The Financial Stability Board published its 2025 consolidated progress report on the G20 cross-border payments roadmap, explicitly acknowledging that global targets set in 2020 are unlikely to be achieved by the 2027 deadline.
The Numbers
Only 35% of retail cross-border payments are credited within one hour (target: 75%). Wholesale and remittance payments perform better at 55%, but still fall short. The global average cost of sending a $200 remittance remains at 6.5% as of Q1 2025 - well above the 3% target and more than double the UN Sustainable Development Goal of "less than 3%."
Policy vs. Implementation Gap
The report identifies a critical disconnect: policy work is largely complete - frameworks, standards, and recommendations exist - but jurisdictional implementation lags. National regulators have been slow to translate global commitments into domestic action, particularly in emerging markets.
Shift in Strategy
The FSB Plenary in Riyadh (November 2025) responded by calling for jurisdictional and regional action plans, effectively telling individual countries to stop waiting for global coordination. The FSB also established a new Forum on Cross-Border Payments Data (with FATF and OECD) to address conflicting AML, sanctions, and privacy rules across jurisdictions.
What This Means
The admission validates the BIS's parallel approach of building actual infrastructure (Project Nexus, Project Agora) rather than relying solely on policy harmonisation. For compliance teams, the new Data Forum signals coming changes to how cross-border data requirements are structured.
Source: FSB