CPMI Report Sets Out Building Blocks to Enhance Cross-Border Payments

The building blocks identified in the CPMI report are arranged into five focus areas, four of which seek to enhance the existing payments ecosystem, while one focus area covers emerging payment infrastructures and arrangements. Work on some of the building blocks in terms of focus areas is already underway in a number of jurisdictions, while with others it will take more time to assess implementation:  

• Commit to a joint public and private sector vision to enhance cross-border payments. The building blocks in this focus area are intended to act as a commitment mechanism to drive a meaningful, coordinated change at the global level over a sustained period of time. A common vision and agreed targets can encourage a wide range of policymakers and market participants to work toward enhancing cross-border payments. Implementing international guidance and principles relevant for cross-border payments and defining common features of cross-border payment service levels will require sustained public- and private-sector commitment.
• Coordinate on regulatory, supervisory, and oversight frameworks. The building blocks in this focus area are intended to mitigate key challenges arising from the multi-jurisdictional nature of cross-border payments, by advancing consistent international rules and standards without compromising individual jurisdictional discretion or lowering standards.
• Improve existing payment infrastructures and arrangements to support the requirements of the cross-border payments market. The building blocks in this focus area center on technical and operational improvements to the existing domestic and international payment infrastructures that cross-border payments depend on.
• Increase data quality and straight through processing by enhancing data and market practices. The building blocks in this focus area aim to maximize the positive impact of the technical, operational, and regulatory process changes being advanced in the above-mentioned focus areas. Promoting the adoption of common message formats, including conversion and mapping from legacy formats and the use of Legal Entity Identifiers, directly mitigates the friction around fragmented and truncated data.
• Explore the potential role of new payment infrastructures and arrangements. The building blocks in this focus area are aimed at exploring the potential that new multilateral cross-border payment platforms and arrangements, central bank digital currencies, and global “stablecoins” could offer for enhancing cross-border payments.

The report also details a set of considerations that could support the work being done in Stage 3 on using building blocks to create a global roadmap to enhance cross-border payments. Extensive engagement with all relevant private- and public-sector stakeholders will be needed to make progress in enhancing cross-border payments. Important interdependencies between building blocks have been identified and these interdependencies will be assessed further to inform the Stage 3 roadmap and beyond. Early incremental benefits seem feasible from some building blocks, while the benefits from other building blocks are expected to be realized in the longer term. A comprehensive set of delivery milestones involving the public sector and the private sector, together with monitoring, is essential to ensure success. This report has been developed by the Cross-border Payments Task Force of CPMI and was delivered to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors ahead of their virtual meeting on July 18.

Related Links

• Press Release
• Report (PDF)
• Technical Background Report (PDF)
• FSB Letter to G20
  
• FSB Stage 1 Report, April 2020

Keywords: International, Banking, Securities, PMI, Cross-Border Payments, G20, Roadmap, Stablecoins, Digital Currencies, CBDC, Fintech, CPMI