A few years ago, we published an article on promising global payment initiatives. While some ambitions have materialized, others have grown in scale or evolved in nature. Here’s a look back at the key developments that have shaped the rise of instant payments and the global adoption of standards.
🏦 Europe: Wero, the European reply to Visa & Mastercard
The European Payments Initiative (EPI), originally known as PEPSI, has finally materialized after several years of development. Its digital payment wallet, Wero, was launched in July 2024 in Germany, followed by France and Belgium in the autumn, with support from most major banks (BNP Paribas, Société Générale, BPCE, La Banque Postale, and their subsidiaries). The service is free of charge for individual users.
At the beginning of 2025, major players such as Nexi, Nuvei, and Revolut joined the platform to integrate Wero into the e-commerce ecosystem. An expansion into in-store payments, including QR code and contactless solutions, is planned by the end of 2026, starting in France, the Netherlands, and other European countries.
This initiative is part of a broader European strategy for financial sovereignty, aiming to reduce dependence on dominant U.S. players such as Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. The European Central Bank has recently reiterated that payment infrastructures are now a matter of strategic geopolitical importance.
✈️ Asia: An Interconnected Instant Payments Zone
The momentum for regional interconnection has significantly accelerated across Asia. Since 2021, Singapore (PayNow), Thailand (PromptPay), and Malaysia (DuitNow) have been interconnected, enabling real-time cross-border payments between individuals and businesses.
Between 2023 and 2024, interoperable QR payment links were established between Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Hong Kong.
The flagship initiative, Project Nexus—led by the BIS Innovation Hub—aims to build a shared infrastructure connecting national payment systems across the Asia-Pacific region (ASEAN+3). In parallel, the Nexus Scheme, expected by mid-2025, will allow users in Singapore to send fast payments to India, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
💳 ISO 20022 Becomes the Global Standards
Since 2020, the adoption of the ISO 20022 standard has accelerated significantly:
SWIFT has set November 2025 as the end of the coexistence period with MT messages for banks, making ISO 20022 mandatory for cross-border payments (CBPR+). For corporates, the deadline is November 2026.
By 2024, nearly 1.4 million ISO CBPR+ payments were being processed daily, involving 150 sending and 220 receiving countries.
In the United States, the migration of the Fedwire network to ISO 20022 was officially completed on July 14, 2025.
As a reminder, the ISO 20022 migration requires all global payments to be formatted in XML. Although the original deadlines were postponed several times, some banks and regions remain behind schedule. In response, SWIFT eased the specifications in 2025 regarding MT message transitions:
Only MT categories 1xx, 2xx, and 9xx are subject to the requirement of being sent via FINplus (which supports only XML messages).
MT101 messages are no longer required to migrate to the MX format.
For all other MTs, the obligation to migrate to MX has been postponed indefinitely, and they may continue to be transmitted via the standard FIN network.
MT940 statements are being replaced by camt.053 messages, which provide richer data for improved reconciliation.
The various address fields specified by ISO 20022 may now be grouped rather than disaggregated across multiple fields.
🇪🇺 Europe: Regulation and Digital Currency
Since January 9, 2025, instant credit transfers have become mandatory for payment service providers within the euro area, at the same cost as standard transfers. This new regulation is expected to extend to non-euro area countries by 2027.
In Europe, instant payments are now aligned with standard SEPA Credit Transfers (SCTs), following a regulation by the European Parliament effective January 8, 2025. This means that banks are now required to be able to receive SCT Inst payments, with fees regulated and capped. Starting in October 2025, any ceiling on instant payment amounts will be removed, making the transactions unlimited in value.
Additionally, from October 2025, a new requirement will come into force as part of the PSD3 framework: banks must implement Verification of Payee (VOP) functionality, verifying the beneficiary’s name and IBAN for all SCT and SCT Inst payments.
In parallel, the European Central Bank launched the preparation phase of the digital euro in October 2023. A decision regarding its rollout is expected by the end of 2025, with a strong focus on privacy, financial inclusion, and complementarity with physical cash.
🌍 G20 and Cross-Border Payments
The G20 continues to make cross-border payments a strategic priority.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is promoting the use of common standards such as ISO 20022 and the interconnection of domestic payment schemes.
The international roadmap supports a clear vision: fast, accessible, cost-efficient, and interoperable cross-border payments, with tangible outcomes targeted by 2027.
The ambitions outlined in 2020 are no longer theoretical. They are now being translated into concrete, measurable achievements. Infrastructures are becoming interconnected, regulations are converging, and standards are aligning. We are entering a new era of payments—one that is more fluid, instantaneous, and sovereign.
Meanwhile, SWIFT GPI (Global Payments Innovation)—launched back in 2016 to enhance payment traceability and transparency—still struggles to gain widespread adoption globally. Despite improved speed, with 90% of cross-border payments reportedly settled within an hour (according to L’Agefi), GPI has yet to fully convince international stakeholders.
⚠️ Towards a Slower Payments Era?
An article published by Finextra in May 2025 made waves across the industry:
Despite major technological advancements, new frictions are emerging—both from a regulatory perspective (stricter compliance requirements, anti-money laundering measures) and from a user experience standpoint. Among the key issues flagged are the growing number of validation prompts, the lack of transparency regarding actual fund availability, and the increasing complexity caused by the layering of technical standards. Paradoxically, these factors can slow down or obscure the payment journey—despite the rise of real-time processing.
In response to this shift toward greater user control, Monzo introduced an “Undo Send” feature in May 2025, giving users a few seconds to cancel a transaction—much like Gmail’s “Undo” option for emails. This kind of innovation highlights a clear trend: restoring user control and clarity in an increasingly fast-paced payment environment.
🔗 Asset Tokenization
Some major institutions — including BlackRock, JPMorgan, UBS, and Visa — are launching pilot projects for the tokenization of securities and cash on blockchain, often leveraging tokenized commercial bank money or regulated stablecoins. (Source: https://www.ledgerinsights.com/cpmi-work-program-includes-tokenization-cbdc/?utm_source=chatgpt.com).
En outre, Goldman Sachs et BNY Mellon ont lancé en juillet 2025 une offre de tokenisation de fonds monétaires (money-market funds) via blockchain, soutenue par le nouveau cadre réglementaire américain In addition, Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon launched in July 2025 a tokenized money market fund offering using blockchain technology, supported by the new U.S. regulatory framework (Genius Act). (Source: Wall Street Journal).
🛡️ Digital 3SKey
SWIFT 3SKey, already in service, allows companies to authenticate their transactions with multiple banks using a single token/password.
In 2025, the digitalization of 3SKey is underway, with integration into more modern digital banking channels (mobile, APIs, internal workflows), including biometric authentication.
