The first is the unstoppable reach of the multinational corporate, the large enterprises that simply have no choice but to expand outward and bring with them all the processes and banking relationships that support it.
The second growth story is one framed by a triumph of outbound payment efficiency, with finance teams investing in faster supplier payments, tighter foreign exchange (FX) spreads, automated tax remittance and more predictable treasury operations.
But as middle-market companies push into new geographies with greater speed and ambition, many are discovering that the innovations supporting multinationals and outbound foreign transaction and settlement neglected one of the more enduring bottlenecks in cross-border payments. Not paying money out, but getting paid in.
The realization is reshaping how chief financial officers evaluate international expansion. Markets that may appear attractive based on demand curves, labor arbitrage or strategic adjacency can ultimately fail to meet hurdle rates once frictions in collections are accounted for.
As cross-border commerce becomes defined in tandem by highly connected networks, fragmented local regulations and a proliferation of alternative payment methods, the ability to collect locally is moving from an operational afterthought to a prerequisite for international growth.
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Read also: How AI and Orchestration Rewired Cross-Border Payments in 2025
Why Outbound Innovation Outpaced Inbound Reality
The imbalance between outbound and inbound innovation is not accidental. Paying suppliers, employees and governments is largely a controllable internal process. CFOs can mandate platforms, negotiate banking relationships and centralize decision-making. Collecting from customers, by contrast, requires adapting to local norms, regulations and behaviors that sit outside the company’s direct control.
For years, multinational corporations absorbed this complexity through scale. They built local entities, opened domestic bank accounts and invested in bespoke integrations market by market. Mid-market companies rarely had that luxury. Instead, they relied on a patchwork of global cards and cross-border transfers that worked well enough until growth ambitions outpaced the infrastructure.
The result is a structural mismatch. The same technology stack that may enable a company to sell globally from day one does not automatically enable it to collect like a local business. As CFOs scrutinize unit economics more closely in a high-rate, margin-sensitive environment, that mismatch is becoming more visible.
None of this is simple. Local collections introduce their own layers of complexity, from regulatory compliance to reconciliation and fraud management. Each market has its own rules around data residency, consumer protection and reporting. Alternative payment methods can evolve quickly, often driven by local regulators or consortia with national priorities.
“These CFOs, these receivables organizations, they’re getting a kaleidoscope of payment receivables,” Daniel Artin, head of strategic partnerships at Boost Payment Solutions, told PYMNTS in an interview published Thursday (Jan. 29). “Some are getting checks, some are getting payments faxed to them, some customers phone in and give credit card information over the phone, some are going through a web portal. It’s honestly bewildering how folks even handle it.”
See also: Cross-Border Payments Put CFOs Under Rising AML Pressure
Regulatory Arbitrage Is Over; Compliance Is the Strategy
Local collections often require compliance with domestic licensing regimes, know your customer rules and reporting obligations. While this raises the barrier to entry, it also creates defensibility. Companies that invest early in compliant local collection capabilities may be better positioned to scale as regulations tighten.
“The term ‘cross-border’ signifies that a payment traverses different legal entities, jurisdictions, regulatory frameworks, sanction regimes, and, in [some] cases, FX currency controls [also apply],” Emanuela Saccarola, Citi’s head of cross-border payments, services, told PYMNTS in an interview published in November. “This introduces additional challenges, including liquidity management, navigating multiple time zones, managing cut-off times and complying with the relevant regulations, which may not always be consistent.”
Local collections also reshape FX and treasury dynamics. Collecting in local currency introduces exposure, but it also creates optionality. Rather than converting every transaction immediately at the point of sale, finance teams can aggregate flows, time conversions strategically, or even reinvest locally.
For the mid-market, access to global demand is no longer the limiting factor; the ability to convert that demand into cash is, no matter what form or fiat that cash takes.
“We must create faster and more frictionless experiences for participants,” Deepak Sevak, managing vice president, partner experience products, at Discover® Network, told PYMNTS in an interview published Wednesday (Jan. 28).
Supporting “the surge in tokenization and digitized transactions, including embedded payments,” Sevak added, will be a critical growth vector to manage expected expansion due to mobile wallets, digital-first credentials and embedded checkout environments.
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