8 trends in cross-border payments to look in 2026

The cross-border payments industry will continue to be one of the most dynamic and competitive sectors in 2026. Throughout 2025, we saw emerging technologies gain prominence and become central topics in global discussions, alongside significant regulatory milestones across multiple regions. At the same time, the industry reached a new level of maturity, with a strong focus on improving customer experience and expanding access to more inclusive and efficient financial services.

These developments throughout 2025 laid the groundwork for a phase of market consolidation. Below, we highlight the key trends that deserve close attention.

1 – Stablecoins are no longer a niche tool, but core financial infrastructure

In 2025, stablecoins completed their transition from a marginal instrument to a globally relevant financial infrastructure. The topic moved to the center of strategic discussions among banks, fintechs, multinational companies, and regulators, making it clear that this is no longer a matter of experimentation or hype, but of structural adoption.

The data reinforces this shift. Global stablecoin supply surpassed USD 300 billion in 2025, representing roughly a tenfold increase over the past five years. More importantly, projections indicate that total market capitalization could reach USD 1 trillion by the end of 2026. This pace of expansion reflects not only increased issuance, but, above all, growing real-world usage as a settlement and value transfer mechanism.

This progress is driven by structural factors such as the inefficiency of traditional cross-border payment systems, the need to reduce operational costs, near-instant settlement capabilities, and, most importantly, regulatory advances in key markets that have brought institutional legitimacy to these assets.

As a result, stablecoins are now widely used across B2B payments, treasury management, interbank settlement, and global corporate operations, taking on a structural role within the new architecture of cross-border payments.

2 – More fusion between traditional and emerging technologies

The evolution of cross-border payments will be defined by greater convergence between the traditional financial system and emerging technologies. The narrative shifts away from “blockchain versus banks” toward a progressive integration of legacy rails, banking infrastructure, and natively digital layers such as stablecoins, APIs, and blockchain.

Traditional financial institutions have increasingly recognised that many of today’s limitations stem from infrastructures designed for an analog world. In response, global banks, clearing houses, and messaging networks are investing in tokenisation, near-real-time settlement, and interoperability with digital assets, whether through public stablecoins, tokenised deposits, or permissioned blockchains.

At the same time, crypto-native companies and fintechs have matured their operating models, meeting the regulatory and operational standards required by the traditional financial system. This convergence reduces friction between the two worlds and creates a hybrid environment in which value can move more efficiently across bank accounts, digital wallets, and local payment rails.

3 – Evolution of Regulatory Frameworks

Regulatory maturity will be one of the main growth drivers for stablecoins and digital assets in 2026. The consolidation of clear frameworks for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) is reducing uncertainty and laying the foundation for broader adoption.

A key milestone was the approval of the US Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act in July 2025, which established federal guidelines for the issuance, custody, reserves, and supervision of stablecoins, formally recognising them as legitimate instruments for payments and settlement. This initiative acts as a global catalyst and is influencing regulatory developments in other regions.

In Brazil, the new regulatory framework approved in November 2025 comes into force in February 2026, bringing greater clarity around licensing and supervision by the Central Bank. 

In Europe, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) is moving into its operational phase, while the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), introduced in 2025, raises standards for operational resilience and technology risk management for financial institutions and digital service providers. There is growing expectation that DORA will extend its influence beyond the EU, serving as a global benchmark for financial institutions.

In Africa, South Africa and Nigeria already operate more advanced VASP regulatory regimes, with Kenya and Ghana planning further regulatory developments in 2026, expanding the institutionalisation of the sector across the continent.

In 2026, regulation increasingly acts as enabling infrastructure, allowing stablecoins to move beyond the experimental stage and consolidate their role as an integral part of the global cross-border payments architecture.

4 – Real-time cross-border payments as a rule, not an exception

The expectation of near-instant settlement is no longer a differentiator and is becoming a baseline requirement for global financial operations. The acceleration of real-time payment rails is redefining standards for speed, availability, and efficiency, pushing companies and institutions to move decisively away from legacy infrastructure.

In Europe, the ongoing rollout of SEPA Instant Payments throughout 2025 has enabled 24/7 transfers across participating countries. The planned removal of the €100,000 per-transaction cap is expected to significantly increase corporate adoption, unlocking new use cases in B2B payments, cash management, and real-time liquidity optimization.

This shift creates clear challenges for institutions still reliant on traditional systems. To remain competitive, they will need to deliver faster payments, stronger operational resilience, enhanced security, and continuous availability, aligning with the expectations of a market that already operates in real time.

Regulatory progress is also acting as a catalyst. In the UK, the National Payments Vision was launched by HM Treasury in 2023 to modernise the country’s payments ecosystem. Its goal is to strengthen governance, upgrade infrastructure, and promote faster, safer, and more interoperable payments, supporting innovation and competition. 

Looking ahead to 2026, the initiative anticipates advances in real-time payments for corporate use cases, expanded Pay by Bank adoption, and more efficient rules to reduce friction and improve the resilience of the payments system.

5 – The rise of all-in-one financial services

In 2026, globally operating companies will move away from fragmented solutions to support their cross-border operations. The dominant trend will be the consolidation of all-in-one financial services, bringing together international payments, treasury management, FX, reconciliation, compliance, and more within a single platform.

Historically, cross-border operations have required multiple providers, such as banks, exchanges, payment processors, reconciliation systems, and external monitoring and compliance tools. This fragmented model increases costs, creates operational blind spots, and limits scalability. As margins become tighter and transaction volumes grow, this level of complexity becomes unsustainable.

Modern platforms, many of them powered by stablecoins and APIs, are now delivering fully integrated end-to-end flows. Companies can initiate, track, settle, and reconcile global transactions in real time, with programmable rules and centralised control. For finance teams, this means reduced reliance on manual processes, lower operational risk, and greater cash-flow predictability.

6 – No-code AML expands beyond banks

No-code AML solutions are no longer exclusive to large financial institutions and are increasingly gaining traction among fintechs, VASPs, payment platforms, marketplaces, and other non-bank sectors. As regulatory obligations expand beyond traditional banks, organizations are required to adopt compliance structures that are more agile, scalable, and less dependent on highly specialised technical teams.

No-code platforms enable risk and compliance teams to create, adjust, and test rules, monitoring workflows, alerts, and audit trails without the need for complex development. This significantly shortens response times to increasingly frequent regulatory changes, reduces operational costs, and improves the ability to adapt across multiple jurisdictions.

As KYC, AML, and transaction monitoring requirements become more sophisticated and continuous, flexibility becomes just as critical as robustness. In this context, no-code AML emerges as a strategic enabler for scaling financial operations with compliance, without compromising speed or innovation.

7 – ​​ISO 20022 and enhanced interoperability

By the end of 2025, many financial institutions and payment service providers had already completed or made significant progress in migrating to the ISO 20022 standard. In 2026, the market begins to experience the real impacts of this transformation.

ISO 20022 is consolidating itself as a foundational enabler of the next phase of cross-border payments. As more payment systems, banks, and market infrastructures adopt this global messaging standard, transactions begin to carry richer, more structured data that can flow end to end across the entire payment chain, even between different networks.

In practice, this translates into greater interoperability between domestic rails, international systems, and emerging technologies. Standardised formats reduce manual intervention, increase straight-through processing, and strengthen compliance and fraud prevention processes.

8 – AI as pervasive infrastructure

Artificial intelligence has appeared on fintech and payments trend lists for years, but its impact is still far from fully realised. What changes heading into 2026 is the depth and breadth of its application across financial operations, especially in cross-border payments, compliance, and treasury.

AI is increasingly embedded into core workflows, from real-time fraud detection and sanctions screening to automated reconciliation, liquidity forecasting, and customer support. Rather than standalone tools, AI is becoming an invisible layer that optimises decision-making, reduces manual intervention, and adapts continuously to new risks and regulatory requirements.

Many use cases remain underexplored, particularly in B2B payments and cross-border operations, where complexity, data fragmentation, and compliance demands are highest. As data quality improves and systems become more interoperable, AI’s role will expand significantly, making it a long-term structural shift rather than a short-term trend.

Discover Conduit: the infrastructure behind the next generation of cross-border payments

Conduit is at the forefront of the key trends reshaping corporate cross-border payments. Our infrastructure integrates stablecoins, local financial rails, FX, and multi-currency liquidity management into a single platform, enabling companies to operate international payments, treasury, and settlements with greater speed, predictability, and control.

In a landscape defined by maturing regulation, increasing interoperability, and growing demand for real-time efficiency, Conduit turns operational complexity into a competitive advantage, helping your business scale globally with confidence.