Bank of America expands global payments in $200 billion market

Bank of America is expanding its cross-border payments infrastructure, joining a wave of financial institutions racing to modernize international settlement systems.

Bank of America is expanding its global payments strategy to enhance cross-border transaction capabilities, joining a race among financial institutions to modernize an industry where trillions of dollars move across borders daily.

"Technology is no longer the primary barrier — faster, cheaper and more efficient solutions already exist," participants at the Money20/20 Europe Policy 20 forum concluded, according to a summary of the June event that drew 7,600 attendees from more than 100 countries and 2,000 companies.

The expansion comes as financial institutions and fintech companies accelerate investment in cross-border payment infrastructure. At Money20/20 Europe, XTransfer and Societe Generale signed a memorandum of understanding to develop integrated cross-border financial solutions, including local collection and outbound payment services with USD and CNY settlement. MoneyGram launched MGUSD, a native USD stablecoin built on the Stellar blockchain and issued by Bridge, a Stripe company, targeting cross-border transfers. Qivalis BV, backed by 37 banks across 15 countries, applied for a license in the Netherlands to issue a euro stablecoin under the EU's MiCA framework, aiming to reduce Europe's reliance on dollar-denominated digital assets that account for roughly 99 percent of global stablecoin volume. In the UK, a new open banking payment scheme backed by Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, Santander, Monzo, Revolut and Starling aims to reduce dependence on Visa and Mastercard card networks for recurring payments to government, utilities and financial services.

For Bank of America, the push into faster cross-border payments represents both an opportunity and a defensive move. The bank, frequently associated with Ripple's payment technology, faces competition from fintechs and stablecoin issuers that threaten to disintermediate traditional correspondent banking. The global cross-border payments market generates an estimated $200 billion in annual revenue for banks, according to McKinsey, making it a prize worth defending as new entrants chip away at incumbents' market share.

Cross-Border Payments Enter a New Phase

The payments industry is undergoing its most significant infrastructure shift in decades. At Money20/20 Europe, more than 40 senior policymakers, regulators and industry leaders convened to address what they called the defining challenge: the cross-border implications of diverging policies and technological momentum. Consensus emerged that reducing fragmentation is critical, with participants agreeing that trust between institutions, jurisdictions and consumers is essential to enabling adoption across payments, digital identity and digital assets. While complete global harmonization may be unrealistic, greater coordination between regulators and industry will be needed to support interoperable financial systems, the forum concluded.

The Competitive Field

Bank of America's expansion places it alongside a growing list of institutions investing in cross-border capabilities. Clear Junction Group partnered with stablecoin issuer Agant to support institutional access to GBPA, a pound sterling stablecoin designed for cross-border payments, settlement and corporate treasury. In Europe, Worldline and ING, in partnership with Mastercard, executed what they described as the continent's first end-to-end agentic payment transaction, proving that payments initiated and authenticated by merchant AI agents can function across multiple markets. Experian launched its Agent Operating System, an AI layer designed to help financial services organizations scale agentic AI with clear controls and human oversight. Kraken, the digital asset exchange, announced plans to expand to Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, as crypto-native firms also target cross-border payments as a growth opportunity.

What's at Stake for Investors

Bank of America, trading at roughly 12x forward earnings, generates significant revenue from its global transaction services and commercial banking operations. If the bank can capture a larger share of cross-border payment flows through faster settlement infrastructure, it could protect fee income that faces pressure from fintech competitors. The expansion also carries implications for Ripple, the blockchain payments company frequently linked to Bank of America through speculation about partnerships. Any acceleration in bank-led cross-border payment modernization could validate the thesis that distributed ledger technology has a role in settlement infrastructure, though neither company has confirmed a formal collaboration. For investors, the key question is whether Bank of America can execute on its payments strategy fast enough to defend its transaction banking revenue against a wave of well-funded competitors.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.