The Payments Association Warns Global Cross-Border Targets Risk Masking High Costs

The Payments Association and Payall have challenged the efficacy of current global cross-border payment targets, warning that broad averages mask persistent high costs and delays for end-users. As the 2027 G20-backed deadline approaches, the industry is being urged to shift focus toward individual corridor performance and the integration of safety and security metrics.

What was announced

The Payments Association, in collaboration with cross-border infrastructure provider Payall, released a new report titled Rethinking Cross-border Payments Targets. The document evaluates the progress made toward the Financial Stability Board (FSB) targets established in 2021. These G20-backed goals were designed to make international payments faster, cheaper, and more transparent by the end of 2027, yet the report suggests that current measurement methods do not accurately reflect the lived experience of businesses and consumers.

Data from the report highlights a significant gap in progress across different regions. While global averages are improving, nearly one in five monitored corridors (18.3%) still recorded average retail payment costs above the FSB’s 3% threshold in 2025. Although this is an improvement from the 24.1% recorded the previous year, the report argues that these "global averages" hide the fact that many specific routes remain prohibitively expensive and slow.

The Payments Association’s Cross-Border Working Group is calling for a shift in how success is defined. Beyond just speed and cost, the group recommends that future targets emphasize the "complete payment journey," ensuring funds reach recipients at the expected time and price. Crucially, the report proposes adding "safety and security" as an explicit fifth pillar of the framework. This would involve measuring payment fraud, misdirection, fund recovery, and cyber resilience, addressing the concern that faster payments often provide less time for financial crime controls to intervene.

"Businesses and consumers care what a payment costs and when it arrives, and that is what we need to measure. The international targets have helped bring the industry together, and we’ve seen real progress. The next step is to build on that work by looking at the whole payment journey and making safety and security part of how we measure success."

Emma Banymandhub, CEO of The Payments Association

"There has been enormous investment and innovation in cross-border payments, yet they too often remain unacceptably costly, slow and opaque. The targets established in 2021 gave us important, measurable ambitions, but we now need to ask whether progress is being measured in the right way. What matters is not whether one component has improved, but whether the payment experience for all parties has improved."

Gary Palmer, founder and CEO of Payall Payment Systems

The companies involved

The Payments Association is a prominent trade body representing the payments industry. Formerly known as the Emerging Payments Association before its rebranding in October 2021, the organization acts as a hub for networking, research, and policy advocacy. It represents a broad spectrum of the fintech ecosystem, from established banks to emerging scale-ups, and has recently expanded its reach through the acquisition of TPA EU to bolster its presence in the European market.

Payall is a cross-border payments infrastructure provider that focuses on enhancing the transparency and efficiency of international fund transfers. Led by Gary Palmer, who serves as Founder, Chairman, President and CEO, the company provides the technical architecture necessary for financial institutions to execute cross-border transactions with greater speed and lower costs. Payall’s involvement in this report underscores its position as a specialist in the "plumbing" of international finance, advocating for systemic changes that move beyond surface-level metrics to address the underlying complexities of global money movement.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has extensively covered the strategic initiatives of The Payments Association, including their 2030 UK Strategy to Secure Critical National Infrastructure. This manifesto outlined the trade body's priorities for modernizing financial systems and ensuring the resilience of the UK's payment landscape. The association has also been a vocal participant in discussions regarding the intersection of technology and regulation, as seen during the Financial Crime 360 event where industry leaders addressed the evolving threats of fraud and money laundering. Additionally, the organization’s growth strategy was highlighted by the news that The Payments Association acquired TPA EU to drive its global fintech expansion efforts.

What this means

This report signals a maturing of the cross-border payments debate. The industry is moving past the initial excitement of setting targets and into the difficult reality of the "long tail" of expensive, inefficient corridors. By calling for the inclusion of safety and security as a standalone target, The Payments Association is highlighting a critical industry tension: the trade-off between instant settlement and robust fraud prevention. For the fintech sector, this indicates that "fast and cheap" is no longer the sole benchmark for success. Regulators and infrastructure providers are under increasing pressure to prove that speed does not come at the expense of consumer protection or systemic stability.