The Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) published a staff brief on interlinking fast payment systems (FPS) to improve cross-border payments, drawing on high-level findings from a July 2024 CPMI conference organised with the G7 Presidency. The brief positions FPS interlinking as a practical way to shorten transaction chains and reduce reliance on intermediaries, with potential benefits for cost, speed and transparency, including for emerging markets and developing economies. The publication notes that existing FPS interlinking arrangements are mainly intraregional and that interlinking models vary, with bilateral links dominant so far and hub-and-spoke or common platform solutions expected to gain traction over time. It highlights interoperability enablers and remaining gaps, including the need for consistent implementation of ISO 20022 for cross-border payments (supported by CPMI harmonised data requirements) and greater harmonisation of application programming interfaces, alongside operational challenges such as compliance screening and fraud prevention in real-time environments. Looking ahead, the CPMI states that over 2025 it will focus on delivering roadmap actions that support end users most affected by inefficient cross-border payments and will intensify efforts to promote jurisdiction-level implementation. It also flags two strategic initiatives focused on regions furthest from the G20 targets, especially sub-Saharan Africa: advancing safety and transparency through “confirmation of payee” approaches that could be scaled via APIs, and improving the quality of data on cross-border payment flows, performance and frictions to identify implementable actions.
Bank for International Settlements - Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures 2025-02-20
Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures publishes brief on interlinking fast payment systems and its 2025 cross-border payments priorities
The BIS Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures published a staff brief on interlinking fast payment systems to improve cross-border payments, highlighting FPS interlinking as a practical way to shorten transaction chains and reduce intermediaries. It stresses greater interoperability, including consistent ISO 20022 implementation and harmonised APIs, and notes CPMI’s 2025 focus on roadmap actions for users most affected by inefficient cross-border payments, with initiatives targeting regions furthest from G20 targets, especially sub-Saharan Africa.