Cross-border settlement
Updated
Summary
Cross-border settlement is the final transfer of value between payers and payees in different currencies and legal systems. Today it mostly runs through chains of correspondent banks, each holding accounts with the next, with separate messaging, compliance checks and operating hours. The G20 set quantitative targets in 2021 to improve cost, speed, access and transparency, mostly by end-2027. Three families of alternative are now being built or piloted: tokenised settlement on shared ledgers (BIS Project Agorá, Swift's blockchain ledger, Bank Negara Malaysia's SSDS+), multi-central-bank digital currency platforms (mBridge, now handed over by the BIS to its partners), and regulated stablecoins and tokenised bank deposits (the focus of Singapore's BLOOM). This node tracks which of them are changing outcomes and which are still prototypes.
Key numbers
Global average cost to send USD 200 (target 3% by 2030): 6.5% (as of 2025-03-31). Source: fsb.org
Global average retail P2P cross-border cost (target 1% by end-2027): about 2.5% (as of 2025-03-31). Source: fsb.org
Wholesale payments credited within one hour (target 75% by end-2027): more than 50%; above 90% within one business day (as of 2025-03-31). Source: fsb.org
Remittances available within one hour (target 75%): 54.4% (as of 2025-03-31). Source: fsb.org
Retail / wholesale and remittance payments credited within one hour (BIS): 35% / 55% (as of 2025-12-11). Source: bis.org
Stablecoin share of cross-border payments (FSB official, personal views): less than 0.2% in 2025 (total about USD 200 trillion in 2024) (as of 2026-07-08). Source: fsb.org
Stablecoin market capitalisation / share pegged to USD: about USD 320 billion / 99.4% (as of 2026-05-31). Source: bis.org
Stablecoin annual transaction volume, 2025 (BIS estimate): about USD 28 trillion, mostly crypto trading (as of 2025-12-31). Source: bis.org
Project Agorá real-value test: 28 institutions, 17 scenarios, 30 transactions, about CHF 800,000 (as of 2026-07-31). Source: bis.org
Swift tokenised-deposit ledger pilot banks / payments-scheme sign-ups: 17 / over 100 (as of 2026-10-22). Source: swift.com
mBridge transaction volume: UNKNOWN: BIS page reports none (as of 2026-10-26). Source: bis.org
2026 FSB KPI values: UNKNOWN: none published on the FSB page as of 2026-10-26 (as of 2026-10-26). Source: fsb.org
Timeline
2026-10-22 — Swift's Sibos 2026 article says over 100 banks signed up to its payments scheme and 17 banks are piloting its tokenised-deposit ledger. (Source: swift.com)
2026-10-20 — Bank Negara Malaysia launches SSDS+ for tokenised bonds and sukuk, settling payments in central bank money via RENTAS+. (Source: bnm.gov.my)
2026-10-14 — The FSB's G20 implementation monitoring review notes the cross-border Roadmap runs to 2027 and relies on FSB and CPMI collaboration. (Source: fsb.org)
2026-07-09 — Swift says its blockchain-based shared ledger is ready for initial use with 17 banks preparing live tokenised-deposit pilots. (Source: swift.com)
2026-07-08 — FSB Deputy Secretary General Moloney, in personal remarks, says coordination is the scarce resource and stablecoins were under 0.2% of cross-border payments in 2025. (Source: fsb.org)
2026-06-23 — The BIS Annual Economic Report press release proposes a unified ledger and calls Project Agorá its main example for wholesale cross-border payments. (Source: bis.org)
2026-05-27 — The BIS says Project Agorá showed tokenisation can improve wholesale cross-border payments and will move to real-value testing. (Source: bis.org)
2026-03-25 — Ripple joins BLOOM and announces an RLUSD trade-settlement pilot on the XRP Ledger with Unloq. (Source: ripple.com)
2026-02-11 — Bank Negara Malaysia onboards three initiatives testing ringgit stablecoins and tokenised deposits in 2026. (Source: bnm.gov.my)
2026-02-09 — Nexus Global Payments names PayNet and NETS as technical operator, targeting 2027 go-live. (Source: nexusglobalpayments.org)
2025-12-11 — BIS Bulletin 119 finds modest improvement 2023-2025 and says the end-2027 G20 targets are unlikely to be met. (Source: bis.org)
2025-10-16 — MAS launches BLOOM to extend settlement in tokenised bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins. (Source: mas.gov.sg)
2025-10-09 — The FSB publishes its 2025 consolidated progress report, finding limited tangible improvement for end users. (Source: fsb.org)
Key actors and links
BIS (actor:bis): Convenes Project Agorá, publishes the cross-border Bulletin and the stablecoin analysis, and handed mBridge to its partners in October 2024.
SWIFT (actor:swift): Runs the messaging network and a new blockchain-based ledger piloting tokenised-deposit payments with 17 banks.
mBridge (actor:mbridge): Multi-central-bank digital currency platform, now run by its partners after the BIS exit; no volumes reported.
Correspondent banking (theme:correspondent-banking): The incumbent model that every initiative here is trying to shorten or replace.
Cross-border payment infrastructure (theme:cross-border-payment-infrastructure): Wider infrastructure theme; this node focuses on the settlement leg.
Stablecoins (theme:stablecoins): One candidate settlement asset; large in supply, small in cross-border payment share.
Tokenized deposits (theme:tokenized-deposits): Bank-money alternative used in Swift's ledger, Agorá and BLOOM.
Ripple (actor:ripple): Joined BLOOM and pilots RLUSD trade settlement on the XRP Ledger with Unloq.
RLUSD (asset:crypto-rlusd): Ripple's dollar stablecoin used in the Unloq pilot.
USDC (asset:crypto-usdc): Circle's dollar stablecoin; Circle is a BLOOM member.
Singapore (country:singapore): Hosts MAS and BLOOM; DBS, OCBC and UOB are among the Swift ledger banks.
Malaysia (country:malaysia): Bank Negara Malaysia runs SSDS+ and ringgit stablecoin tests; PayNet is Nexus technical operator.
Thailand (country:thailand): Bank of Thailand is an mBridge partner and a Nexus founding partner.
Swiss National Bank (actor:swiss-national-bank): Agorá central bank participant; reports tokenised reserve work in the prototype.
Bank of Japan (actor:bank-of-japan): Agorá central bank participant in the 2026 testing.
Why it matters now
The official scorecard says progress is limited. The FSB's 2025 report puts the global average cost of sending USD 200 at 6.5%, against a target of 3% by 2030, and says satisfactory global improvement is unlikely by the 2027 timetable. A BIS Bulletin finds only 35% of retail and 55% of wholesale and remittance payments credited within an hour, against a 75% target. In July 2026 an FSB deputy secretary general, speaking in a personal capacity, said coordination is the scarce resource and asked who will champion a second roadmap. Meanwhile infrastructure is being built around the targets rather than inside them. Swift said on 2026-07-09 that its blockchain-based ledger was ready for initial use with 17 banks piloting tokenised-deposit payments, and that over 100 banks had signed up to its payments scheme by Sibos in October. The BIS's Project Agorá said on 2026-05-27 that its prototype showed tokenisation can improve wholesale cross-border payments, and that work would move to real-value testing. Stablecoins are large but mostly not used for cross-border payments: the BIS estimates a market capitalisation of about USD 320 billion at end-May 2026, 99.4% pegged to the dollar, and the FSB official estimated they were under 0.2% of cross-border payments in 2025. On the periphery, Bank Negara Malaysia said it will give clarity on ringgit stablecoins and tokenised deposits by end-2026 and, on 2026-10-20, launched SSDS+, a tokenised bond platform that settles in central bank money.
Risks and open questions
Bull case: Scenario, not a forecast. The policy groundwork is done, the BIS says tokenised atomic settlement worked in a multi-currency prototype, Swift has a live-pilot ledger with 17 large banks and a 100-bank scheme, and MAS and Bank Negara Malaysia are testing regulated tokenised money across borders. If real-value testing leads to production services, wholesale speed (already above 90% within a business day) could reach the one-hour target and spill into retail and remittances. Stablecoins could supply liquidity in corridors the bank network serves poorly.
Bear case: Scenario, not a forecast. Official KPIs are close to flat, the FSB itself says the end-2027 targets are unlikely to be met, and an FSB official describes coordination as the scarce resource. New systems each solve part of the chain and may fragment liquidity across incompatible ledgers. Stablecoins carry par-redemption, financial-crime and monetary-sovereignty concerns per the BIS, and no new system has reported material live volume.
Falsifiers: - FSB 2026 or 2027 KPI releases showing remittance cost falling toward 3% or speed reaching 75% would weaken the bear case. - A real-value production go-live for Agorá, Swift's ledger or BLOOM with disclosed volumes would weaken the 'prototypes only' reading. - Stablecoin share of cross-border payments rising well above 0.2% in an official estimate would weaken the incumbent-resilience reading. - The FSB declaring a second roadmap with corridor-level ownership would test the coordination diagnosis. - Disclosed mBridge volumes would show whether the central-bank-currency route is material.
Value accrual gate: Not a crypto asset; no token value-accrual gate applies to this theme. Gains and losses fall on payment-system operators and banks (Swift, correspondent banks, tokenised-deposit issuers), on stablecoin issuers and their reserve income, on payments firms whose fees fall, and on senders and recipients through lower costs. Whether a particular token, including XRP, gains depends on being a settlement or bridge asset, not on the theme progressing.
What to watch
Bank Negara Malaysia clarity on ringgit stablecoins and tokenised deposits (by end-2026); Source: bnm.gov.my
Project Agorá real-value testing results and any announced production path (no scheduled date; details to be published on BIS and IIF sites); Source: bis.org
Swift ledger expansion after the initial controlled go-live (no scheduled date); Source: swift.com
Nexus Global Payments go-live (targeted 2027); Source: nexusglobalpayments.org
End-2027 G20 target deadline and any decision on a second roadmap (end-2027); Source: fsb.org
Next FSB KPI or consolidated progress report (no scheduled date; 2024 report was 2024-10-21 and 2025 report 2025-10-09); Source: fsb.org
First named live BLOOM cross-border corridors, currencies and dates (no scheduled date); Source: mas.gov.sg
Official updates to stablecoin share of cross-border payments (no scheduled date; speculative); speculative, no scheduled source
AA inference
Inference (AA): The official data and the pilots describe two timelines that do not meet. The measured outcomes for end users barely moved between 2023 and 2025, while the infrastructure announced in 2026 mostly targets wholesale and bank-to-bank flows, which already show the best speed numbers. AA therefore reads the tokenised-deposit and shared-ledger work as a bid by incumbents to keep settlement inside regulated bank money, with stablecoins competing mainly in corridors where bank rails are slow or expensive. The evidence read here does not show any of the new systems carrying material live volume, and AA has no data to say which approach will win. For XRP-linked nodes, the practical consequence is that a settlement theme can progress without any one crypto asset being the settlement asset.
Sources
The G20 endorsed 11 targets in 2021. Retail cost: global average at most 1% and no corridor above 3% by end-2027; remittance cost: global average at most 3% for USD 200 by 2030 and no corridor above 5%; wholesale, retail and remittance speed: 75% credited within one hour and the rest within one business day by end-2027; remittance access: over 90% of those wishing to send or receive by end-2027; transparency has no numeric value. (Source: fsb.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
The FSB's 2025 consolidated report (published 2025-10-09, data to Q1 2025) reports a global average cost of 6.5% to send USD 200 and 4.3% for USD 500 (both stable on 2024), average retail P2P cost of about 2.5% (stable since 2023), wholesale payments above 50% credited within one hour and above 90% within a business day, remittances 54.4% available within one hour, retail settled within one business day 67.3% (down 1.7 points), and adult transaction-account access of 78.7% (up 4.9 points since 2022). The report warns that sample composition affects year-on-year comparison. (Source: fsb.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
The FSB press release of 2025-10-09 says the report finds efforts have not yet translated into tangible improvements for end-users globally and that satisfactory global improvement is unlikely on the Roadmap timetable. (Source: fsb.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
BIS Bulletin 119 (2025-12-11) says only 35% of global cross-border retail payments, and 55% of wholesale and remittance payments, are credited within one hour; modest improvement between 2023 and 2025; end-2027 targets unlikely to be met; the six-year timeframe was probably too short; obstacles are slow implementation, limited private-sector engagement and geopolitics. (Source: bis.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
FSB Deputy Secretary General Martin Moloney, speaking on 2026-07-08 with a statement that the views were his own, said stablecoins were estimated at less than 0.2% of cross-border payments in 2025 (total cross-border payments about USD 200 trillion in 2024), that their most immediate value is as components of hybrid models, and that post-2027 options include corridor or regional plans with clear ownership. (Source: fsb.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
The FSB's page listing cross-border payments documents shows the 2025-10-09 consolidated report as the latest and no 2026-dated cross-border payments report as of 2026-10-26; the FSB's 2026-10-14 G20 implementation monitoring review says the Roadmap runs to 2027 and relies on FSB and CPMI collaboration. (Source: fsb.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
The BIS Annual Economic Report 2026 estimates stablecoin market capitalisation at about USD 320 billion at end-May 2026, 99.4% of fiat-backed stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, and annual transaction volume of about USD 28 trillion in 2025, used mostly for crypto trading; it says stablecoin cross-border performance is uneven once fees, spreads and on/off-ramp costs are counted, and that tokenised systems could provide atomic settlement. (Source: bis.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
The BIS press release of 2026-05-27 says Project Agorá, convened by the BIS and the Institute of International Finance with seven named central banks (Bank of England, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Bank of France for the Eurosystem, Bank of Japan, Bank of Korea, Bank of Mexico, Swiss National Bank; Bank of Canada since joined) and over 40 financial institutions, tested atomic settlement using tokenised reserves and tokenised deposits and will move to real-value testing. It reports no volumes. (Source: bis.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
The Agorá real-value-testing page reports 17 scenarios covering 30 transactions in CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, KRW and USD with 28 institutions, about CHF 800,000 in total; the page dates the testing to July 2026 but shows a last-updated date of 27 May 2026, so the date is not resolved. (Source: bis.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
The BIS says mBridge reached minimum viable product in mid-2024, that the BIS Innovation Hub handed the project over to partners in October 2024, and that partners are the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank of Thailand, the PBoC's Digital Currency Institute and the Central Bank of the UAE, plus the Saudi Central Bank from 2024. It reports no volumes. (Source: bis.org, accessed 2026-10-26)
Swift announced on 2026-07-09 that its blockchain-based shared ledger is ready for initial use, with 17 banks (including ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, DBS, HSBC, MUFG, Standard Chartered, UBS and Wells Fargo) preparing to pilot live 24/7 cross-border payments using bank-issued tokenised deposits, with final settlement still through existing systems. (Source: swift.com, accessed 2026-10-26)
Swift's 2026-10-22 Sibos article says over 100 banks have signed up to its new payments scheme and that 17 banks are piloting live cross-border transactions on the ledger. (Source: swift.com, accessed 2026-10-26)
MAS launched BLOOM on 2025-10-16 to extend settlement through tokenised bank liabilities and well-regulated stablecoins; initial members named included Circle, DBS, OCBC, Partior, Stripe, UOB, Ant International, StraitsX and Coinbase; focus areas are distribution and clearing of settlement assets, programmable compliance controls and agentic payments. It builds on Project Orchid. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
Ripple announced on 2026-03-25 that it joined BLOOM and is piloting cross-border trade settlement with Unloq, using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger to release payment when shipment is verified. (Source: ripple.com, accessed 2026-10-27)
Bank Negara Malaysia launched SSDS+ on 2026-10-20 for tokenised bonds and sukuk, integrated with RENTAS+ so that payment for bond purchases settles in central bank money around the clock. (Source: bnm.gov.my, accessed 2026-10-26)
Bank Negara Malaysia said on 2026-02-11 that its Digital Asset Innovation Hub onboarded three initiatives testing ringgit stablecoins and tokenised deposits in wholesale domestic and cross-border payments in 2026, and plans to give clarity on both by end-2026. (Source: bnm.gov.my, accessed 2026-10-26)
Nexus Global Payments said on 2026-02-09 that PayNet (Malaysia) and NETS (Singapore) won the technical operator contract; founding partners are from India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand; go-live is targeted for 2027. (Source: nexusglobalpayments.org, accessed 2026-10-26)