Central banks favour instant payments over CBDCs
Interoperability of systems and financial inclusion drive decisions among survey respondents
A clear majority of respondents to the Payments Benchmarks 2025 prioritise instant payments over central bank digital currency as a tool for improving both domestic and cross-border payments systems.
An overwhelming 93.6% of respondents say instant payments are the greater priority for improving domestic payments. Only 6.4% of central banks consider CBDC the highest priority.
Instant payments is also the top choice for accelerating cross-border payments, at 95.5% of jurisdictions. Two central
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