Closing Panel: The Next Chapter in Cross-Border Payments – Cost, Speed, and Interoperability
Niko Karhapää (Vipps MobilePay), Matti Honkanen (Nordea), Patrik Havander (Visa) & Tuomas Toivonen (Holvi)
Cross-border payment challenges center on high, opaque costs and slow, inconsistent settlement times exacerbated by complex correspondent banking chains with costly Nostra accounts. Transparency and speed improvements hinge on leveraging instant payment systems, scalable infrastructure, competitive fintech models like Wise, and streamlined partnerships to reduce marginal costs and increase predictability. Success means instant, 24/7 payments with upfront pricing. Industry priorities include expanding Nordic instant payments, enhancing customer experience, interoperability, and adopting new infrastructure to meet rising client expectations amid regulatory and technological shifts.
"The train is coming fast towards you. You need to act. The solution is within reach, with resilience and growth possible in retail and B2B. Doing nothing is not a good alternative."
Summary
- Biggest friction in cross-border payments is cost opacity and lack of transparency, especially for small businesses and difficult currency corridors. - Correspondent banking is costly and inefficient, with numerous bilateral relationships and high infrastructure costs for low-volume corridors. - Transparency issues persist, with complicated fee structures and unclear timing of fund receipt; fintechs often offer better clarity and pricing models. - Speed and tracking can be improved using existing technology like Swift gpi, local instant payment systems, or proprietary networks enabling near-instant transfers. - Industry priority: focus on instant payments in the Nordics, collaborate, enhance customer experience, and leverage fintech innovations to meet new standards.
Article
Industry leaders call for transparency revolution in cross-border payments
Nordic Fintech Summit panel highlights urgent need for faster, clearer international transactions
A panel of Nordic payment experts delivered a stark message to the banking industry at last week's Nordic Fintech Summit: transform cross-border payments or risk being left behind by innovative competitors and increasingly demanding customers.
The closing panel, "The Next Chapter in Cross-Border Payments – Cost, Speed, and Interoperability," brought together fintech and banking leaders who unanimously identified transparency and speed as the critical friction points hindering international payments.
"Cost transparency is key; when finance is opaque, the customer ends up paying a high price," said Tuomas Toivonen of Holvi during the session, highlighting a problem that particularly affects small businesses conducting international trade.
The broken economics of international transfers
The panel revealed the hidden mechanics driving high costs in cross-border payments. Patrik Havander of Visa explained that maintaining correspondent banking relationships – the traditional infrastructure for international transfers – is becoming economically unsustainable.
"One nostro relationship can cost between $50,000 and $70,000 per year," Havander noted. "Banks need multiple correspondent banks for major currencies, driving up costs. For less-travelled corridors, the average transaction cost for a medium-sized Nordic bank is $15-$20 per cross-border payment – sometimes up to $100-$200."
This system, where payments must pass through multiple intermediary banks before reaching their destination, creates not just high costs but significant uncertainty around timing and final fees.
The fintech challenge to banking orthodoxy
The panel identified how fintech companies have capitalized on these pain points by building more transparent models. Matti Honkanen of Nordea observed that while banks often struggle to provide clear information about costs and delivery times, fintech competitors have made this their unique selling proposition.
"Sometimes the problem is pure uncertainty – whether the payment will go through and when," said Honkanen. "New players like Wise have brought transparency, making it clear exactly what will happen to a payment and when."
This fintech challenge has placed traditional banks at a crossroads: evolve or risk customer exodus.
Leveraging existing technology for transformation
Contrary to the perception that entirely new systems are needed, the panelists agreed that much of the technology required for improvement already exists.
"You don't need new technology for real-time payments; we have what we need, just lots of cooperation among parties to make it work," Honkanen emphasized. Initiatives like SWIFT gpi and emerging proprietary networks already enable better tracking and faster settlement.
Havander highlighted that Visa's own solutions already offer real-time settlement capabilities: "The B2B Connect network can handle high-value, real-time payments with no lifting fees. Instant payments are already possible with the right infrastructure."
Defining success in the new era
When asked what success would look like for cross-border payments, the panel painted a picture of seamless experiences that customers barely notice.
"Success is when payments are instant, available 24/7, and customers know costs upfront," said Toivonen.
Honkanen added: "Success is when customers don't have to think about the process – they know exactly what's going to happen, and it's done in less than a second."
Action plan for the industry
The panel concluded with practical advice for financial institutions seeking to meet rising customer expectations.
"If you work for a traditional bank, install five neobank or fintech FX apps and send five international payments – see which one gives the best customer experience. That's the new standard your customers now expect," advised Toivonen in perhaps the most direct challenge to the status quo.
The experts outlined three immediate priorities for the industry: improving customer experience, building interoperability across the Nordic region, and implementing instant payment capabilities.
Honkanen suggested a pragmatic approach: "Start with making instant payments available in the Nordics – an easy first step that allows progression to more challenging countries and currencies."
As regulatory pressure intensifies and customer expectations continue to rise, the message from the Nordic Fintech Summit was clear: the future of cross-border payments will belong to those who can deliver transparency, speed, and predictability – regardless of whether they are traditional banks or fintech challengers.
Part of Nordic Fintech Summit