From smarter FX to digital currencies: How banking innovation helps businesses expand across borders

Already the established leader in digital payments, Asia is accelerating efforts to leverage the latest technologies to streamline international transfers.

India, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines are spearheading an initiative to connect their real-time payment systems, connecting a market of 1.7 billion people and enabling individuals and businesses to make cross-border transfers in seconds rather than days.¹

Regulators and central banks across Asia Pacific are also exploring digital currencies and tokenisation to facilitate wholesale international payments.

This wave of innovation – coupled with advances in digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) – is welcome news for businesses operating across the region’s diverse and distinct markets.

Digital payments dominate retail transactions in Asia Pacific, accounting for 81% of e-commerce spending and 59% of physical purchases in 2024.² Yet cross-border transactions remain complex. Most international payments still pass through the correspondent banking network, which can be slow and expensive, particularly when transactions involve less-frequently traded currencies.

Regulators are pushing to change this.

A number of bilateral connections between instant payment systems in South and Southeast Asia have been put in place in recent years, including between Singapore’s PayNow and PromptPay in Thailand in 2021.³

Project Nexus, backed by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), builds on these existing connections with a standardised approach, using the richer data sets enabled by ISO 20022 messaging standards and API connectivity to communicate seamlessly across borders.⁴

In time, Nexus could expand beyond the five countries that are already on board. The European Central Bank is exploring a connection with the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement, which could create a new channel for instant cross-border payments between Asia and the euro area.⁵

For businesses, deepening cross-border payment connections allow easier access to overseas markets. Smaller businesses and mid-sized companies today can offer their customers the choice of paying in their own local currency, and can choose the best way to pay their overseas suppliers. This also comes with new requirements to manage FX risks.

Emerging solutions, including AI-assisted FX tools, are offering new ways for treasurers to secure favourable rates and manage their exposures in real time.

HSBC’s FX Prompt, for example, uses AI to provide real-time, data-driven insights for overseas payments. It can instantly advise customers on the most efficient currency option and display a rate of exchange, as well as the key market information needed for them to make an informed decision on whether to accept the rate shown.⁶

Businesses can also use APIs to integrate FX rates into their customer-facing operations. This allows companies to price goods or services in local currencies with guaranteed rates for refunds and automated booking – simplifying entry into new markets.⁷

Asia is also at the forefront of efforts to make wholesale payments faster and cheaper through the use of blockchain technology, tokenisation and digital currencies.

Hong Kong, mainland China, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates have been studying cross-border transfers of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) under Project mBridge since 2021.⁸ More recently, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched Project Ensemble, a new wholesale CBDC project, to support the development of the tokenisation market in Hong Kong.⁹ Singapore is also supporting the development of tokenisation through Project Guardian.¹⁰

Tokenisation allows ownership of an asset — including deposits or liquid investments — to be digitised through a token on a blockchain. Once represented by the token, assets can be quickly and cost-effectively transferred.¹¹ It’s the technology underpinning Project Agorá, a global payments initiative led by the BIS and supported by leading financial institutions, including HSBC.¹²

For businesses, tokenisation and digital currencies could streamline international payments and open new ways to manage liquidity outside of traditional financial market hours. Digital assets can be transferred immediately 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, with no downtime or manual input required.

HSBC in 2025 launched a Tokenised Deposit Service (TDS) in Hong Kong to allow clients to make transfers 24/7, and is now expanding the offering to a number of key markets and to cross-border payments. Ant International was the first client to use the TDS solution, instantly completing an intra-group transfer using tokenised deposits instead of traditional means.¹³ Globally, HSBC continues to research and test these new innovations in line with evolving regulatory frameworks.

HSBC has consistently turned international payment and FX innovations into practical solutions, helping businesses of every size operate more efficiently across borders.

Companies with global supplier networks are already realising the benefits of our innovative cross-border banking solutions. IKEA Indonesia, for instance, adopted HSBC UniTransact, which integrates the entire international payments and FX workflow into a single dashboard. It streamlined cross-border payments, reduced errors, and gave the company the speed and visibility needed to manage thousands of supplier transactions worldwide.

Similarly, Alfa Laval, the Swedish industrial group, turned to HSBC to resolve long-standing pain points in processing cross-border payments out of mainland China. By consolidating its banking relationships in China and adopting SpeedX – a simplified end-to-end cross-border payment solution – Alfa Laval eliminated the need for manual paperwork and reduced processing time to just 10 minutes.¹⁴

For businesses dealing with diverse value chains across multiple currencies, HSBC’s Global Disbursements solution can be an attractive option. One batch file covers multiple currencies, which are automatically routed via the most efficient rails and disbursed locally. Kalbe International, the Singapore-based international arm of Indonesia’s largest publicly listed pharmaceutical company, has implemented this standardised process to pays beneficiaries in over 130 currencies from a single Singapore account.¹⁵