The National Bank of Bahrain, or NBB, has entered into a strategic partnership with TerraPay to expand its cross-border payment capabilities and give customers access to a wider range of international payment destinations.

The collaboration brings together NBB’s banking infrastructure and regional customer base with TerraPay’s global digital payout network. It is intended to simplify international payments while allowing the bank to expand into additional markets without building individual connections to every local payment system.

The partnership was formalised during Sibos 2026 in Miami and represents the next stage of cooperation between the two companies.

Through TerraPay’s network, NBB will be able to connect customers in Bahrain and the wider region with more than 12 billion payment endpoints, spanning bank accounts, digital wallets and domestic payment systems.

Swift Connectivity Underpins the Partnership

A central part of the arrangement is TerraPay’s integration with the Swift network.

TerraPay can receive Swift ISO 20022 messages and route cross-border payments through its global infrastructure, enabling banks such as NBB to continue using their existing Swift systems and established relationship management processes.

This approach reduces the need for banks to establish and maintain separate technical connections with individual payment providers, wallets or domestic networks in each market they wish to serve.

The companies said the model is designed to support real-time international transactions while providing customers with greater visibility over payments. TerraPay also said payments can be delivered without deductions from the principal amount.

For NBB, the infrastructure provides a faster route into additional international payment corridors while allowing the bank to retain its existing customer relationships and core banking systems.

NBB Targets Growing Cross-Border Payment Demand

Vineet Munot, Group Head of Transaction Banking at NBB, said international connectivity is becoming increasingly important as the bank’s customers conduct business across a wider range of markets.

He said the TerraPay relationship would help NBB scale its payments offering and connect customers in Bahrain and the region with additional international destinations as their cross-border requirements increase.

The partnership forms part of NBB’s wider effort to strengthen its transaction banking and digital payment capabilities.

Established in 1957, NBB provides retail, corporate, commercial and transaction banking services in Bahrain and also operates branches in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. Its subsidiary, Bahrain Islamic Bank, provides conventional and Sharia-compliant banking services.

TerraPay Expands its Banking Partnerships

For TerraPay, the agreement adds another banking customer to a network increasingly designed to connect traditional financial institutions with digital wallets and local real-time payment systems.

Ani Sane, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at TerraPay, said banks increasingly want to extend their international payment reach without having to build and operate separate integrations in every market.

TerraPay says its network connects more than 7.5 billion bank accounts across over 156 countries, while its broader infrastructure, including digital wallets and local payment systems, gives partners access to more than 12 billion endpoints.

The company has also been expanding relationships with established financial institutions. In August 2026, TerraPay announced a collaboration with Deutsche Bank that gives it access to the bank’s correspondent banking network, foreign exchange services and settlement capabilities.

The NBB agreement reflects a wider change in cross-border payments as banks increasingly combine established correspondent banking infrastructure with fintech payment networks to reach digital wallets and domestic payment systems.

For NBB, the partnership provides a way to extend its international payments footprint without rebuilding its underlying banking infrastructure for each new market, while TerraPay gains another route for its global payout network into the Middle East banking sector.