The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published its latest progress report on the G20’s “Roadmap for Cross-border Payments,” highlighting disappointing progress in its push to enhance cross-border payments.
“While the majority of the Roadmap actions have been completed, these efforts have not yet translated into tangible improvements for end-users and the global level. It is unlikely that satisfactory improvements at the global level will be achieved in line with the 2027 Roadmap timetable.”
The report was published by the FSB, an international organization that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, meant to track the progress of G20 countries toward improving cross-border payments.
In 2020, G20 countries agreed on a “Roadmap for Cross-border Payments,” a plan of action developed by the FSB aimed at enhancing cross-border payments globally. The motivations were clear: the G20 agreed that enhancing cross-border payments would have “widespread benefits for citizens and economies worldwide, supporting economic growth, international trade, global development and financial inclusion.”
In particular, the roadmap focused on four problem areas: high cost, slow speed, insufficient access, and lack of transparency. To ensure accountability, the G20 also approved the FSB’s roadmap targets and key milestones, the majority of which are intended to be completed by 2027.
The latest progress report reflects that positive steps have been taken among G20 countries to fulfill the ambition of the original roadmap. For example, countries have worked collectively to update the recommendations of the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to counter money laundering to better reflect modern changes in payment business models and the data that should accompany transactions. There has also been a successful push to extend payment system operating hours around the world, with many now operating round-the-clock.
However, the success of implementing the roadmap’s recommended steps has thus far failed to translate to meaningful real-world gains, a common theme in the FSB progress report.
“It is unlikely that satisfactory improvements at the global level will be achieved in line with the 2027 Roadmap Timetable,” reads a press release published alongside the report.
“More needs to be done at the regional and jurisdictional level to turn the international policy work into real-world gains for end-users and to support economic growth.”
When the FSB and G20 agreed on targets and KPIs in 2021, speed and cost of remittances were key metrics: By 2027, 75% of payments are meant to be credited within an hour; the rest within 24 hours. However, since the last progress report in 2023, actual turnaround times have remained stable, with some regions seeing marginal improvements while others regressed.
Europe improved most in terms of speed, with a 4.9% increase in wholesale cross-border payments credited within one hour.
Overall, North America continued to be the fastest region for wholesale cross-border payments, with 73.1% credited within an hour and almost all of the rest credited within a day.
The Middle East was one of the slowest regions for wholesale cross-border payments, with just 32.3% received within an hour. However, this represented a 25.7% increase from 2023.
East Asia and the Pacific are key laggards. Already one of the slowest regions for cross-border payments, the region saw no improvement since the last progress report in 2023. Just 25.6% of payments were credited within an hour of initiation, and 84.6% within one day.
The latest report suggests some reasons for the lack of progress. One is the long lead times for implementing the required infrastructure and technology and misaligned compliance controls among jurisdictions. Similarly, it notes that while the roadmap’s proposals are being implemented, in many jurisdictions, such implementation is still at the early stage.
However, the report also comments on areas of progress. The FSB successfully finalized recommendations to promote consistency in regulation, supervision and oversight of bank and non-bank payment service providers, as well as in data frameworks relating to cross-border payments.
It also broadly notes that leadership from G20 countries has succeeded in energizing both the public and private sectors, providing the ‘political impetus’ to drive domestic implementation of the FSB recommendations.
Yet, the latest progress report concludes that more must be done to convert what progress has been made into tangible, real-world gains for end-users.
“We stand at a critical juncture. Over the coming year, the FSB will intensify efforts to drive implementation of the policy recommendations issued under the Roadmap and support jurisdictions overcoming barriers.”
Read the full report here.
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Source: https://coingeek.com/g20-falling-behind-on-cross-border-payment-goals-fsb-report/
