Global Payment Trends Report 2026

Payments are changing fast, and the shifts now underway will shape how businesses grow, move money, and manage risk in 2026 and beyond. Digital commerce, richer data, AI, and new infrastructure are reshaping domestic and cross-border payments alike. For treasurers, that creates new opportunities, but also raises the pressure to modernise, strengthen control, and respond to rising expectations.

The latest report brings together deeper insight into the forces behind payment growth, what they mean for treasury teams, and what organisations can do to leverage these structural shifts for their benefit.

International payment volumes are rising. Growth is being driven by changing trade patterns, digital commerce, embedded finance, infrastructure modernisation, and growing demand for real-time cross-border capability. Together, these shifts are changing both the scale of payments and the standards businesses expect.

• The growth and rewiring of international trade: Tariffs, government policy, and economic uncertainty are reshaping global commerce, yet 96% of treasurers believe international growth will matter more in the next five years than the last.¹ Fast, reliable, and transparent cross-border payments have become a strategic requirement.
• The rise and evolution of digital commerce: Global e-commerce is set to reach US$156 trillion by 2033, including US$106 trillion in B2B.²,³ AI and agentic commerce are accelerating this shift, while embedded finance gains ground; 84% of buyers expect significant growth in embedded finance over the next five years.⁴
• Payments infrastructure is being upgraded: ISO 20022 standardisation and new protocols for clearing cross-border renminbi through CIPS are modernising the rails. Real-time payments remain mostly domestic, but cross-border demand is rising as governments and financial institutions extend these models.
• Digital currencies: from experiments to mainstream adoption: Digital currencies are moving closer to everyday use. HSBC has helped clients process more than US$28 billion in tokenised deposit payments.⁵

These trends aren’t moving in isolation. They’re reinforcing one another, and that’s increasing the pace of change. The full report explores how these developments connect, and what they signal for the future of global payments.

Treasurers are working in a more complex commercial and geopolitical environment. They are expected to support growth, improve control, reduce cost, and modernise payment operations, often at the same time. That makes payments a strategic issue, not just an operational one.

This matters because:

• Working capital efficiency is becoming more connected to the payment experience, especially as embedded finance and digital commerce grow.
• Better data is becoming a competitive advantage. ISO 20022 can improve visibility, reconciliation, and cash flow forecasting.
• Fraud risk evolves as digitisation transformed payments. More than 60% of treasuries are already adopting stronger security features.⁶

Digital currencies also matter. They could enable 24/7 cross-border payments and support programmable payment models over time.

For treasury teams, the challenge is not only keeping up. It is deciding where to act first, which capabilities matter most, and how to balance innovation with resilience. The full report helps answer those questions.

Treasurers should take a focused, practical approach to payment modernisation. The priority is to improve capability in areas that support growth, strengthen control, and prepare teams for continued change.

• Modernise your payment infrastructure and data: Adopt APIs, and virtual accounts, improve FX and payment tracking, and move to ISO 20022 for richer data and clearer visibility.
• Expand your digital payment capabilities: Build out embedded payments, pay-into-wallet solutions, digital commerce tools, and virtual commercial cards to meet rising demand for scale and speed.
• Strengthen resilience and team readiness: Tighten fraud controls and working capital management, then equip your team to use data well, apply AI with confidence, and prepare for new cross-border models, including digital currencies.

These actions can help treasurers respond to today’s pressures while building for what comes next. In the full report, we look at these priorities in more detail and show how they fit into a broader treasury agenda.

The direction of travel is clear. Payment systems will become more connected, more data-rich, and more intelligent. Cross-border payments will increasingly need to match domestic expectations for speed, transparency, and ease. Treasurers that act now will be better placed to support international growth, improve cash visibility, reduce risk, and strengthen working capital outcomes.

Those that delay may find that legacy processes, weak data, and fragmented controls limit their ability to compete. The near-term priority is to modernise payment rails, improve data standards, strengthen fraud controls, and build the skills needed to use AI and emerging payment technologies well.

The full Global Payment Trends report offers the wider context, deeper analysis, and practical actions you can take to take advantage of these changes. Download the report to explore the trends in more detail.