Countries around the world are changing their payment infrastructure in an attempt to make cross-border payments faster, easier and safer in 2023. Here’s a rundown of some of the major payment system projects happening this year.

CBDCs and instant payments to see majority of activity

Central digital bank currencies (CBDCs) will continue to dominate this year, with banks across Japan, India, Indonesia, the UK and the US (to name a few) all having commenced testing of digital currencies, likely driven in part by the progress of China’s digital yuan.

Outside of CBDCs, much of the activity this year will revolve around instant payments. The US Federal Reserve is expected to launch its long awaited FedNow service, which will facilitate real-time payments between financial institutions in the country 24/7, 365 days a year. Indonesia is linking its cross-border payments system with other countries in the ASEAN region in a bid to circumvent the US dollar, while a coalition of SWIFT, the Clearing House and EBA Clearing is aiming to streamline payment settlement between Europe and the US.

The much-delayed migration to ISO20022 is now expected to happen in March, and will have implications for financial institutions everywhere. We’ll be covering this in more detail in one of many upcoming reports about the world of payments in the year ahead, so stay tuned. 

How are projects aiming to improve cross-border payments worldwide?

Joe Baker

LinkedIn

Joe is a Senior Copywriter at FXC Intelligence, writing and editing reports, news and analysis to support the company’s weekly content and client projects. Before joining FXC Intelligence, he worked as a B2B copywriter, journalist and editor covering a broad range of topics, including technology, transport, retail and the food and beverage industries. He has a BA in Philosophy from the University of Warwick.