Instant payments are already transforming how money moves within Latin American markets. The next challenge is to take that same speed across borders: enabling systems in different countries to connect and process transactions quickly, transparently, and efficiently.
The interconnection of instant payment systems is gaining momentum as a way to reduce friction in cross-border payments. In its 2026 Financial Infrastructure Report, Colombia’s central bank, Banco de la República, identifies the interconnection of these systems as one path toward faster and more efficient international payments.
This perspective is aligned with the work of the BIS Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, which considers interoperability between payment systems one of the approaches that can improve cross-border payments.
Borders Still Add a Layer of Complexity
A domestic payment can be processed within the rules, infrastructure, and currency of a single country. Once two jurisdictions are involved, additional variables come into play: different payment systems, messaging standards, regulatory requirements, compliance processes, operating hours, and settlement mechanisms.
Connecting two systems, therefore, is not simply a matter of establishing a technical link.
The BIS notes that cross-border payments continue to face friction caused by limited interoperability and institutional differences between jurisdictions. It also identifies the harmonization of standards, particularly those governing message exchange, as one of the priorities for reducing these barriers.
The opportunity is that much of the infrastructure required to move forward already exists.
De sistemas nacionales a redes conectadas
India and Brazil illustrate how far instant payment systems can evolve once they achieve significant domestic scale.
UPI already supports mechanisms for international payments and has established connections with other systems. One example is UPI-PayNow interoperability, which enables real-time transfers between India and Singapore. NPCI is also continuing to expand international UPI acceptance for merchant payments.
Pix is moving in the same direction. The Central Bank of Brazil has highlighted its participation in international initiatives aimed at connecting Pix with other instant payment systems and facilitating cross-border payments.
The objective is not necessarily to create a single global network. The model gaining traction is based on connecting systems that already work, allowing each country to retain its own infrastructure while establishing common mechanisms for communicating with others.
The BIS describes these interlinking arrangements as a way for participants in different jurisdictions to transact without having to belong to the same payment system, potentially reducing the number of intermediaries involved and shortening processing chains.
Interoperability Also Changes the Operation
For a financial institution, an international connection is not simply about enabling money to reach another country.
The operation must be able to interpret the transaction, apply the appropriate rules, determine how it should be processed, and respond to different scenarios without compromising the speed that defines instant payments.
This makes the ability to orchestrate transactions across different systems particularly important.
A payments architecture designed for this environment must manage multiple routes, rules, and conditions, while remaining flexible as new connections are added. Interoperability, therefore, is no longer only a characteristic of how different systems connect. It also becomes an essential capability within each participating institution.
Test Before You Connect
Every new international connection introduces additional combinations: different messages, routes, currencies, responses, rules, and error scenarios.
Cross-border expansion therefore creates a validation challenge as well.
It is not enough to confirm that a successful transaction can move from one system to another. Institutions must also reproduce scenarios that show what happens when an unexpected response is received, an alternative route is triggered, a transaction is rejected, or service conditions change.
The BIS also emphasizes the importance of standards interoperability and pre-validation mechanisms to improve transparency, reduce errors, and prevent issues from emerging after funds have already begun to move.
The ability to test these scenarios before a connection reaches production can therefore become part of the infrastructure required to scale instant payments across borders.
Connecting Systems Is Only the Beginning
The evolution of instant payments is shifting the conversation from interoperability within a single country to connectivity between systems across different markets.
This creates opportunities for remittances, e-commerce, tourism, and corporate transactions, but it also requires technology, rules, and operations to coordinate effectively at a much broader scale.
In this environment, AZ7® centralizes transaction orchestration and dynamically manages the different routes and rules involved in processing. This makes it easier to introduce new connections and services without turning every integration into a redesign of the entire operation.
PAYTESTER®, meanwhile, reproduces transactions from physical and digital channels, making it possible to validate how operations behave under different responses and scenarios before they are moved into production.
Connecting systems is only the first step. The real capability lies in being able to orchestrate, test, and adapt the operation as those connections continue to expand.
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