B2B Cross-Border Transactions Will Reach 14.8 Billion by 2023

A new study from Juniper Research found that 14 billion B2B cross-border transactions will be processed by 2023; rising from 13.5 billion in 2019, a 7% increase. This will be driven by the introduction of blockchain-based payment networks.

According to the research, international payments will become faster, cheaper and less complex; driven by network innovation. The digitalisation of cross-border payment networks, aligned with the use of cloud-based tools, APIs and blockchain, will enable the replacement of bilateral networks with multilateral models; improving efficiency and reducing costs.

Juniper assessed 12 non-banking payment providers comparing their product features, breadth of solutions and revenues, as well as overall network strength. The research ranked the five leading B2B payment vendors. Money Corp offers comprehensive platform functionalities, including specific solutions for eight different industries. TorFX offers a broad range of foreign exchange services, marketing insights and the innovative scheduling of regular overseas payments. Third-ranked TransferMate supports transactions in an impressive 134 currencies.

Most international B2B transactions are still made via traditional, bilateral methods due to legacy infrastructure, which results in slow, non-traceable and expensive transactions. The lack of transparency inherent in these systems allows intermediate banks and non-banking institutions to charge high exchange rates and additional fees.

As blockchain affords complete traceability of transactions, its introduction would increase transparency, improve standardisation and reduce errors. The research recommended that payment network providers must invest in blockchain to ensure future competitiveness.

Research author Maite Bezerra remarked, “Future growth in B2B cross-border transactions will be driven by innovative corporate payment solutions that make transparency central to their models, following the example set by disruptive vendors in the consumer money transfer market“.