At the heart of this shift is the accelerating demand for faster payments. Whether it's real-time platform experiences, businesses optimising working capital, individuals sending remittances to family abroad, or financial institutions reducing liquidity and settlement risk, the need for payments to move across borders with the same speed and certainty as domestic transactions has never been greater.
For decades, international payments have been burdened by friction — high costs, limited transparency, and delays that can span several days. Today, expectations have shifted. Regulators, fintechs, and banks around the world are aligning around a shared imperative: to deliver payments that are fast, secure, interoperable, and available 24/7.
“The global payments ecosystem is at an inflection point. Customers now expect the same immediacy and transparency in cross-border transactions that they experience domestically. Meeting that expectation requires unprecedented collaboration across banks, fintechs, and infrastructure providers.”
— Carl Slabicki, Executive Platform Owner, Treasury Services - BNY
The Rise of Domestic Faster Payment Systems
The foundation for cross-border transformation is being laid at the domestic level with over 80 countries having launched domestic real-time payment systems — including major economies such as the UK (Faster Payments), the US (FedNow® and RTP®), India (IMPS®/UPI®), and Australia (NPP®). These systems enable near-instantaneous settlement of funds and support use cases ranging from peer-to-peer transfers to business payments. The economic impact is tangible.
The Cross-Border Challenge — and Opportunity
While domestic faster payments have seen remarkable adoption, real-time cross-border capabilities remain fragmented. As of 2025, only a limited number of countries have implemented operational frameworks that enable true cross-border instant payments. These frameworks typically emerge through bilateral interlinking of real time payment systems (such as India–Singapore via UPI–PayNow), multilateral interlinking (such as Project Nexus1), or through One-Leg-Out arrangements (such as Australia’s New Payments Platform International Payments Service).
NPP: Australia’s Real-Time Engine
Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP®) is a 24/7/365, ISO 20022-native real-time payments infrastructure with real-time gross settlement in central bank money via the Fast Settlement Service (FSS), operated by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
The NPP’s modular design separates core clearing and settlement from overlay services, enabling extensibility and innovation. Osko®, the first overlay, supports real-time domestic credit transfers with rich data, payee confirmation, and integrated fraud controls. Complementing this is PayID®, which allows payments to be directed to aliases such as phone numbers or email addresses, improving usability and reducing errors. With support for rich, 280-character ISO 20022-compliant messaging, the platform enables automated reconciliation and supports a wide range of business-grade use cases. Governed by Australian Payments Plus (AP+), the NPP combines central bank-grade reliability with application-layer flexibility — positioning it as one of the most advanced real-time payment infrastructures globally.
“CBA has been instrumental in shaping the future of payments in Australia. From architecting the New Payments Platform and implementing ISO 20022 standards, to designing overlay services like Osko®. Through our active representation on boards such as Australian Payments Plus, AusPayNet and SWIFT, we continue to influence the strategic evolution of the ecosystem. Most recently, we led industry feedback to mandate GPI tracker update by beneficiary banks for International Payments Service.”
— Susan Yang, General Manager, High Value and International Payments - CBA
CBA’s Leadership and Global Vision
Australia’s New Payments Platform recently expanded its capabilities to include the International Payments Service (IPS), enabling near real-time settlement of inbound cross-border transactions via the NPP. In August 2024, CBA partnered with BNY to launch the solution for real-time inbound cross-border payments, allowing the final AUD-leg of the international payment to reach Australian beneficiaries in under 60 seconds, on a 24/7 basis. Since then, CBA has partnered with a multitude of major banks globally to extend the reach of near-real time cross-border payments, demonstrating the scalability and malleability of our IPS offering to meet varying requirements.
“Our collaboration with BNY is focused on removing friction and delays in the cross-border payment experience,” said Susan Yang, CBA’s General Manager for High Value and International Payments. “Being recognised by The Asset magazine2 as the Best Payments and Collections Solution reinforces our commitment to creating better experiences for senders and recipients alike”.
Through its technical implementation and governance input, CBA ensures that Australia’s domestic payment infrastructure is truly international-ready, extending its real-time domestic functionality into seamless, near instant cross-border payment experiences.
But we didn’t stop there - in June 2025, CBA further improved availability by extending inbound foreign currency payment processing times for CBA accounts to 20 hours a day, covering 14 key (non-AUD) currencies on business days (12-hour processing window on Mondays). This industry-leading initiative, covering CBA beneficiary accounts on business days, also delivers faster, more efficient cross-border transactions. The enhanced service demonstrates CBA's commitment to improving speed, accessibility, and transparency for Australian customers' international payment needs.
“CBA plays a leading role in the payments industry in Australia, enabled by its unmatched scale and infrastructure. With almost one in two of all inbound payments to Australia destined for CBA beneficiaries and over 16 million customers, the bank’s footprint in Australia’s financial ecosystem is both foundational and transformative.”
— Ethan Teas, Executive General Manager, Payments - CBA
Opportunities Ahead
Delivering real-time cross-border payments at scale requires deep collaboration across the global financial ecosystem — from banks and payment networks to regulators and technology providers. As momentum builds, there is a clear opportunity to align around common standards, shared infrastructure, and interoperable models that deliver faster, more transparent payments worldwide.
CBA is committed to supporting this global shift. As a key participant in Australia’s New Payments Platform, we bring deep experience in innovation, compliance, and technical delivery. For institutions seeking to strengthen AUD clearing, enhance cross-border speed and transparency, or collaborate on international payment initiatives, CBA provides both the infrastructure and strategic perspective to move forward with confidence. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate to provide our customers with a seamless payment experience.
