Enhancing cross-border payments step by step: insights from the 2025 monitoring survey
Highlights
- Expanded access to payment systems, extended operating hours and interoperability by design form the foundation for enhanced cross-border payment services. The continued adoption of fast payment systems (FPS) has the potential to significantly improve cross-border retail payments, particularly in corridors where links between those FPS are established.
- Aligning with ISO 20022 harmonisation requirements and adopting standardised application programming interface (API) frameworks can reduce inefficiencies and maximise benefits. Scaling FPS links and expanding access for non-banks and foreign banks can boost competition. Extending payment system operating hours, particularly in the Americas and Europe will broaden the global settlement window.
- Continued international cooperation and targeted technical assistance are crucial for advancing the objectives of the G20 Roadmap. Many jurisdictions are currently revising their legal and regulatory frameworks for payments. Jurisdictional action plans can provide a clear path forward and serve as a tool to mobilise both public and private sector stakeholders.
Introduction
The G20 Roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments aims to make cross-border payments cheaper, faster, more inclusive and more transparent. Improved cross-border payments support international trade, e-commerce, and financial inclusion while helping to safeguard monetary and financial stability. Conversely, inefficiencies can fragment the global financial system, reducing its resilience and ability to foster sustainable growth. To address cross-border payment frictions, international bodies have launched initiatives to enhance wholesale, retail and remittance payments. The Roadmap's priority actions are largely completed and the resulting body of work provides a global framework. However, jurisdictions must translate this into domestic action through tailored plans. Such jurisdictional action plans involve multiple public and private sector stakeholders and are hence also referred to as multi-stakeholder action plans. They can help lagging economies improve domestic infrastructures and remove bottlenecks, while advanced economies have a responsibility to lead by example. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund provide technical assistance to many jurisdictions and regions to address domestic and regional frictions in cross-border payments.
Achieving the ambitious G20 goals requires substantial private sector investment, sustained public sector support and reforms at jurisdiction level. While it is unlikely that the G20 targets will be fully met by 2027, timely and consistent implementation, combined with technological advances, could lead to improved cross-border payments, one step at a time. Many jurisdictions are implementing or planning domestic payment reforms as well as exploring concrete enhancements to their cross-border payment capabilities. Progress at the payment infrastructure level should facilitate improved service offerings that ultimately result in improved end user experience. However, the starting points and steps taken by individual jurisdictions vary widely and cannot be seen in isolation. Jurisdictional initiatives are often part of a broader payment system strategy or financial sector reforms. The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), in cooperation with the Financial Stability Board (FSB), has conducted annual surveys among central banks and other authorities since 2023. These surveys help to monitor progress on: (i) payment system interoperability and extension; (ii) data exchange and message standards; and (iii) legal, regulatory and supervisory frameworks. This Brief is structured around these three priority themes. It presents the findings from the 2025 survey based on responses from 82 jurisdictions.
