New links between domestic payment networks promise faster, cheaper international transfers. But as projects such as Nexus and TIPS develop, governance, liability and fraud handling remain central challenges.
When people send money abroad, they usually see only the front end of the process: a form, an exchange rate and an expected arrival time. Behind that simple experience, however, many transfers still depend on correspondent banking, with institutions using accounts and intermediaries in other countries to move funds and settle obligations. According to the Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, one alternative is to interlink domestic fast payment systems so that providers in different jurisdictions can transact directly without joining a single global network. The committee says such links can improve speed, cost, transparency and access, but also notes that the harder questions are institutional, not technical.
That distinction matters because a payment link is not the same as a fully integrated cross-border rail. The CPMI’s work on fast payment links stresses that governance and oversight become more complicated when systems span different legal frameworks, currencies and authorities. It also argues that the key issue is not simply whether two systems can exchange messages, but whether they have clear rules on liability, operations, refunds, fraud handling and customer support. In other words, connectivity can be established long before a corridor becomes reliable and predictable for users.
Existing corridors show both the promise and the limits of the model. The Bank of Thailand announced the linkage between Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay in April 2021, allowing customers of participating banks to transfer money using mobile numbers. India’s government later said the connection between Singapore’s PayNow and India’s Unified Payments Interface was launched in February 2023 to speed up transfers, including remittances. Those projects demonstrate that bilateral links can work in practice, but they also remain tied to the specific rules, participants and technical arrangements agreed by the systems involved.
A newer effort, Nexus Global Payments, is trying to move the model beyond one-off bilateral corridors. The network was set up by the central banks of India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, and in February 2026 it appointed a joint venture between PayNet and Singapore’s NETS as technical operator. Indonesia joined as a full member the same month, with the project targeting an initial go-live in 2027. Its multilateral design could widen reach, but it also concentrates difficult decisions about access, legal responsibility, foreign exchange, fraud controls and oversight into a shared operating structure.
Europe is pursuing a parallel set of experiments through the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement platform, known as TIPS. In a status update published in June 2026, the European Central Bank said work to connect TIPS with India’s UPI was in the realisation phase and that a pilot was planned for the first half of 2027. The same update said the Nexus connection was still being explored, while a separate project involving Switzerland’s SIC Instant Payments system remained in an exploration phase that began in September 2025. The ECB’s staging is important because it shows that many announced partnerships are still far from live service.
The wider point is that no single model is likely to replace every other route for moving money across borders. Correspondent banking remains part of the system, while card networks, private providers and newer settlement tools will continue to compete, overlap or connect with domestic payment rails. A web of bilateral links could itself become complex, while multilateral platforms may simplify access but create new governance demands. The real test, as the BIS has argued, is whether these arrangements make payments cheaper, faster and more transparent for consumers and businesses, and whether the rules behind them are strong enough to handle mistakes when they occur.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
