Cross-border payments are transforming, driven by instant rails, stablecoins, and CBDCs, but interoperability has remained the key challenge. Thanks to enhanced operability, this is expected to change in 2026.
A new study by Juniper Research predicts that the number of cross-border Account-to-Account (A2A) transactions will increase by 1.8 billion over the next year — 11% of the 16.6 billion B2B cross-border transactions expected for 2026 globally.
Unlike traditional cross-border payments, A2A transfers skip the maze of intermediaries, quickening processing and reducing costs. The report identified cross-border platforms, such as Standard Chartered’s Open Banking Marketplace, as a catalyst for heightened use of cross-border A2A payments.
“These platforms enable vendors to experiment with payments in a sandbox environment; simulating real-world payment flows and validating processes. Such open frameworks are vital to A2A interoperability reaching scale,” explained Thomas Wilson, Senior Research Analyst at Juniper Research.
International agendas to drive unified standards
Initiatives such as the G20’s cross-border payments roadmap are critical to growth and A2A standardisation over the next year. With a 2027 deadline, vendors must position themselves as key enablers of fast, cost-effective, and transparent cross-border A2A payments, especially as banks and fintechs are encouraged to adopt real-time, cross-border solutions.
Wilson commented: “Vendors can accelerate the time to market of their A2A cross-border solutions if they align with G20 goals and meet evolving global standards. Supporting rich data standards, such as ISO 20022, can enhance transaction details, streamline compliance checks, and provide greater transparency of fees and timelines.”
The report recommended that vendors prioritize markets with harmonized and comprehensive Open Banking frameworks. Within SEPA, PSD2 regulations and shared payment standards homogenize interoperability and compliance across member states, enabling vendors to develop solutions that meet uniform requirements, accelerating deployment and scaling cross-border operations.
An extract from A2A Payments Market 2025-2030 is available as a free download.
