When a supplier receives an international payment, their primary concern is straightforward: when will the funds actually arrive? For companies initiating these transfers, clarity on timing, tracking, and upfront costs should be equally uncomplicated. Yet despite these being basic requirements for global trade, many businesses still face difficulties fulfilling them.
Innovative payment solutions, such as stablecoins and tokenised deposits, present opportunities to enhance the payment process. However, introducing new payment methods without the necessary infrastructure to integrate them can create additional operational burdens for businesses.
Meeting Business Needs
Financial departments must evaluate how each emerging payment option aligns with their current operations. Additional choices only provide value if the advantages outweigh the need for new systems and processes. According to research by Nium and Celent, there remains significant opportunity to improve the quality of cross-border payment services provided by banks.
A study involving 210 businesses and 210 banks across 17 different markets revealed that only one-third of companies are satisfied with their bank’s international payment services. Meanwhile, 64% of businesses already rely on at least one non-bank alternative for outgoing cross-border transfers.
Evolving Payment Options
The survey’s findings from the Middle East included input from 40 banks and 40 businesses in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar.
Banks in the region anticipate that new forms of money—including stablecoins, tokenised deposits, and central bank digital currencies—will make up 20.7% of their business-to-business cross-border payment volumes by 2035, compared to just 3.4% in 2025. Within this projection, the anticipated stablecoin share rises from 1.6% to 10.4%.
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Addressing Payment Challenges
Four in ten regional banks are experimenting with or operating solutions involving new forms of money, yet 53% struggle to build a clear business case and half believe the underlying technology is not yet mature enough. For banks considering adoption, the financial justification must focus on the actual service delivered to clients.
Although faster settlement is a key advantage, institutions must also address how currency conversion, local fund delivery, and payment reporting will function. If customers must manually convert stablecoins to fiat or reconcile payments with invoices separately, the speed benefits may be outweighed by operational inconveniences.
A full review of the entire payment process helps banks determine whether the investment is justified. Contrary to popular belief, modernisation does not require a complete overhaul of existing infrastructure. Instead, the focus should be on enabling seamless interoperability between current banking systems and the most efficient payment networks, whether through correspondent banking, messaging standards, emerging rails, or local clearing systems. These connections must ensure reliable data and fund transfers between traditional banking channels and newer payment solutions.
For instance, a company sending payments to a supplier in Hong Kong must ensure the funds convert smoothly and arrive in the supplier’s HKD account. Whether using conventional banking, real-time networks, or stablecoins, automatic conversion and guaranteed local delivery are essential.
Companies should gain broader payment flexibility without assuming the role of system integrators. As new and compliant ways to move money more efficiently become available, financial partners should assist businesses in adopting them while maintaining a dependable and consistent payment experience. Businesses should have more choice over how they pay internationally without having to act as systems integrators to benefit from it.