FSB ‘Unlikely’ to Make 2027 X-Border Payment Deadline

The Financial Stability Board said in a press release Thursday (Oct. 9) that a 2027 cross-border payment benchmark deadline is unlikely to be met.

The FSB, which represents the G20 nations, set goals in 2021, such as having 75% of cross-border payments be credited with the beneficiary within an hour by 2027.

But in a consolidated progress report published Thursday, the FSB said this work had not yet translated into “tangible improvements” for end-users on a global scale, and that it is “unlikely that satisfactory improvements” at the global level will happen by 2027.

“The global speed of wholesale payments has increased, possibly laying the foundation for faster retail payments and remittances in the future,” the release said. The speed of remittances has also improved globally, which means those end-users relying on financial support from family members abroad are receiving payments more quickly. However, the average global cost of such payments remains high, notwithstanding some improvements in the most expensive regions.”

The board also pointed to “significant variations across regions” and a need to do more work at the regional and jurisdictional level to “turn the international policy work into real-world gains for end-users and to support economic growth,” per the release.

This month, Ed Dean, vice president of product at Nuvei, discussed with PYMNTS the challenges and benefits of expanding cross-border payments. Transitioning from a decades-old infrastructure to true real-time settlement is not as easy as flicking a switch.

“Change is always a little bit scary, especially in a mature market,” Dean said. “Our ACH system is a Monday through Friday, no-holiday kind of concept … we see RTP helping bridge that. Our card brands are six days a week if we’re lucky. So, infrastructure-wise, we need to start investing in that.”

However, there are advantages to making that change, including in areas like cross-border commerce, where Dean described a “waterfall effect.” Faster payments provide richer know your customer data, which satisfies regulatory concerns on an international scale.

“The movement of money really comes down to the clearing and settlement, moving from point A to point B … faster payments makes us go faster or quicker just like an engine would,” he said.