Sending money across borders has historically meant waiting days for funds to arrive. Bank of America is betting that doesn’t have to be the case, launching a new service that enables near-instant international transactions.
The service, expected to go live next quarter, will be available to Bank of America’s commercial and financial institution clients and is designed to facilitate high‑volume, low‑value cross-border payments. Among the use cases highlighted by the bank are payouts for gig workers and marketplace vendors, as well as remittances to friends and family.
Funds will be sent instantly either via the Swift global messaging system or Bank of America’s proprietary CashPro service. The solution also integrates with real-time payment networks, including India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI), the UK’s Faster Payments Service, and Mexico’s SPEI system.
Regardless of region, Bank of America underscored that funds will be delivered to beneficiaries in their local currency.
Supporting the Initiative
The announcement comes as the clock ticks on an ambitious G20 effort to improve cross‑border payments. Bank of America noted that the solution supports the initiative spearheaded by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which aims to address perennial pain points—including delays, fees, and complexity—by next year.
However, a recent FSB progress report found that only incremental progress has been made in improving international transactions and that G20 countries are unlikely to achieve the initiative’s objectives on schedule. An FSB official called for greater participation from both private and public stakeholders to help overcome these challenges.
Avenues for Improvement
Although G20 countries may be behind schedule, the industry has broadly pushed to improve cross-border payments in recent years. Efforts have ranged from implementing blockchain-based infrastructure to enhancing the Swift network’s capabilities.
Another avenue for improvement lies in connecting traditional financial institutions with emerging real-time payment systems. For example, Mastercard piloted instant cross-border payments through its network and Europe’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) system. The transaction not only enabled cross-border payments but also incorporated foreign-exchange settlement.
While these initiatives show promise, the rapid emergence of disparate payment platforms has also contributed to a fragmented cross-border payments landscape, a challenge that appears unlikely to dissipate anytime soon.