Exploring Multilateral Platforms for Cross-Border Payments
Analytical Notes, January 18, 2023
Source details
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- Exploring Multilateral Platforms for Cross-Border Payments
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Bibliographic details
- Published: January 18, 2023
- Series: Analytical Notes
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400227363.064
Purpose and scope
- Provides an assessment of whether and how multilateral platforms could bring meaningful improvements to the cross-border payments ecosystem.
- Written by the Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) in collaboration with the BIS Innovation Hub, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
- Analysis is based on a stocktake, conducted by the CPMI, of existing and potential multilateral platforms and bilateral discussions with existing platform operators.
Core analytical themes
- Potential costs and benefits of multilateral platforms for cross-border payments.
- How multilateral platforms might alleviate selected cross-border payment frictions.
- Evaluation of risks, barriers, and challenges to establishing multilateral platforms.
- Exploration of two paths for the evolution of multilateral platforms.
Key findings (as described)
- Multilateral platforms have the potential to deliver meaningful improvements in cross-border payments by addressing identified frictions.
- The report analyses both benefits and costs, indicating that net outcomes depend on platform design, governance, and interoperability.
- Establishing multilateral platforms faces specific risks, barriers, and challenges that need to be addressed for successful implementation.
- Two distinct evolutionary paths for multilateral platforms are explored (the source describes their existence; details of the paths are contained in the full report).
Policy implications and considerations
- Platform design, governance, and interoperability are central to realizing potential benefits.
- Addressing identified risks and barriers is necessary before multilateral platforms can be expected to deliver improvements at scale.
- Engagement with existing platform operators and a thorough stocktake of existing and potential platforms are important inputs for policymaking.
Content in this bundle
- Exploring Multilateral Platforms for Cross-Border Payments