Sending money abroad? India among first markets for SWIFT’s new cross-border retail payments framework

Global financial messaging network SWIFT on Thursday said India will be among the first markets to benefit from a new global payments framework aimed at making cross-border retail payments faster, more transparent and predictable.

Under the new framework, payments sent across major corridors including India will come with certainty on costs, full-value delivery and end-to-end traceability once the framework goes live by June, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) said in a statement.

More than 25 banks are set to begin processing transactions under the new rules by mid-2026.

The additional payment routes are expected to be activated by the end of the year.

India, along with Bangladesh, China, Germany and Pakistan, ranks among the world’s top 10 recipients of remittances, making it one of the key markets expected to benefit from improvements to international consumer payments.

“The financial community has made strong collective progress to improve the speed and transparency of cross-border payments, but there is room to go further,” Nasir Ahmed, head of payments scheme at SWIFT, said.

“Everyone should be able to transact internationally at pace, safe in the knowledge that the full value will arrive with the recipient and that the fees will be affordable and fixed from the start.”

The framework aims to address long-standing frictions in international retail payments, where consumers and small businesses often face uncertain charges, delays and limited visibility over when money will arrive.

SWIFT said the framework will allow consumers and small businesses sending money internationally to know upfront the cost and expected delivery time, while ensuring the full value of the payment reaches the recipient.

Major global lenders including JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Banco Santander are among more than 50 banks backing the framework, alongside Indian banks such as State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

SWIFT said about 75% of payments on its network already reach destination banks within 10 minutes, but improvements are still needed in the “front-end and final domestic leg to improve the end-to-end experience.”

SWIFT said it is also working on adding a blockchain-based shared ledger to enable real-time, round-the-clock cross-border payments.

“This will facilitate the trusted and scalable on-chain movement of regulated tokenised value across Swift’s secure, resilient network of 11,500 banks and financial institutions that spans more than 200 countries and territories,” it added.