A look at Nexus, a Bank for International Settlements-backed project aiming to link domestic smartphone-based payment systems for instant cross-border payments
Andy Mukherjee / Bloomberg : X: @business . LinkedIn: Antonio X: @business : Your money will soon be gone in 60 seconds, and that's good, says @andymukherjee70. A breakthrough is underway in instant payments, even across borders https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @opinion LinkedIn: Antonio : Foreign workers making remittances to family may find it a cheaper option than bank transfers. Foreign-exchange providers will compete and Nexus …
Context & Ripple Effects
Nexus extends the push to make domestic payment infrastructure work in real time, following efforts such as the ECB’s instant-settlement system for EU banks. Its distinguishing premise is interoperability across national smartphone-based systems rather than a new consumer wallet.
The BIS-backed effort sits alongside the institution’s broader cross-border payments agenda, later reflected in Project Agora’s participation by major financial firms. That makes Nexus relevant to remittance users and to the intermediaries that currently handle transfers and foreign exchange.
First-order effects
- Nexus creates a potential interoperability route for participating domestic instant-payment systems, so cross-border transfers could be initiated through familiar local payment interfaces rather than separate bank-transfer flows.
- Foreign workers sending remittances are the immediate target user group; the article identifies cheaper transfers than conventional bank transfers as a prospective benefit.
Second-order effects
- Banks, money-transfer firms, and foreign-exchange providers would face stronger pressure to compete on conversion pricing and the speed of cross-border delivery if connected domestic rails reduce transfer friction.
- Payment providers that built businesses around cross-border APIs and proprietary networks would need to determine whether Nexus is a distribution channel, a competing settlement route, or both—an evolution from the earlier startup challenge to cash-transfer incumbents.
Third-order effects
- If multiple domestic systems connect, cross-border payments could shift from standalone correspondent-style products toward interoperable public or central-bank-backed infrastructure, with customer experience remaining local.
- That shift would increase the importance of common rules for settlement, foreign exchange, access, and oversight; the outcome depends on which domestic systems join and how implementation is governed.
The trend: Cross-border payments are being reworked around links between domestic instant-payment rails, reducing reliance on separate international transfer networks.