Cross-border payments are expected to reach $320 trillion in annual retail volume by 2032, but many still run through payment systems that were never designed for speed. That’s why the same transfer can clear in minutes on modern networks or take days when it falls back on older routes. The gap shapes how much cash a business keeps on hand, how suppliers release inventory, and how accurately teams can forecast across currencies.

Not all cross-border payments are slow. Some corridors settle on the same day with transparency, while others still rely on manual steps, mismatched business hours, and legacy systems that batch transactions overnight. Knowing which environment your payment is moving through, and why, is the first step towards taking control of your timelines.

Below, we’ll explain what determines the speed of cross-border payments, what technologies accelerate settlement, and what factors slow down funds.

What’s in this article?

• How long do cross-border payments take?
  
• What technologies help speed up cross-border processing?
  
• How does faster settlement improve business operations?
  
• What common delays slow down international payments?
  
• How can businesses assess and improve their cross-border payment timelines?
  
• How Stripe Payments can help
  

How long do cross-border payments take?

Most cross-border payments still take one to five business days to arrive. The exact speed depends on the route, the currencies involved, and whether the payment encounters issues along the way.

Traditional international bank transfers usually move via the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) and through multiple intermediary banks. In ideal conditions with accurate details, complete compliance, and timing within business hours, a transfer might settle within 24 hours. More commonly, it takes two to four business days, and even longer if there are delays.

Some payment corridors move faster than others. Transfers between major markets, such as the US and Europe, can clear quickly because banks have more direct relationships and available liquidity. Payments sent in major currencies during overlapping business hours tend to flow faster, while those that require currency conversion, cross time zones, or pass through smaller markets tend to slow down.

Banks might advertise “same-day” or “expedited” options, but these still rely on cutoff times and carry extra fees. An international payment sent late on a Friday might not start moving until Monday.

What technologies help speed up cross-border processing?

Cross-border payments are getting faster thanks to new infrastructure, more intelligent routing, and automation that removes friction before a payment even leaves the sender’s bank.

These technologies are speeding up international payments.

SWIFT GPI

SWIFT still underpins most international transfers, but SWIFT Global Payments Innovation (GPI) makes those transfers faster and easier to follow.

Participating banks can offer:

• Much faster processing

• End-to-end tracking

• Consistent settlement within 24 hours

Nearly 60% of GPI payments reach recipients in under 30 minutes, giving businesses much better predictability.

Real-time networks

Many countries operate domestic real-time payment systems, such as Real-Time Payments (RTP) in the US and Faster Payments in the UK. Some networks have plans to link these systems together, which would enable some cross-border transfers to move between domestic systems rather than travel through slower correspondent networks. Coverage is still limited today, but in places where these links exist, settlement times start to resemble the speed of local transfers.

Local network routing

Some providers speed up international payments by avoiding traditional cross-border wires altogether. They collect funds locally in the sending country, convert currency behind the scenes, and pay out locally in the destination country. Because the payment relies on domestic networks on both ends, recipients often get funds much faster.

Stablecoins and blockchain networks

Stablecoins like USDC are emerging as a speedy alternative for moving value globally.

They allow businesses to:

• Transfer funds in minutes

• Bypass banking hours and geographic cutoff times

• Avoid expensive or failure-prone wire chains

Some businesses use stablecoin cross-border payments to avoid delays and cost issues inherent to traditional systems. These systems operate 24/7 and don’t rely on intermediary banks, which makes them useful for payouts when predictability is important.

Automation and prevalidation

Upgrades behind the scenes also play an important part. Tools that catch errors early, automate compliance checks, and standardize messaging formats (e.g., ISO 20022) can minimize failures and manual reviews. Fewer errors mean fewer delays, especially in international transfers where a single mismatch can derail a payment.

How does faster settlement improve business operations?

Faster settlement helps businesses operate with more liquidity, more control, and fewer slowdowns. When funds move quickly, so does everything else.

Here’s how faster settlement could improve your business operations.

Stronger liquidity

Money that’s stuck in transit forces businesses to hold extra cash or rely on credit to cover the gap. Faster settlement shortens working capital cycles, reduces borrowing needs, and frees up cash for daily operations or major investments.

Faster execution

Delays have a ripple effect. Shipments get held, contractors must wait to begin work, and projects stall. Faster payments remove those bottlenecks across supply chains, vendors, and teams.

More precise planning

Uncertain settlement windows make forecasting and reconciliation harder. Businesses build in unnecessary buffers because they can’t tell whether a payment will arrive tomorrow or next week. Reliable, quick settlement sharpens forecasts and simplifies financial operations.

What common delays slow down international payments?

Cross-border payments often move slowly because minor delays compound throughout the process.

Here are the common delays.

Compliance checks

International transfers must clear Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks, and sanctions screening. Large amounts, first-time counterparties, or unusual details can trigger manual reviews and slow down processing.

Incomplete or incorrect information

Typos or mismatches in account numbers, SWIFT codes, or beneficiary names are a leading cause of rejections and returns. Fixing these often requires back-and-forth between banks.

Weekends, holidays, and time zones

Payments that miss business hours can sit idle for a day or more. Due to time zone differences, payments can sit idle for a full day as they wait to reach someone’s business in the morning.

Currency conversion

Conversions can add hidden delays. Some banks batch foreign exchange processing, wait for local market hours, or need extra time to source less common currencies.

Intermediary banks

If a sender and recipient bank don’t have a direct relationship, a payment must pass through correspondent banks. Each step adds processing time and the potential for a review.

Manual processes and legacy systems

Some parts of the global payment system still rely on manual handling or batch-based operations. When a payment reaches one of these older systems, it can lag, even if the rest of the chain is modern.

How can businesses assess and improve their cross-border payment timelines?

If your international payments feel slow, the first step is to figure out where the problems lie. Once you understand where the delays come from, you can determine which parts you can control.

Here’s how you can improve your cross-border payment timelines.

Start by measuring

Track payment settlement times across your important corridors. Look for patterns: do delays happen before initiation, during transit, or on the recipient’s end? If your provider offers detailed tracking (e.g., via SWIFT GPI), use it. Even simple logs of when payments were sent and received can spotlight recurring bottlenecks.

Refine what you control

Double-check payment details, send payments during overlapping business hours, and prevalidate recurring recipients. A small test payment is faster than troubleshooting a failed transfer.

Choose smarter networks

If your provider relies on multiple intermediaries or doesn’t support modern options such as SWIFT GPI, real-time payments, and stablecoins, your transfers might not be as fast as they can be. Providers that route locally or access infrastructure can shorten settlement times.

Keep funds closer to their destination

Holding local currency balances or using a partner that can pay out locally on your behalf can convert a cross-border transfer into a domestic one, which eliminates much of the delay.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payment solution that helps any business—from scaling startups to global enterprises—accept payments online, in person, and around the world.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimize your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save thousands of engineering hours with prebuilt payment UIs, access to 125+ payment methods, and Link, a wallet built by Stripe.

• Expand to new markets faster: Reach customers worldwide and reduce the complexity and cost of multicurrency management with cross-border payment options, available in 195 countries across 135+ currencies.

• Unify payments in person and online: Build a unified commerce experience across online and in-person channels to personalize interactions, reward loyalty, and grow revenue.

• Improve payment performance: Increase revenue with a range of customizable, easy-to-configure payment tools, including no-code fraud protection and advanced capabilities to improve authorization rates.

• Move faster with a flexible, reliable platform for growth: Build on a platform designed to scale with you, with 99.999% historical uptime and industry-leading reliability.

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments, or get started today.