Financial inclusion has transformed access to financial services. Now comes the harder challenge: turning access into meaningful economic participation.
Around 79% of adults worldwide now hold a transaction account, while low- and middle-income countries are showing near parity at 75%. Yet access to financial services does not necessarily mean full participation in the global economy.
The next frontier is financial connectivity: creating an ecosystem in which banks, fintechs, digital wallets and payment networks can work together to move money securely, affordably and seamlessly across borders.
In Connected Economies: The Next Era of Global Financial Connectivity, The Paypers and TerraPay explore what it will take to close the gap between financial inclusion and genuine financial participation.
The report examines the forces reshaping cross-border finance—from the rapid growth of mobile wallets and real-time payments to ISO 20022, interoperability and the changing relationship between banks and fintechs.
It also confronts the friction that remains: 84% of surveyed wallet users cannot transfer money internationally using their existing wallet, while the average cost of sending a remittance remains more than twice the UN’s 3% target for 2030.
Featuring insights from Deutsche Bank, Citi, Standard Bank, Airtel Africa, Safaricom/M-PESA and TerraPay, the paper explores how greater collaboration can extend established financial infrastructure to new markets, payment methods and endpoints.
Inside the report, discover:
- why the industry needs to move from measuring financial inclusion to financial participation
- how fragmentation is holding back cross-border trade and economic growth
- why the last mile remains one of the biggest barriers to faster cross-border payments
- how ISO 20022 and common standards can support greater interoperability
- the opportunity created by connecting banks, fintechs, payment networks and digital wallets
- what financial connectivity looks like in practice
- why the next era of cross-border finance will be defined not by individual payment players, but by how effectively they connect.
As cross-border payments evolve, the opportunity is no longer simply to give more people access to financial services. It is to build the connectivity that enables people and businesses to transact, trade and participate in the global economy.
Download Connected Economies: The Next Era of Global Financial Connectivity to explore the technologies, partnerships and infrastructure shaping the next generation of cross-border payments.
