Bahrain’s NBB teams up with TerraPay to expand cross-border payment reach

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has entered into a partnership with TerraPay, a global payments infrastructure provider, to enhance its international payment capabilities and broaden customer connectivity across multiple markets.

Partnership Formalised at Sibos 2026

The agreement was finalised during the Sibos 2026 conference in Miami. Under the collaboration, NBB customers are expected to gain access to a broader range of international payment destinations through bank accounts, digital wallets, and local payment systems.

Executive Perspectives on the Deal

Vineet Munot, NBB’s Group Transaction Banking head, stated that international connectivity is becoming increasingly vital for customers. He added that the bank’s role is to ensure its transaction banking expertise continues to serve those needs with speed and reliability. Munot described the collaboration as a strategic step forward in scaling NBB’s payments proposition through infrastructure that can improve the cross-border transaction experience. He noted that through TerraPay, NBB sees an opportunity to connect customers in Bahrain and the wider region with a larger range of payment destinations, supporting their growth as their requirements become more global.

Ani Sane, co-founder and chief business officer of TerraPay, said the company assists banks that want to extend their international payment reach without having to build and maintain separate connections into every market, wallet, and local payment system. Sane explained that TerraPay solves that exact problem by combining its global payout network with Swift connectivity, allowing NBB to use its existing banking infrastructure to access more than 12 billion bank accounts, digital wallets, and local payment systems through a single global network. He added that the 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. Sane described NBB as a strong example of how leading banks are choosing TerraPay to extend traditional correspondent banking into the rapidly growing world of instant payments and digital wallets.