Real-Time Payments and Cross-Border Transactions 2025

This report covers the evolution of real-time payments and the different factors driving the technology, including tech themes, macroeconomic themes, and regulatory themes such as AI, globalization, and cryptocurrencies. It analyzes case studies of real-time payments, covering government-sponsored systems such as UPI and Pix, as well as discussing stablecoin usage by private competitors and central banks. The report also examines the future of real-time payments and the steps that banks, payment providers, merchants, and central banks must take in order to drive uptake of the technology and capture market share.

Real-time payments are rapidly shaping the modern payments landscape, replacing traditional payment methods in markets across the globe. While uptake has been relatively slow in Europe and North America, innovative fintechs and governments in developing markets in Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa have fully embraced the technology. These platforms are becoming increasingly interoperable, facilitating real-time payments in in-store, online, and cross-border settings and driving the status of real-time payments to become a mainstream payment option.

Report Scope

• The largest markets for real-time payments can be found in Asia and Latin America, where government-sponsored systems have grown rapidly, in some cases-such as Pix in Brazil-becoming the most popular payment method in the country.
• The main drivers facilitating real-time payments include technologies such as AI, blockchain, and cloud computing, as well as macroeconomic trends including increasing globalization and the desire for payment sovereignty. These factors underpin real-time payment rails to make them economically viable and provide use cases for real-time payments in cross-border transactions.
• Real-time payments are evolving, moving from simple P2P and B2B transactions to the formation of complex ecosystems, expanding the way in which real-time transactions are used. Strategic partnerships between fintechs and merchants make real-time payments possible in ecommerce settings, while international collaboration between governments facilitates high-value cross-border real-time payments.

Reasons to Buy

• Develop an in-depth understanding of historical and current trends within cross-border payments.
• Understand the key characteristics of leading real-time payments providers.
• Gain insight into the future of real-time payments and how to approach this disruptive technology.