Cross‑border payments: Infrastructure, policy, and emerging solutions

Welcome and context-setting 

• Introduction, programme overview, and learning objectives   

The role of cross-border payments 

• Review of cross-border payments: use cases, challenges, and their evolving role in the current geopolitical landscape 

• Difference between wholesale and retail cross-border payments 

• Interoperability as a facilitator of cross-border integration 

Improving correspondent banking with upgraded RTGS 

• Pros and cons of the correspondent banking model 

• Role of RTGS within correspondent banking 

• RTGS service renewals in support of increased cross-border connectivity
• Extending and aligning operating hours  

• Harmonisation of the ISO 20022 messaging standards 

• Revision of AML/CFT standards  

Interlinking fast payment systems: bi- and multilateral connections 

• Growing ubiquity of fast payment systems

• Improving speed, cost, and transparency with bi- and multilateral initiatives 

• Aligning legal and regulatory frameworks across diverse jurisdictions 

• Current status of existing interlinked fast payment systems, e.g. Project Nexus 

CBDCs as a catalyst for cross-border payments 

• Motivations for CBDC adoption by central banks and users 

• How CBDCs might overcome obstacles associated with cross-border payments 

• Integrating cross-border functionality into CBDC design  

Innovative cross-border solutions 

• Potential for stablecoins, cryptocurrency, and fintechs to reduce cross-border frictions 

• Challenge of varying legal and regulatory frameworks, lack of interoperability, and limited scalability 

• Promoting competition and innovation within the private sector 

Conclusion 

• Course summary and closing remarks