricks-and-mortar + 84% online shops + Apple Pay/Google Pay surpassed [3].
March 2025 — Switzerland's strongest brand per BrandAsset Valuator [4].
Ownership & operator
Operating entity: TWINT AG.
Major shareholders (Swiss bank consortium):
- PostFinance (Swiss Post's bank)
- UBS (post-Credit Suisse takeover)
- Raiffeisen Switzerland
- Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB)
- other major Swiss banks
- SIX Group (Swiss financial-market infrastructure)
Regulators: FINMA (Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority) + SNB (Swiss National Bank).
Technical integration
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Channels | TWINT mobile app (iOS + Android) + merchant QR + online checkout |
| Identifiers | Phone + QR + IBAN |
| CH rail | [[twint-qr]] (Swiss bank-consortium A2A) |
| Account model | Swiss bank-consortium A2A (uses IBAN bank-direct via consumer's banking-app authorization) |
| Merchant acceptance: 81% bricks-and-mortar + 84% online shops | |
| License | Payment system + bank consortium (FINMA + SNB) |
| Distinctive Big-Tech displacement: Surpassed Apple Pay + Google Pay in CH |
Users & growth
Mid-2025 baseline [1]:
- Users: 6+ million (over half of Switzerland's 8.8M population)
- Bricks-and-mortar shops acceptance: 81%
- Online shops acceptance: 84%
- Usage: 75% commercial / 25% P2P; ~65% of commercial on-site
- March 2025: Switzerland's strongest brand (BrandAsset Valuator)
Use cases
Swiss merchant payments (81% bricks-and-mortar + 84% online); checkout + public-transport tickets + parking (frequently); P2P money transfer (25% of tx); Swiss bank-consortium A2A IBAN-direct; supersedes Apple Pay + Google Pay in CH.
Implementations & partners
Operator: TWINT AG (Swiss bank consortium).
Major shareholders: PostFinance + UBS + Raiffeisen Switzerland + Zürcher Kantonalbank + other major Swiss banks + SIX Group.
Major Swiss mobile-payment competitors (surpassed by TWINT):
- Apple Pay (Big-Tech rival)
- Google Pay (Big-Tech rival)
- Samsung Pay (smaller CH share)
Major comparable European bank-consortium A2A wallets:
- bizum (Spain bank-consortium A2A)
- [[swish]] (Sweden bank-consortium A2A)
- [[mb-way]] (Portugal bank-consortium A2A)
- bancomat-pay (Italy bank-consortium A2A)
- blik (Poland bank-consortium 6-digit code)
- [[vipps-mobilepay]] (Norway + Denmark + Finland; Vipps MobilePay)
- wero (EPI pan-European unified wallet)
- [[ideal]] (NL national A2A → Wero transition)
Regulators: FINMA + SNB.
Fun facts
- Switzerland's #1 mobile payment app — 6+ million users (over half of Switzerland's 8.8M population).
- March 2025 — Switzerland's strongest brand per BrandAsset Valuator study.
- Surpassed Apple Pay + Google Pay in Switzerland — distinctive Swiss-bank-consortium win against Big-Tech wallets.
- 81% bricks-and-mortar + 84% online shops Swiss acceptance.
- 2014 founding by Swiss bank consortium (Twint + Paymit merged 2016).
- 75% commercial / 25% P2P transaction split — distinctive Swiss usage pattern.
- Owners include PostFinance + UBS + Raiffeisen + Zürcher Kantonalbank + SIX Group.
Comparison
| Feature | TWINT | bizum (Spain bank-consortium A2A rival) | [[swish]] (Sweden bank-consortium A2A rival) | blik (Poland bank-consortium 6-digit code rival) | wero (EPI pan-European unified wallet) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | TWINT AG (Swiss bank consortium: PostFinance + UBS + Raiffeisen + Zürcher Kantonalbank + SIX Group + others) | Sociedad de Procedimientos de Pago (Spanish bank consortium) | Getswish AB (6-bank Swedish consortium) | Polski Standard Płatności (PSP; Polish 6-bank consortium) | EPI Company |
| Type | Swiss bank-consortium A2A mobile wallet (CH #1 mobile-payment) | Spanish bank-consortium A2A | Swedish bank-consortium A2A | Polish national bank-consortium A2A + 6-digit code | Pan-European EPI A2A unified wallet |
| Country | Switzerland | Spain | Sweden | Poland | DE + FR + BE + LU + NL (transition) |
| Users | 6M+ (>half CH population) | National (>50% adults) | Major SE share | 19.4M active (58% Poles 15+, Jun 2025) | Phased rollout |
| Distinctive | CH #1 mobile-payment app; surpassed Apple Pay + Google Pay in CH; March 2025 Switzerland's strongest brand; 75%/25% commercial/P2P usage pattern | EuroPA EMPSA cross-border | EuroPA EMPSA cross-border | 6-digit one-time-code auth distinctive | European sovereignty initiative |
Status
Active, Switzerland's #1 mobile payment app [1, 3]:
- TWINT AG (Swiss bank consortium) since 2014 (Twint + Paymit merged 2016).
- 6+ million users (>half of CH 8.8M population).
- 81% bricks-and-mortar + 84% online shops Swiss acceptance.
- March 2025 — Switzerland's strongest brand per BrandAsset Valuator.
- Surpassed Apple Pay + Google Pay in Switzerland.
- FINMA + SNB regulated.
Sources
- 1 TWINT 6M+ users mid-2025 — Swissinfo
- 2 Most-widely used CH payment methods 2025 — Suisse Blog
- 3 More than 6M people use TWINT — TWINT press
- 4 Switzerland leader in mobile payments — TWINT
- ch-cro In-corpus:
reports/countries/CH-switzerland.md
Source
Biography extracted from twint.md. See matrix.md for standards-support matrix if present.