New Cross-Border Payments Rules Target FX Friction as 2025 Regulatory Wave Accelerates
G20-backed reforms and China’s September FX overhaul tighten transparency standards, cut settlement risk and shave up to 120 bps off transaction margins, central-bank data show.
Singapore – 19 November 2025
Singapore, 19 November 2025 – A fresh package of cross-border payment rules released this quarter is set to cut foreign-exchange friction for corporates and remitters, capping a five-year push by the G20 to halve transaction costs by 2027. Measures that take effect 1 December 2025 standardize ISO 20022 message formats, extend real-time settlement windows and force banks to disclose full FX fees up-front, according to directives published by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
The reforms arrive as CLS data show FX settlement risk rising for 18 consecutive months, with 6% of wholesale cross-currency payments still lacking payment-versus-payment (PvP) protection—down only 2 percentage points since 2023 . A separate FSB progress note released 9 October warns that, without further regulatory alignment, “satisfactory improvements at the global level are unlikely to be achieved in line with the 2027 Roadmap timetable” .
China’s 15 September notice, which trims capital-account curbs and streamlines documentation for 41,000 foreign-invested enterprises, is already moving the needle. Early-adopting banks in the Greater Bay Area report same-day FX conversion for trade settlements, compared with a 2.1-day average in 2024, SAFE figures show .
Market intelligence firm ConduitPay estimates the new global standards will shave 80–120 basis points off FX margins on a typical US$100,000 SME payment, worth roughly US$900 in savings per transaction once roll-out is complete . “That is real money for mid-size exporters who hedge monthly,” said ConduitPay analyst Lisa Khoo in a client note last week.
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“Friction is no longer a technology problem—it is a policy problem,” said Marcus Leong, Group CEO of Singapore-headquartered payments infrastructure firm Aleta. “By mandating ISO 20022, extending RTGS hours and forcing pre-trade fee transparency, regulators are finally attacking the legal and data gaps that drive hidden FX costs. Our early pilots show straight-through processing rates climbing above 96% and FX mark-ups falling by half when all three levers are pulled together.”
Corporate treasurers say the biggest relief will come from unified message standards. Under the updated FATF Recommendation 16, banks must include originator and beneficiary data in every cross-border transfer above US$1,000, eliminating the manual repair that currently delays one in four payments . SWIFT tests indicate the change could cut exception queues by 35%, freeing an estimated US$12 billion in trapped liquidity across correspondent banks.
Regulators are also tightening the screws on non-bank payment service providers (PSPs). From mid-2026, digital wallets and fintechs handling more than US$1 billion in annual cross-border flow must obtain direct membership in a recognized PvP system or partner with a bank that already has one—closing a loophole that left an estimated US$86 billion of fintech FX exposure unprotected last year, FSB data show.
Despite the progress, regional gaps persist. Sub-Saharan Africa still records the highest average remittance cost at 7.4% and South Asian wholesale payments take twice as long as those in North America, according to the 2025 KPI dashboard released by the BIS Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures . Industry bodies warn that uneven implementation could simply shift friction to weaker jurisdictions.
About Aleta
Aleta Pte. Ltd. is a MAS-licensed payments infrastructure company specializing in multi-currency settlement and FX risk mitigation for banks, corporates and fintechs. Its network spans 42 currencies and 72 RTGS systems, processing US$18 billion in cross-border volume annually.
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