Banks' Strategies in Funding Cross-Border Payment Transactions
In a comprehensive report analysing over 3,600 investments across 19 of the world's leading banks from 2019 to September 2024, a significant shift towards the use of stablecoins and digital payment infrastructure for cross-border transactions has been revealed.
Key trends in 2025 demonstrate that traditional banks are increasingly prioritizing stablecoins to enhance international transfers. Approximately 58% of traditional banks now employ stablecoins for cross-border payments, with 90% of financial institutions integrating them into their operations, either through active use, pilot testing, or planning stages.
Banks are focusing on real-time settlement and interoperability, partnering to build networks such as Circle Payments Network (CPN), which links stablecoin-to-fiat transfers with regional payment systems like Brazil’s PIX and Mexico’s SPEI. Leading global banks involved in these efforts include Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, and Santander.
Interest in stablecoins for cross-border payments saw a dramatic surge in the first half of 2025, with press releases on this topic growing by over 1,000% year-over-year. This surge reflects a shift from experimentation to full-scale implementation and industry-wide focus on stablecoins, including traditional players like Western Union expanding into African and Latin American markets.
The report identifies fintechs and payment infrastructure providers specializing in blockchain, API interoperability, and digital wallets as the primary targets for these investments. For example, Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge for $1.1 billion exemplifies heavy investment in Web3 and stablecoin infrastructure enabling programmable issuance and global card spending.
Geographically, Asia-Pacific leads the payments market with a 38% share in 2024, accompanied by strong growth momentum in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, which are key corridors for remittances and cross-border wallet payments.
Banks are also investing heavily in digital transformation (DX), with Asia-Pacific banks alone spending $30.4 billion on DX in 2024, growing at a CAGR of 18.4% through 2027. This investment emphasizes software, AI, big data analytics, and infrastructure upgrades to enhance digital banking and payments capabilities.
In summary, the report highlights that cross-border payments are becoming a central investment theme for banks worldwide, driven by stablecoin adoption and the digitization of payment infrastructure to improve speed, cost, and transparency of international transfers. The report provides valuable insights into the geographical location of the recipient companies, the types of companies banks are investing in, and the leading banks that have invested the most in the cross-border space. The report's data indicates where banks are focusing their investments and hints at potential future expansion in this sector.
- The trend in 2025 shows that traditional banks are increasingly focusing on finance, particularly stablecoins, to improve international transfers.
- With approximately 58% of traditional banks now employing stablecoins for cross-border payments and 90% integrated into their operations, finance plays a significant role in their digital transformation strategies.
