Unlocking trade potential: the benefits of improving cross-border payments

Massimo Ferrari Minesso, Laura Lebastard and Olga Triay Bagur

Economic Bulletin Boxes, 2026, vol. 2

Abstract: Cross-border payments are often slow and costly and, in some cases, may not be available. In line with the G20 Roadmap, several countries and regions, including the euro area, are working to interlink their domestic fast payment systems to improve speed, cost and transparency. Econometric evidence suggests that countries with interlinked systems trade about 4% more with each other – around half of the effect of a trade agreement and a quarter of the effect of a common currency. The gains of interlinking fast payment systems are larger in regions with high cross-border payment costs and for systems that allow the settlement of wholesale transactions. JEL Classification: E42, F15, F30

Keywords: fast payment systems; interlinking; Trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-04
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