Citi’s launch and pilots by Bank of America and Lloyds show banks extending cross-border payments beyond conventional operating hours through domestic instant-payment systems and stablecoin settlement. The developments differ in maturity and scope, with end-to-end availability still constrained by receiving markets’ infrastructure. HSBC and BMO are bringing banking information and payment execution into corporate systems, while Mizuho and SMBC announced supply-chain finance facilities totalling $1.5 billion with IFC. These facilities expand financing access through risk sharing and funding linked to corporate buyers’ payment obligations. 1. Always-on cross-border payments move into live institutional use Citi launched multi-market instant payments through the Swift payments scheme on 29 September, giving participating bank clients access to domestic real-time payment systems in Australia, the UK and India through a single account structure and existing Swift connectivity. The service uses Citi’s Global Clearing network and WorldLink, which already connects to nine instant-payment schemes. Bradesco completed the first pilot transaction using Bank of America’s (BofA) cross-border real-time payments solution, sending Hong Kong dollars through Hong Kong’s Faster Payment System via its existing Swift connection. Lloyds Banking Group and Visa announced on 30 September that they had completed a seven-day pilot settling $750,000 in payment obligations using the US dollar stablecoin USDC. Funds reached Visa in less than an hour, including over the weekend. These developments connect different layers of cross-border payments. Citi and BofA link existing Swift connectivity to domestic instant-payment systems, while Lloyds and Visa test stablecoin settlement across private and public blockchain environments. In a TAB interview at Sibos, Fabian Khoshbakht, BNY’s Head of Global Payments and Trade for Asia Pacific, highlighted the remaining constraint. A bank can operate around the clock, but end-to-end availability still depends on receiving markets’ payment and settlement systems. The practical question is whether banks can connect these layers without requiring clients to establish new local accounts, technical integrations or separate liquidity arrangements in each market. 2. Mizuho and SMBC announce $1.5 billion in supply-chain finance facilities with IFC Mizuho Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched a $1 billion risk-sharing facility on 29 September, with IFC providing up to $500 million of risk-sharing over three years. The facility covers payables, receivables and pre-shipment financing for suppliers and distributors across Asia-Pacific, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises. On 2 October, IFC and SMBC announced a separate $500 million facility, with each providing up to $250 million. The SMBC programme initially supports early payment on approved invoices for suppliers of a large food manufacturer in Latin America, with additional buyers and sectors planned. IFC is using risk-bearing capacity with Mizuho and direct funding with SMBC to extend commercial-bank supply-chain finance into markets and supplier segments where access to conventional financing can be constrained. Mizuho’s structure reaches further upstream through pre-shipment financing, while SMBC’s model anchors credit to the payment obligation of a stronger corporate buyer rather than the supplier’s standalone balance sheet. IFC said its Global Supply Chain Finance programme had supported more than $3.8 billion of supplier-finance transactions since launch, placing the facilities within an established financing programme. 3. HSBCnio takes transaction banking into corporate systems and AI tools HSBC launched HSBCnio on 29 September, giving corporate and institutional clients access to balances, transactions, payment tracking, trade loans and foreign exchange services through web, mobile and direct system connections. Through the Model Context Protocol, clients’ own artificial intelligence (AI) tools can access authorised account and transaction information under existing permissions and controls. HSBC also provides application programming interface (API) documentation, software development kits and a sandbox environment. Further capabilities, including Ask HSBC, are planned. HSBC is placing transaction-banking information inside the enterprise resource planning, treasury and AI environments that clients already use, reducing the need to switch systems to retrieve balances, transactions or payment information. The initial AI capability is limited to accessing authorised information; HSBC has not announced that those tools can initiate payments. 4. BofA corporate RTP use accelerates as treasury activity moves into real time Bank of America said on 29 September that corporate transaction volume on The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments (RTP) network increased 48% from January through July 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, while the number of corporate transactions above $1 million increased 351%. The bank linked the expansion to the RTP transaction limit increasing from $1 million to $10 million in February 2025. BofA identified cash concentration, intercompany transfers, supplier payments and other time-sensitive business payments among the uses of the network. The reported cash-concentration and intercompany transfers show RTP being used for treasury functions as well as lower-value payments. The higher ceiling accommodates larger supplier payments and treasury transfers, while 24/7 availability lets companies reposition funds outside conventional banking windows, including during weekends and month- or quarter-end close. However, the comparison includes about five and a half weeks when payments above $1 million were ineligible. Without underlying counts or values, the growth figures do not establish the share of corporate payments moving through higher-value RTP. 5. SMBC reports higher payment activity and deposits among Connect users At Sibos, SMBC reported 70% higher wire-payment volumes, 134% higher payment values and 140% higher deposits among clients using SMBC Connect. The bank launched the platform’s US cash management and payments capabilities on 22 April 2026 and is migrating customers from its existing Americas platform over 18 months. Craig Vaream, Head of Cash Management and Co-Head of the Global Transaction Banking Department in New York, said 50 corporate clients helped shape its functionality and screen design. Planned additions include direct system connectivity, AI-supported controls and a more consistent experience across regions. SMBC is using the platform to connect transaction banking more closely with the wider corporate relationship, linking deposits and fee income to treasury activity. Planned API connectivity and AI-supported controls would extend the platform beyond its current cash management and payments capabilities. 6. Santander shuts Navigator Global after less than a year of expansion Santander shut Navigator Global on 29 September, less than a year after launching the platform in November 2025 and announcing plans to expand it across more than 40 markets. The platform was designed to help businesses expand internationally by combining market intelligence, local experts, verified providers and access to financial services. Santander had launched it in Spain in May 2026 and previously said the platform would progressively expand across its markets. The closure reverses a recently announced expansion strategy. Santander had rebuilt the service after an earlier UK platform supported more than 2,500 businesses between 2021 and 2025, then planned to deploy the new model across its international network. Santander said that the closure followed a review and would allow it to redirect investment towards its strategy for supporting fast-growing companies. 7. EIB and BNP Paribas expand guarantee capacity for European manufacturers The European Investment Bank (EIB) and BNP Paribas announced on 29 September an agreement under which the EIB will provide up to EUR 350 million (about $397.5 million) in counter-guarantees and BNP Paribas will commit an equivalent amount to build a portfolio of bank guarantees worth up to EUR 700 million (about $795 million). The guarantees will support European manufacturers of electricity-grid components, including advance-payment and performance guarantees linked to new investment in energy grids, under the EU’s InvestEU programme. The structure uses EIB risk capacity to expand BNP Paribas’ guarantee capacity. Advance-payment and performance guarantees support manufacturers’ supply contracts, with EIB identifying growing order books and banks approaching exposure-concentration limits as constraints on availability. Sharing exposure can help BNP Paribas support additional contracts. Following their February 2025 wind-sector agreement, the arrangement is expected to enable up to EUR 2.8 billion ($3.2 billion) of investment. 8. HSBC tests cargo and trade data access for SME financing HSBC announced on 5 October that it had completed proofs of concept to verify access to new cargo and trade data sources through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Commercial Data Interchange (CDI). Through Project CargoX, HSBC can access cargo and shipment data from the Port Community System and Hong Kong International Airport Cargo Data Platform, while CargoX Connect provides access to trade declaration data from the Yangtze River Delta. HSBC is already connected to Qichacha for structured corporate information supporting know-your-customer and know-your-buyer checks. The bank said it accesses an average of 1.5 million CDI information feeds each month. External commercial data could give HSBC earlier information on an SME’s trading activity, shipments and counterparties, supplementing financial statements for onboarding and credit assessment. Its existing CDI connections already support auto-filled account applications, while its digital lending platform can combine internal and external data for business and trade-finance applications. The new cargo and trade-data applications remain at the proof-of-concept stage, however, so the 1.5 million monthly feeds demonstrate existing CDI usage rather than the commercial impact of the new datasets. 9. Ant International and HSBC extend tokenised-deposit treasury payments to the UAE Ant International announced on 6 October that it had completed pilot domestic dirham transfers and cross-border US dollar payments from the UAE, including to Hong Kong and Singapore, through HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service (TDS). Ant initiated the transactions through its blockchain-based WhaleRTP treasury platform, with HSBC executing them in real time. Ant is HSBC’s first Middle East client to use TDS. Ant was HSBC’s first tokenised-deposit client in Hong Kong in May 2025, and the bank subsequently completed US dollar transfers for Ant between Hong Kong and Singapore. The UAE pilots extend that existing treasury arrangement into the Middle East, adding domestic dirham transfers alongside cross-border dollar payments. Connecting WhaleRTP to HSBC’s service allows Ant to move liquidity through its own treasury platform across participating HSBC locations. Ant’s planned Middle East treasury hub gives this expansion a practical purpose, although the announcement does not quantify liquidity savings. 10. BMO and Mastercard embed commercial payments in enterprise workflows Mastercard and BMO announced the availability of an embedded commercial-payments capability on 1 October that allows eligible BMO Corporate Card clients to initiate and manage virtual-card payments directly within participating enterprise software platforms. The capability is available in Canada and the US and integrates BMO Commercial virtual cards into enterprise resource planning (ERP), procurement, accounts-payable and travel-management systems. BMO said it was the first Mastercard issuer in Canada to offer the capability through Mastercard’s Commercial Express framework, which provides a standardised method for participating platforms to connect issuer-backed virtual-card payments to their software. The capability moves payment execution into the systems where corporate finance teams manage invoices, procurement and expenses. It can reduce the need to switch between enterprise software and bank portals, while the standardised issuer framework potentially lowers integration work for software providers. The announcement establishes live availability, but provides no transaction volumes, number of participating platforms or evidence of migration from other payment methods to demonstrate the extent of corporate adoption.
