Payments in 2026: Trends Shaping the Next Phase of Cross-Border Growth
The payments industry enters 2026 with a stronger foundation than ever before. Global standards and policy frameworks are maturing: ISO 20022 has become the go-to standard for cross-border payments and reporting, replacing legacy formats and promising higher-quality data and richer remittance information; central banks like the Bank of England are consulting on full regimes for sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins, signalling that regulated digital assets are moving into the core of the economic system rather than remaining on the periphery. As digital assets and tokenised settlement models gain momentum, the boundaries between traditional payment rails and new forms of liquidity are beginning to blur.
Yet infrastructure is only the starting point. The real question for 2026 is whether this combination of instant rails, richer data and digital liquidity, including the growing role of regulated digital assets, can deliver tangible value for businesses and consumers at scale.
“Collectively, the industry has built the foundations for faster, safer and more connected payments. 2026 is the year those foundations must prove their value at scale, in the way money actually moves, settles and supports real economies every day.”
Peter De Caluwe, Co-Founder and CEO of Thunes
Trend 1: Interoperability moves from bonus to expectation
Real-time domestic payment systems are now the standard in many markets. Over 70 countries have live instant schemes, reflecting years of investment in domestic infrastructure.
In 2026, regional and bilateral projects that link instant payment systems are moving from experimentation to execution. Policy and infrastructure efforts in Europe, Asia and other regions are increasingly aligned around real-time account-to-account corridors. Real-time A2A networks are now a core driver of global payments growth rather than a niche.
For businesses, this changes how treasury and finance teams operate. Instead of managing liquidity around banking hours and cut-offs, they need to prepare for always-on settlement cycles. Cash positions, FX exposures and risk limits will update continuously. That creates opportunities to optimise working capital, but only if the underlying network is reliable.
Operational readiness is where expectations will heighten. Instant cross-border corridors require robust name-matching, fraud controls, real-time sanctions screening, clear rules for settlement finality, and strong dispute handling.
“Instant domestic payments was yesterday’s breakthrough. The next challenge is making instant payments global. That takes more than connecting rails. It takes deep local knowledge, shared rules and operational discipline so that every hop in a cross-border journey behaves like a single network.”
Aik Boon Tan, Chief Network Officer
Interoperability is not only a fiat problem. As more fintechs, financial institutions and even non-financial brands issue their own tokens or operate on separate chains, fragmentation risks expanding faster than anything seen in traditional payments. Tokenisation and digital-asset settlement are reshaping how value moves across markets, but the landscape remains highly fragmented, often governed by differing local rules and sovereign priorities. Without common protocols, liquidity bridges or unified addressing standards, these networks risk becoming isolated islands rather than part of a broader global system.
“Chain, network and coins interoperability will define the next five years in our industry. If digital assets are locked inside individual ecosystems, we simply recreate legacy fragmentation in a new form. The real progress in 2026 will come from solving how value moves reliably across chains as well as across borders.”
Elie Bertha, Chief Product Officer
Trend 2: Regulated stablecoins and digital liquidity become routine
Stablecoins have moved rapidly from edge cases to serious policy topics. In November 2025, the Bank of England published its consultation on a regulatory regime for sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins, aiming to harness their benefits for payments while keeping risks under tight control. In the United States, the GENIUS Act is taking shape as a comprehensive policy framework for stablecoin issuance, reserves and redemption, signalling the country’s intent to bring digital assets into the formal regulatory perimeter. Other jurisdictions in Europe and Asia are also clarifying how fully reserved, redeemable stablecoins should be treated in law and in supervision.
Digital currencies and tokenised deposits are also moving closer to the mainstream, increasingly as viable tools for improving liquidity, settlement speed and capital efficiency. Projections suggest that digital settlement models and account-to-account flows will account for a meaningful share of global payments revenue within the next few years, as businesses seek alternatives that offer 24/7 operability and transparent reconciliation.
In 2026, regulated stablecoins and tokenised deposits will be increasingly used in day-to-day operations for forward-looking firms, offering several benefits:
- Faster cross-border settlements
- Reduced need for pre-funding in multiple markets
- More precise real-time liquidity management
- Improve reconciliation by operating on transparent, traceable ledgers
“Innovation and regulation are not opposing forces. Clear rules give us the confidence to treat stablecoins as part of the core settlement toolkit rather than a speculative side bet. In 2026, the conversation shifts from ‘if’ to ‘how’ we integrate regulated digital liquidity into global payments.”
Chloé Mayenobe, Deputy CEO
From a product and infrastructure perspective, the work is rigorous. Providers must design reliable on- and off-ramps, ensure 1:1 backing with high-quality assets, maintain continuous proof of reserves and integrate stablecoin flows into existing reconciliation and reporting processes.
But one challenge remains: the last mile. Stablecoins may move instantly on-chain, but businesses and consumers still need access to local currency to operate within their domestic economies. Converting regulated stablecoins into usable fiat at the right endpoint, reliably, consistently, and with clear compliance and settlement guarantees, ultimately determines their usefulness. Without strong last-mile connectivity, the promise of stablecoin-based settlement cannot translate into real economic impact.
“Settlement speed is straightforward; the real work lies in ensuring stability, predictable redemption and full auditability. Digital currencies are only valuable when all participants can rely on them to perform with the same consistency and transparency as established settlement instruments.”
Elie Bertha, Chief Product Officer
Trend 3: Data-rich payments in the ISO 20022 world
ISO 20022 is the new data standard for payments. As adoption is expected to cover 80% of high-value clearing and settlement by the end of 2025, richer, more structured data fields will enable institutions to share higher-quality payments information.
This shift significantly reduces manual intervention. With consistent, structured remittance data and clearer beneficiary information, payments are less likely to be delayed, flagged or rerouted. Straight-through processing improves, reconciliation becomes faster and exception handling declines.
In 2026, this will become visible in day-to-day operations. Structured data fields and richer remittance information allow:
- Higher straight-through processing rates
- Fewer manual investigations and returns
- Better analytics on transaction behaviour
For treasurers and finance teams, this means cleaner data flowing into ERP and treasury systems, and fewer exceptions that need manual repair. For merchants and platforms, it means fewer failed payments and more transparent tracking for their customers.
“When payment data improves, everything around the payment improves. ISO 20022 lets us design flows that are cleaner, faster and far less prone to error, which is exactly what our customers expect from modern cross-border experiences.”
Chloé Mayenobe, Deputy CEO
AI models can also make better use of richer fields. Routing, risk detection and anomaly spotting become more accurate when the underlying messages carry context rather than minimal identifiers. That alignment between structured data and AI will be one of the quiet but powerful shifts in 2026.
Trend 4: Compliance becomes real-time for fiat and stablecoins
As digitisation continues to accelerate the payments landscape, risk and compliance are undergoing a fundamental shift. Regulators and supervisory bodies in multiple markets are raising expectations around how payment providers detect, manage and prevent financial crime. The emphasis is now on continuous monitoring rather than periodic checks, supported by explainable AI models, granular audit trails, and more effective data sharing between counterparties.
This is creating a new mandate for payment firms: compliance must operate at the same speed as the payment itself. Real-time payments, digital currencies and tokenised settlement models all require oversight that is just as fast, transparent and reliable as the underlying transaction flow. In 2026, this will translate into real-time compliance as providers invest in:
- AI-assisted sanctions and AML screening
- Adaptive risk scores that adjust with behaviour and context
- Consolidated case management for alerts across rails
- Evidence frameworks that can be explained to regulators in clear terms
Digital-asset activity is part of this picture. Stablecoin and tokenised-deposit flows must be monitored with the same rigour as fiat payments, with transparent links between on-chain and off-chain identities.
“Trust needs to travel at the same speed as money. Real-time payments and stablecoins are powerful, but only if the same level of real-time assurance sits underneath them. That is both the challenge and the opportunity for 2026.”
Ruwan De Soyza, General Counsel
For product leaders, the ambition is to design systems where compliance does not sit at the end of the process, but is woven into the architecture.
“We are building flows where compliance, security and user experience work together rather than compete. The goal is a world where doing the right thing is also the fastest and most efficient option for customers.”
Elie Bertha, Chief Product Officer
Trend 5: Wallets redefine cross-border reach
In many emerging markets, digital wallets are now the primary financial interface for millions of people. They support everyday payments, savings, small credit and increasingly, commerce. The rise of regional wallets and alternative rails signals a broader reshaping of global payments sovereignty.
For wallet providers, this creates a new mandate to connect with global infrastructure, including banking systems, real-time rails, stablecoin liquidity and QR-based acceptance schemes. For enterprises, it creates demand for payout and collection solutions that treat wallets, bank accounts and digital-asset endpoints as part of a single global network.
“Wallets used to be viewed as local innovations. That mindset is outdated. The real growth now lies in connecting wallet ecosystems to the wider global financial system in a way that is seamless for users and robust for regulators.”
Mathieu Limousi, Chief Marketing Officer
Wallets are no longer an alternative channel. In 2026, they will be central to how cross-border reach is defined.
2026: The year interoperability defines leadership
By the end of 2026, the payments industry will have a clearer answer to a simple question: can it connect what it has built? Real-time rails, stablecoin regimes, and ISO 20022 standards are important, but they only deliver their full value when they work together across borders, assets and endpoints.
Leadership in cross-border payments will belong to those who can be the bridge between banks, mobile wallets and the digital-asset ecosystem, while maintaining compliance as a core design principle.
“In 2026, payments innovation will be about the trust, data and connectivity that is needed to sustain or increase the speed of transactions. Interoperability, across both fiat and stablecoin rails, is the path to progress.”
Chloé Mayenobe, Deputy CEO
For Thunes, that means continuing to power an intelligent network that helps partners reach bank accounts, mobile wallets, digital-asset and card endpoints worldwide, with compliance and transparency embedded at every hop. The year 2026 will be a year of proof: proof that infrastructure can deliver impact, and proof that interoperability is the real measure of progress.
Are you rethinking how your payment flows connect to the world in 2026? Contact Thunes to see how we’re helping build a more interoperable, transparent and resilient world for cross-border payments.
