Just like home: How cross-border payments should mirror domestic transactions

Many consumers don’t give a second thought to the process behind sending money anywhere, anytime and in any currency. And the reality is, they shouldn’t have to. The pressure, then, falls to financial services providers to mirror the simplicity, security and speed of domestic payments.

Today, cross-border payments involve multiple intermediaries and often result in delivery delays due to differing time zones, batch-processing of payments and additional security steps, like entity and consumer screening. Add fluctuating foreign exchange (FX) rates, high costs and cumbersome non-digital user experiences, and users face a disappointing experience. Recent studies have found that:

• 63% of SMBs see the complexity of cross-border payments as a hindrance to their ability to grow¹
• 67% of marketplace sellers that use global marketplaces with both domestic and cross-border sales said waiting for payouts affected their ability to do business¹
• 75% of consumers would consider alternatives for cross-border payments that save time and keep fees low²
• 69% of consumers are likely to switch to financial institutions who offer instant funds transfers¹
• 77% of consumers stopped using a cross-border payment option due to risk of fraud³

In addition to the cumbersome process, cross-border payments come with a heightened risk of fraud and compliance challenges. Each country has its own laws, standards and regulations governing participation in its financial markets and money movement. Countries also have unique data and privacy laws that organizations must adhere to. These laws and regulations continue to evolve, making a frictionless cross-border payment solution even more challenging for organizations to achieve and maintain. These challenges lead to a huge gap between what users expect and what financial service providers can deliver. It’s not all doom and gloom, however. These challenges present a huge opportunity for financial service providers to develop effective cross-border money movement solutions that meet customer demand.

Give the people what they want: Money, their way

A majority of consumers (96%) are satisfied with their current financial services provider and 81% said they check their bank’s cross-border payments offerings first before exploring alternatives.² This preference presents an opportunity for banks to upgrade their existing offerings and optimize cross-border services to attract and retain their customers. When researching banking partners, consumers also look for:²

• A variety of payment methods across cards, accounts and digital wallets
• No hidden fees
• Transparent exchange rates
• Real-time* payment delivery
• Payment tracking and transaction transparency
• Customer support
• Easy, digital experiences
• A variety of countries and territories they can send to/receive from

The desire to find a one-stop shop for cross-border transactions is there — as are the means for banks to provide it. These must-haves, when offered together, help build trust and deliver a reliable experience that consumers will want to come back to.

Right now, consumers have multiple options across different providers, but they tend to be creatures of habit. 66% of consumers say they like routine and once they find a payment option that works, they stick with it.³ Financial service providers that expand their portfolios to include real-time* cross-border transactions have an opportunity to become one-stop-shops for their customers. Not only does real-time,* global money movement help drive customer loyalty, but it could also increase transaction volume by 15% annually and decrease customer churn rates by as much as 60%.¹

The good news is that you don’t have to develop these cross-border capabilities from scratch. Find a partner that offers flexibility, security and real-time* money movement to help meet user demands.

Beyond meeting customer expectations, modernizing global money movement can simplify operations, make payment processing more efficient and accelerate market expansion. By partnering with an established network, financial service providers can deploy these capabilities without the complexity of building and maintaining their own money movement infrastructure. Visa Direct does this by providing:¹

• Access to more than 11 billion endpoints across cards, accounts and digital wallets
• Real-time* money movement using an ecosystem of partners and the Visa Network
• Reach to 195+ countries and territories and over 150 currencies through a single connection
• Robust security features, including fraud monitoring, compliance support and assurance that transactions meet global regulatory standards

Visa Direct. Move money your way.

To learn more about cross-border money movement, download Modern Money Movement: Make everywhere easy.

^*Actual funds availability depends on receiving financial institution and account type, region, compliance processes, along with other factors

1. Visa Direct. 2024. Modern money movement: Make everywhere easy.
2. Swift. “Small Payments. Big Opportunity.”
3. Visa. 17 June – 2 July, 2024. “Unlocking the future: Banking on cross-border payment habits.” All studies, surveys, research and materials owned or commissioned by Visa shall not be used, reproduced, copied or recirculated without the prior consent of Visa.