A guest editorial by Zaki Farooq, chief technology officer and co-founder of PayFuture
Global commerce doesn’t stop at national borders, and neither should the infrastructure supporting it, says Zaki Farooq, chief technology officer and co-founder of PayFuture. Cross-border payments are now central to how businesses grow, trade and serve their customers, with revenues forecast to reach $2.3tn by 2028.
Digital wallets alone could account for more than 40 per cent of e-commerce transactions by 2025, and instant payments are forecast to exceed 20 per cent of global transactions by 2028. But while domestic payments have benefited from years of focused investment and infrastructure upgrades, cross-border transactions still lag behind.
Where cross-border payments still fall short
Payments that move across borders remain more expensive, slower and harder to track. That creates challenges for businesses of all sizes. Whether you are an international merchant, a B2B platform, or a payments provider serving clients across regions, the current infrastructure behind cross-border flows is often inefficient and difficult to scale.
The good news is that progress is being made. Open banking, real-time payment schemes, digital wallets and blockchain infrastructure are all helping to reduce friction. These technologies are starting to simplify account verification, reduce settlement times and offer more flexible payment options. As adoption grows, they are also enabling new use cases, from SME trade finance to cross-border payouts and embedded remittances.
The limits of legacy systems
Still, many of the core problems remain unresolved. Most cross-border payments today continue to rely on legacy systems, correspondent banking networks and layers of intermediaries. Each step adds cost and time, and it becomes harder to deliver the kind of instant, low-cost experience that users have come to expect from domestic transfers.
Where we do see improvement is in how these new systems are being combined. Open banking, for example, is not just a tool for data sharing. It’s increasingly being used as the foundation for account-to-account payments in a cross-border context, especially when connected to real-time domestic rails. This makes it possible to move money more directly and reduces the need for traditional intermediaries.
Digital wallets are also playing a key role, particularly in mobile-first markets. In places where formal banking is less common, wallets give people and businesses a way to store value, pay and receive across currencies. They are particularly effective in regions with high smartphone usage, such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa.
Meanwhile, blockchain-based solutions are being tested for more specialised use cases. Stablecoins, permissioned ledgers and tokenised settlement models offer alternatives to traditional clearing systems. While still early in their adoption, they present an opportunity to make high-value cross-border settlement faster, more transparent and less prone to error.
Why interoperability still matters
Yet for any of these systems to make a long-term impact, interoperability must improve. The real problem in cross-border payments is not only about innovation, but about integration. Systems need to work together across regions and regulatory frameworks must allow that cooperation to happen securely and consistently.
This is where alignment on standards like ISO 20022 comes into play, helping different systems communicate more easily and support richer data. But technical standards alone are not enough. What’s also needed is shared infrastructure thinking. That means creating systems designed to support international flows from the start, not just adapting domestic models and hoping they work globally.
Local context matters. Experience in emerging markets shows how important it is to tailor solutions to regional needs. That might mean integrating local wallets, supporting domestic clearing partners or adapting flows to comply with local regulation. The more infrastructure reflects local context, the more effective it becomes.
It’s also where we see the biggest gaps. Businesses looking to expand internationally still face too much complexity when entering new markets. From onboarding and compliance to settlement and FX, there is often a lack of coordination. That slows growth and limits opportunity.
This also affects individuals, especially in areas like remittances. For many families in lower-income countries, cross-border payments represent a vital source of income. Yet fees remain high and delivery times uncertain. Better infrastructure would allow more of that money to reach recipients quickly and affordably, improving outcomes and building trust in the financial system.
What comes next for cross-border infrastructure
Looking ahead, we expect to see more partnerships across providers, platforms and regulators. There is also increasing recognition that infrastructure upgrades can’t just focus on speed and cost. Resilience, uptime and the ability to respond to regional regulation are just as important, particularly as more critical transactions move online.
Modern infrastructure must also meet rising expectations around transparency. Businesses want real-time visibility into payment status and fees, while users want clear information about delivery times and charges.
Achieving that means building better data flows, smarter routing and more consistent communication across the payment chain. Solving the infrastructure challenge will take collaboration, not just innovation. It will also require providers to think beyond payments, to include identity, compliance, FX, and reporting, as part of a more connected cross-border ecosystem.
The goal is simple: make cross-border payments work more like domestic ones. When the systems behind payments are better connected and built for purpose, businesses grow faster, and users benefit from a more transparent, inclusive experience. The infrastructure decisions being made today will determine how ready we are for the future of global commerce.
Image: PayFuture
Guest Editorial
This article was produced specially for Fintech Intel by an expert guest contributor.
