Innovation

Cross-Border Payments Reimagined: Navigating ISO 20022, Stablecoins, and Digital Assets for the Next Era of Global Transactions

BAFT Releases New White Paper on the Future of Cross-Border Payments

Cross-Border Payments Reimagined: Navigating ISO 20022, Stablecoins, and Digital Assets for the Next Era of Global Transactions provides practical guidance for financial institutions navigating the next phase of global payments modernization.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade), the leading international financial services association for transaction banking, today announced the release of its latest industry white paper, Cross-Border Payments Reimagined: Navigating ISO 20022, Stablecoins, and Digital Assets for the Next Era of Global Transactions.

As financial institutions continue to modernize payment infrastructures and respond to rapidly evolving customer expectations, the global payments ecosystem is entering a transformative period. The widespread adoption of ISO 20022 has established a new foundation for richer payment data and improved interoperability, while stablecoins, tokenized deposits, distributed ledger technologies, and other digital asset innovations are reshaping how value may be transferred across borders. Together, these developments are creating new opportunities to enhance speed, transparency, efficiency, and resilience in international payments.

Developed by BAFT’s Payments Committee in collaboration with leading transaction banking professionals from across the industry, the white paper explores how banks can strategically navigate these converging trends while maintaining the highest standards of risk management, regulatory compliance, and operational resilience.

“The future of cross-border payments will not be defined by a single technology, but by the ability to integrate modern payment standards, emerging digital assets, and trusted banking infrastructure into a seamless global ecosystem,” said Deepa Sinha, SVP, Payments & Financial Crimes, BAFT. “This white paper provides financial institutions with practical insights into the opportunities, challenges, and strategic decisions that will shape transaction banking over the coming decade.”

The publication examines several critical themes influencing the evolution of cross-border payments, including:

The strategic value and implementation lessons of ISO 20022
The emerging role of stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and digital assets in commercial banking
Opportunities to improve cross-border payment speed, transparency, and interoperability
Risk management considerations, including liquidity, cybersecurity, operational resilience, sanctions compliance, and anti-money laundering (AML) controls
Regulatory developments and global policy considerations
Practical use cases across correspondent banking, corporate treasury, trade finance, and commercial payments
The future role of banks within an increasingly interconnected digital payments ecosystem

Rather than viewing ISO 20022, stablecoins, and digital assets as competing technologies, the white paper demonstrates how these innovations can complement one another to support a more efficient, secure, and inclusive global financial system.

The report also highlights the continued importance of collaboration among banks, regulators, payment infrastructures, fintechs, and technology providers to establish interoperable standards, common governance frameworks, and trusted market practices that foster innovation while preserving financial stability.

“As the payments landscape continues to evolve, collaboration across the industry will be essential to realizing the full potential of these technologies,” said Sinha. “Our goal is to provide institutions with actionable guidance that supports innovation while reinforcing the trust, security, and resilience that underpin global transaction banking.”

The white paper reflects BAFT’s ongoing commitment to advancing thought leadership on the future of transaction banking and supporting its members as they navigate the rapidly changing payments landscape.

Cross-Border Payments Reimagined: Navigating ISO 20022, Stablecoins, and Digital Assets for the Next Era of Global Transactions is available to BAFT members and the broader financial services community through the BAFT website.

###

About BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade)
BAFT is the leading global industry association for international transaction banking. Bringing together financial institutions, service providers, and the regulatory community, BAFT provides thought leadership, advocacy, education, and a platform for collaboration to promote sound financial practices that foster innovation, efficiency, and commercial growth. The association engages in a broad range of issues affecting transaction banking, including trade finance, payments, and compliance, helping members navigate a rapidly evolving global landscape. For more information about BAFT, visit baft.org, or follow BAFT on X (Formally Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Banking in an uncertain world: How geopolitics and technology are rewiring transactional finance

Via Trade Finance Global by Doga Usanmaz

Geopolitical tensions and shifting trade corridors are requiring banks to adapt to political risks and regional economic changes.
Europe’s focus on financial sovereignty is driving strategic investment into sectors like energy and defense.
Regarding digitalisation, challenges remain in balancing technological innovation with social impacts, particularly in developing regions

Rerouted trade corridors, regional fragmentation, a currency arms race… these are no longer distant possibilities. They are active geopolitical and macroeconomic forces, reshaping transactional banking.

At this year’s BAFT Global Council’s Forum in Frankfurt, Germany, a panel of senior leaders from prominent global and regional banks explored how shifting political tensions and economic dynamics are creating deep uncertainty for the industry, and how banks are adapting their strategies, infrastructure, and client relations in response.

The panel, moderated by Nick Smit, head of financial institutions at ING Bank and chair of BAFT’s board, found that transactional banks are being rewired to confront political risk, digitisation, and technological disruption. The panel provided a region-by-region exploration of the subject, and some interesting parallels came up.

Read the full article here.

10 lessons banks have learned from the ISO 20022 migration

Via Trade Treasury Payments by Deepesh Patel

The shift to ISO 20022 marks one of the most significant changes in global financial infrastructure in decades. ISO 20022 is a universal messaging standard that uses structured, machine-readable XML data to describe financial transactions. It replaces SWIFT’s legacy MT (Message Type) format, which has been in use for more than 40 years and relies on unstructured text fields with limited capacity for automation and analytics.

SWIFT introduced ISO 20022 for cross-border payments and reporting (CBPR+) on 20 March 2023, launching a three-year coexistence period in which both MT and ISO 20022 (MX) messages could be exchanged. This period ends on 22 November 2025, when SWIFT will retire MT messages in Categories 1, 2, and 9 in bank-to-bank communication. After that date, all cross-border payments, bank-to-bank transfers, and cash-management messages must be sent and received in ISO 20022 format.

These categories include common flows such as MT103 (customer credit transfer) and MT202 (bank transfer), which are being replaced by pacs.008 and pacs.009, as well as MT940 statements, now superseded by camt.053.

For banks, corporates, and treasurers, the migration enables richer, more consistent data for reconciliation, sanctions screening, and analytics. For the wider trade, treasury, and payments (TTP) ecosystem, ISO 20022 creates opportunities to enhance supply-chain visibility, improve straight-through processing, and align cross-border and domestic systems under a single standard.

BAFT’s ISO 20022 Migration Lessons Learned paper, drawing on insights from leading global banks, outlines key takeaways from this transformation. The following ten lessons summarise what has worked, where challenges remain, and how institutions can prepare for the final phase.

Read full article here.

BAFT Releases Third White Paper in ISO 20022 Series Focused on Lessons Learned in Sanctions and Compliance

Washington, D.C. – BAFT, the leading global industry association for international transaction banking, has published a new white paper titled “ISO 20022 Migrations: Lessons Learned in Sanctions & Compliance.” This latest publication is part of BAFT’s ongoing efforts to support the financial industry in navigating the complex landscape of global payment modernization and regulatory compliance.

The white paper captures practical insights from early adopters of ISO 20022, specifically focusing on the challenges and strategies related to sanctions screening and financial crime compliance. As financial institutions transition to richer data formats and structured messaging, the paper highlights both the operational and regulatory implications, and provides actionable recommendations for compliance professionals and technology teams.

“ISO 20022 has introduced new dimensions to data quality, transparency, and risk management,” said Deepa Sinha, senior vice president of payments & financial crimes, BAFT. “This white paper addresses a critical area—how the migration impacts sanctions and compliance operations—and offers lessons that can benefit banks still undergoing or preparing for the transition.”

Key themes explored in the white paper include data truncation and translation issues, evolving regulatory expectations, technology enablement, and the need for cross-functional collaboration between compliance, operations, and IT. The white paper is available to BAFT members and the broader industry community on the BAFT website.

Click here to read BAFT’s ISO 20022 Migrations: Best Practices & Guidance. The white paper is also available within BAFT’s Library of Documents under the Guidance and Industry Practices section.

About BAFT

BAFT, the leading global financial services association for international transaction banking, helps bridge solutions across financial institutions, service providers and the regulatory community that promote sound financial practices enabling innovation, efficiency, and commercial growth. BAFT engages on a wide range of topics affecting transaction banking, including trade finance, payments, and compliance.

BAFT Media Contact:
Blair Bernstein
Senior Director, Public Relations
[email protected]
+1 (202) 663-5468

BAFT Elects ING’s Nick Smit to Lead Board of Directors

WASHINGTON — BAFT, the leading global financial services association for international transaction banking, has announced that Nick Smit of ING will serve as the chair of its board of directors for the 2025-2026 association year. Smit is the global lead of financial institutions banks at ING.

Based in New York, Smit heads a team of relationship managers covering U.S., Canada, Latin America and global banks, and their in-house asset managers. His specific areas of sales expertise are financial markets, global transaction banking, sector-based finance, and debt capital markets.

“I really appreciate this vote of confidence by the BAFT community,” said Smit. “BAFT has grown into the leading global forum for not only trade, but payments and cash management, and working capital solutions, too. I am very much looking forward to continuing the good work done in the past as we operate and grow further as an independent organization in the future. I value the thought leadership that BAFT brings and also the wonderful networking opportunities it creates.”

Smit has held several roles throughout his 30-year career with ING including lead positions in New York, Amsterdam, Brussels and Geneva. He has served on the BAFT board since 2022. Additionally, Smit has served on the Board of Friends of the University of Stellenbosch in the USA since 2000. Smit received postgraduate degrees in law and economics from University of Stellenbosch (South Africa), as well as a master’s in economics from Cambridge University.

Also re-elected to serve on the BAFT board as officers were:

Vice Chair: Michelle Knowles, ABSA
Secretary / Treasurer: Miriam Ratkovicova, Deloitte

Other directors include:

Suresh Subramanian, BNP Paribas

Tod Burwell, BAFT

Ashutosh Kumar, Mizuho

Julie Patterson, National Bank of Australia

Jean François Mazure, Société Générale

Dean Sposito, Deutsche Bank

Ricardo Velázquez, Banco Mercantile del Norte SA (Banorte)

Andy Arduini, Huntington Bank

Oscar Sanz-Paris, CQUR

Ayaz Kamlani, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)

Derryn Faure, Investec

John Kinyangi, Standard Bank

Patrick Devilbiss, CGI

Dyanne Carenza, Scotiabank

Paolo Muzzarelli, UBS

Rob Hostler, Citi

Brian Gordon, Commerce Bank

Mike Katergaris, JPMorgan

Maurice Iskandar, Banque Libano Française

Amy Sahm, Fulton Bank

George Lee, Standard Chartered

About BAFT

BAFT Media Contact:
Blair Bernstein
Senior Director, Public Relations
[email protected]
+1 (202) 663-5468

BAFT Announces Future Leaders Program Class of 2025

Launched in 2015, the 2025 Future Leaders class includes 40 individuals from 17 countries representing a variety of disciplines within transaction banking around the globe.

WASHINGTON — BAFT, the leading global financial services association for international transaction banking, today announced its Future Leaders Program class of 2025. Now in its tenth year, the program recognizes upcoming talent in the global transaction banking industry.

This year’s pool of applicants who were nominated by their respective institutions broke last year’s previous record. The selected class of 2025 includes 40 individuals from 17 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia, MENA and Africa, representing a variety of disciplines within transaction banking.

The class of 2025 was divided into five project teams tasked with addressing current industry issues, including artificial intelligence threats for trade finance fraud, accelerating cross-border real-time payments across major corridors, BRICS, operating model for corresponding banking, and an update on the almost 300 graduates from the program.

BAFT board and regional council members serve as project sponsors and future leader alumni support the teams as mentors. The class will meet in person at the BAFT Europe Bank to Bank Forum in March and will graduate at the BAFT’s Global Annual Meeting in May.

“Over the last decade, this program has recognized and facilitated the continued growth of some of the top talent in our industry,” said Tod Burwell, president and CEO, BAFT. “The participants have a unique opportunity to expand their knowledge of industry topics outside the scope of their day-to-day responsibilities and provide insights that collectively lead to innovative approaches.”

BAFT congratulates the following individuals who were selected to this year’s program:

Elif Seray Akin, ING Bank
Adel AlZarooni, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)
Mafalda Arnaud, Société Générale
Viktor Bakkioui, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB)
Ayush Bhandari, Crown Agents Bank
Peyton Boles, First-Citizens Bank
Daranee Bolger, NatWest
Saad Chemseddine, BNP Paribas
Kevin Chu, RBC Capital Markets (Royal Bank of Canada)
Maximillian Chua, Standard Chartered Bank
James Deneault, TD Securities
Olivia Ellis, BNP Paribas
Laura Ernst, StoneX
Serena Fazzini, UniCredit
Harrison Gutman, PNC Bank
Gentiana Halimi, Banka Kombetare Tregtare Kosove
Jeronimo Hernandez, Bank of America
Ajay Joshi, Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank
Tina Kim, JPMorgan Chase Bank
Srushthi Kshirsagar, ANZ Bank
Tapiwa Kuipa, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)

Carmen Landeras Cabrero, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking
Audrey Lees, HSBC Bank
Xiaosu (Charles) Liang, American International Group (AIG)
Yuriy Lobanov, Commerzbank
Carlos Martínez Illán, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA)
Wan Chung Arick Ng, Bank of America
Awuzhaer Nijiati, ING Bank
Abigale Ning, Standard Chartered Bank
Oskar Nordlander, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB)
Álvaro Ocampo, Banorte (Banco Mercantil del Norte)
Israel Ortigas, Bank of New York
Heidi Pun, ANZ Bank
Carmen Maria Ramirez Ortiz, Asian Development Bank
William Rattray, JPMorgan Chase Bank
Renan Reinoso, SMBC
Erik Rost, Citi
Elena Rozas, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking
Christopher Selfe, Barclays
Yang Wu, Bank of China

Learn more about BAFTs Future Leader Program here.

About BAFT

BAFT Media Contact:
Mike Townsend
Senior Director, Public Relations
[email protected]
+1 (202) 663-5471