Thunes Research Reveals Cross-Border Payments Interoperability Gap as Local Innovation Stops at the Border
Inaugural Interoperability Index from Thunes and Juniper Research reveals that while local networks advance, many cross-border payments remain trapped in a global deadlock.
AMSTERDAM, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Over a billion people still wait days for international funds to arrive, even though 50% of recipients rank speed as their top priority. A new report by Thunes and Juniper Research reveals a striking disparity between consumer expectations and the reality of slow, fragmented cross-border networks.
The report also highlights a critical blind spot in the financial sector: while local payment systems are faster and more advanced than ever, this innovation stops at the border. Cross-border interoperability - the ability to move money smoothly across borders regardless of geography or underlying systems - remains unresolved.
To map these gaps, the inaugural Thunes Cross-Border Payments Interoperability Index published with insights from Juniper Research benchmarked 50 countries. The findings reveal stark regional variations, but also a common thread across the globe: a lack of interoperability impacts all regions, proving that strong domestic progress does not automatically guarantee seamless international connectivity.
The Regional Picture: Innovation Without Connection
- Europe (Leads Interoperability): Comprises 16 of the top 20 rankings. The region ranks highest globally, powered by the integrated SEPA network which processes cross-border euro transfers within 10 seconds. However, this friction-free experience remains largely insular to the Eurozone.
- The Americas: The US (Ranked 21st), despite being home to many cross-border companies, highlights an adaptability gap, where a distributed banking network slows integration with global real-time rails. Meanwhile, despite the massive domestic success of Brazil's PIX, strict currency controls mean 42% of international recipients still face multi-day delays.
- Asia-Pacific: Singapore (Ranked 2nd) excels by building direct bilateral links with other countries, but scores low in cross-border connectivity. Giants India and China rank lower because their hyper-efficient systems focus heavily inward, leaving 46% of Indian recipients and 30% of Chinese waiting days for overseas funds. In addition, mobile wallets adoption across East, South and South East Asia are heavily siloed and not natively interoperable at a global scale.
- Middle East: Markets like the UAE and Saudi Arabia have advanced tech infrastructure, but daily habits remain heavily anchored to physical currency. 72% of Saudi citizens use cash at least weekly, limiting the immediate scale of digital cross-border networks.
- Africa: The region pioneers local fintech innovation, particularly mobile money in Kenya and digital assets in Nigeria, but lower overall rankings reflect broader global headwinds, as international banks cut back correspondent relationships in these corridors.
The Growth of Mobile Wallet Adoption
The report also confirms a major shift in how people send and receive international payments:
- Mobile wallets and payment apps are now the dominant channel for sending money internationally, used by 48% of participants worldwide as the main entry point for cross-border money movement.
- In several markets, wallets play an even deeper role in financial inclusion. 30% of users in India, 26% in South Africa, and 25% in the Philippines chose a mobile wallet as their first-ever formal financial account. 26% did so because it was easy to sign up for.
Despite this shift, banks remain deeply embedded in settlement infrastructure, highlighting the need for better integration between financial ecosystems.
Stablecoins: Trust and Regulation as the Final Hurdle
While just 11% of people globally usually use cryptocurrency platforms to send money internationally, specific markets show huge appetite for digital assets:
- In Nigeria, for example, 40% report sending money across borders using cryptocurrency platforms and only 19% reported having never heard of stablecoins, compared to a global average of 38%. This greater awareness and understanding of digital assets products translates into broader usage across financial activities.
- In Europe, 59% had never heard of them and only 8% reported usage. This is despite Europe being at the forefront of regulatory efforts, including the introduction of MiCA, designed to bring clarity and consumer protection to digital assets.
- Among non-users globally, the biggest obstacle is scam risk (25%), followed by satisfaction with existing payment methods (23%), suggesting the barrier is not purely a lack of demand, but a need for better trust, regulation and interoperability with the formal financial system.
Mathieu Limousi, Chief Marketing Officer at Thunes, said: "We are witnessing a great contradiction in global finance: domestic payments have gone instant, yet too often the moment money hits a border, innovation grinds to a halt. Our Interoperability Index proves that the battleground for global financial inclusion is not about building more infrastructure, it's about connecting what already exists. Mobile wallets, digital assets, and traditional banks are all scaling rapidly, but they operate as isolated islands. True financial mobility will only happen when we force these disconnected networks to talk to one another, ensuring that technology doesn't stop at the border."
Nick Maynard, VP of Research at Juniper Research, added: "The data shows a clear structural deadlock. Cross-border friction is no longer a localised payment rails problem; it is a global interoperability crisis. While domestic infrastructure has reached real-time speeds, the international links connecting them remain heavily fragmented. Even in tech-forward markets, global payments continue to fail at the last mile because different financial ecosystems cannot seamlessly interact."
Download a full copy of the report: The Thunes Cross-border Payments Interoperability Index.
Methodology
The report is based on an online consumer survey conducted by Juniper Research in April 2026, among 6,763 respondents across 10 countries: the United States, Brazil, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, China, India, the Philippines, the UK, Germany, South Africa and Nigeria. The Interoperability Index evaluates 50 markets using proprietary survey data and established benchmarks, including the World Bank Global Findex Database 2025 and World Bank remittance cost data.
About Thunes
For more information, visit: https://www.thunes.com/
About Juniper Research
For more information, visit: www.juniperresearch.com
SOURCE Thunes
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