Central banks rewrite cross‑border

Central banks are rebuilding cross-border payments by linking national instant-payment networks instead of waiting for one new global rail. (bis.org) The Bank for International Settlements said on July 1, 2024 that Project Nexus had completed a blueprint for connecting domestic instant-payment systems, with Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and India involved in the next phase. The project is built to let each country connect once to a shared layer rather than negotiate separate links with every foreign system. (bis.org) That model sits inside a broader Group of 20 push that began in 2020 to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, more transparent and more accessible. The Financial Stability Board said most of the global targets are set for the end of 2027, and in March 2026 it said the work is moving into an implementation phase centered on national and regional action plans. (fsb.org; fsb.org) In plain terms, the shift is from one giant international pipe to a system of local pipes joined by shared rules for messages, identity checks, foreign-exchange conversion and settlement. The Bank for International Settlements said Nexus is designed to standardize how domestic systems connect so countries can keep their own infrastructure and still send money across borders in seconds. (bis.org) Europe is following the same playbook. The European Central Bank said its TARGET Instant Payment Settlement service added a baseline cross-currency capability in June 2025 and is using that foundation to interact with fast-payment systems outside the euro area. (ecb.europa.eu) The European Central Bank said in October 2024 that the cross-currency service would initially cover the euro, Swedish krona and Danish krone, and would serve as a base for links beyond the European Union. In September 2025, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank started exploring a bilateral link between TARGET Instant Payment Settlement and Switzerland’s instant-payments system. (ecb.europa.eu; ecb.europa.eu) The Arab region has built a regional version of the same idea. Buna, founded by the Arab Monetary Fund in 2018 and backed by Arab central banks, says it operates a cross-border, multi-currency payment system for financial institutions and central banks in the region and beyond. (one.buna.co; one.buna.co) The technical argument for this approach is that domestic instant-payment systems already move money cheaply and quickly inside many countries. A 2024 Bank for International Settlements brief said more than 60 countries now have instant-payment systems and pointed to interlinking, common data standards such as International Organization for Standardization 20022, and application programming interfaces as the practical route to cross-border interoperability. (bis.org; bis.org; bis.org) Officials are also framing the strategy as a guardrail against fragmentation. In his March 12, 2026 speech, Financial Stability Board Chair Andrew Bailey said public authorities, international bodies and the private sector now need to turn years of design work into services that deliver measurable gains for end users. (fsb.org) The result is a quieter rewrite of cross-border finance: less emphasis on replacing domestic rails, more emphasis on coordinating them. If that plan works, the systems people already use at home will increasingly determine how money moves abroad too. (bis.org; fsb.org)