Central to global trade and financial activity, cross-border payments have evolved dramatically over the years, bringing businesses greater convenience and speed when sending money around the world.
But despite this progress, challenges like high costs, slow processing times, and limited access still stand in the way of achieving a truly seamless global payments system.
A few years ago, the G20 Cross-Border Payments Roadmap was developed, with the aim of tackling such issues head-on to create a truly efficient, affordable, and inclusive ecosystem.
In this article, we’ll dive into what the Roadmap is, the key players behind it, and the global obstacles it’s addressing. We’ll also take a look at the progress made over the last year and how this initiative is shaping the future of cross-border payments.
What Is the G20 Cross-Border Payments Roadmap?
Put simply, the G20 Cross-Border Payments Roadmap is a global plan aimed at creating a more efficient, transparent, and inclusive cross-border payments system by 2027.
At the request of the G20, the Roadmap was introduced in October 2020 to address some of the biggest pain points affecting international payments today, including high fees, slow speeds, poor transparency, and limited access.
By making these payments faster and more affordable, the Roadmap aims to boost economic growth and support global development—especially in countries that rely heavily on remittances or international trade.
Broken down into 19 “building blocks,” the Roadmap focuses on several areas to reduce the hurdles that tend to come with global transactions, including:
- Payment system interoperability.
- Regulatory alignment.
- Data exchange.
- Messaging standards.
Today, the initiative is coordinated by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body that works to maintain global financial stability, and supported by the Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and other key groups from around the world.
Cross-Border Payments Challenges
As we briefly mentioned above, the G20 Roadmap aims to overcome four major barriers currently limiting the full potential of cross-border payments:
High Costs
One of the major challenges with cross-border payments is high costs, as fees for international transfers are often much higher compared to domestic transactions.
Global corporations move a whopping $23.5 trillion across borders every year—about a quarter of the world’s GDP. Yet, they lose a staggering $120 billion annually in transaction fees, and that doesn’t even include the extra costs from currency exchange.
Meanwhile, the impact is even worse for low-income families and small businesses in developing countries, who face high remittance costs.
According to the World Bank, the current global average to send $200 globally is about $12.50 (or 6.25%), but in some regions, the fee can skyrocket by 50%, further hurting those who need money the most.
Slow Transactions
Despite advancements in technology, many international transactions can be unpredictably slow to process. This is due to several factors including:
- Lack of interoperability between payment systems: Without a seamless connection between payment systems across countries, international banks must act as go-betweens, resulting in slower transactions.
- Varying clearing house schedules: When payments move across time zones, they can get delayed due to different clearing house hours, creating trapped liquidity.
- Compliance requirements: While essential, anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) checks add complexity to each transaction, further slowing things down.
- Outdated technology: To make matters worse, many banks are still using legacy software, which can’t keep up with the demand for faster, real-time payments.
As a result, a cross-border payment could take several days and cost up to ten times more than a domestic transfer.
Lack of Transparency
One of the biggest issues with cross-border payments is the lack of transparency—leaving users in the dark about important transaction details.
Traditionally, payments are routed through multiple correspondent banks, with neither the originating nor the beneficiary bank knowing exactly where the money is at any given time. This makes it nearly impossible to predict when the payment will arrive or what the exact costs will be.
Moreover, limited transparency around fees and foreign exchange rates result in users losing money. Senders must often send the transaction before knowing the cost of the transaction, including fees and foreign exchange expenses.
One report shows that businesses lose an average of 3-5% of their transaction value due to confusion and added costs.
Limited Access
Financial inclusion is still a big issue worldwide, with many people and small businesses—often those in developing countries or rural areas—struggling to access cross-border payment services.
There are several reasons for this.
For one, not all currencies are supported by international payment networks, and some providers lack the right connections to handle cross-border payments easily. As a result, they may have to rely on slower, less secure alternatives.
Meanwhile, a 2022 CPMI report highlighted that only a small number of payment systems offer direct access to non-bank PSPs, financial market infrastructures, and foreign banks—key players in international payments.
Ultimately, these barriers limit access to global markets and opportunities, making it harder for people in underserved areas to improve their financial situation.
Roadmap Progress So Far
Despite the many challenges that cross-border payments present, the Roadmap continues to make progress.
Now in its sixth year, the FSB shared the Roadmap’s most recent progress report in October 2024, featuring the following milestones.
Harmonization of ISO 20022
In recent months, many of the world’s central banks and private payment operators have migrated to ISO 20022, a global standard that aims to break down communication barriers caused by different terminology.
This represents a big step toward faster payments, improving processes like compliance with financial crime regulations.
Extension of operating hours for RTGS / payment systems
In the past, the limited operating hours of Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems, especially across different time zones, led to delays and higher costs. Now, more systems are extending their hours, creating better overlap between time zones.
This move should make a big difference in improving liquidity management, reducing settlement risks, and boosting the performance of systems that support cross-border payments.
Exploration of APIs
APIs (application programming interfaces) are becoming a key part of how payments work, helping with tasks like checking account details, ensuring payments follow the rules, and fixing errors.
However, different countries and systems use their own technical standards—leading to delays, mistakes, and extra costs.
To address this, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures published ten API recommendations in late 2024 to make APIs work better together across borders. These suggestions aim to reduce manual work, speed up data sharing, and make the payment process more affordable for everyone—without pushing for a single global standard.
FPS Interlinking
Over 70 countries have set up Fast Payment Systems, with many more in the works.
While they were originally designed for domestic payments, experts believe that FPS interlinking could really improve cross-border payments—enabling money to move more smoothly, and directly, between countries.
Because these systems operate across different nations, currencies, and regulations, setting up proper governance is tricky. Efforts are underway though, with the CPMI working to address these challenges.
Project Nexus is one such FPS interlinking initiative involving central banks and payment operators from ASEAN nations. Phase 3 recently wrapped up, and Nexus is already connecting countries with projects like the PayNow and PromptPay systems between Singapore and Thailand.
Ultimately, much progress has been made in the several years since the Roadmap was first introduced.
However, more work is needed, especially in terms of cost and speed. Some regions are closer to meeting targets, but achieving them will require more time and continued collaboration to address ongoing technological, legal, and operational changes.
Impact on Businesses
Enhancing cross-border payments is ultimately a win for everyone—businesses, consumers, as well as the general economy.
By improving speed, reducing costs, and enabling faster settlements, the G20 Roadmap is helping to create a much more efficient and transparent system for global transactions.
For businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve, it’s critical to use payment solutions that align with the Roadmap’s goals.
UniTeller’s cross-border payments solutions—including UniTeller Cross-Border Pay, UniTeller Cross-Border Send, UniTeller Instapago, and UniTeller Business Payments—are built with the G20 Roadmap in mind, ensuring cost-effective, fast, transparent and inclusive access to businesses worldwide.
No matter where in the world you’re located, we ensure your transactions will get where they need to go—helping your business stay competitive and run smoothly in an ever-connected world.
Meanwhile, we are not satisfied with the status quo. Rather, we are committed to refining our solutions as more Roadmap milestones are reached, ensuring we remain in line with the most efficient cross-border payment strategies out there.
UniTeller: Powering the Future of Cross-Border Payments for Business
The G20 Cross-Border Payments Roadmap is a true game-changer, driving much-needed transformation to create a stronger, much more modern, and valuable global payments system for all.
And UniTeller is excited to be championing it. If yours is a company with operations or vendors abroad, our cross-border payments solutions are designed to make your business transactions smoother, more secure, and more cost-effective. Find a solution that best fits your business with one of our business payment solutions.
