Payments Infrastructure Drives Global Financial Interoperability

Industry leaders and Swift say global payments are undergoing structural change in 2025–2026 driven by real-time rails, ISO 20022, tokenisation, and AI. The stablecoin market grew 49% in 2025 to about USD 306 billion, while Swift and partners pursue shared ledgers and ISO-based bank-to-wallet trials to improve cross-border interoperability. Economist Impact research warns fragmentation could shave as much as 6% from global GDP by 2030.