New data published by Swift shows that half of all transactions sent across its network now reach the recipient institution within 40 seconds, and that 75% arrive within 10 minutes — performance that keeps the global financial industry well ahead of the G20's target of one-hour, end-to-end processing for cross-border payments by 2027.

The figures, released in Swift's latest Spotlight on Speed report, reflect a continued drive by Swift and the wider industry to make international payments fast, predictable, and as seamless as the best domestic experiences. The G20 benchmark traces back to the group's roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments, a programme built around making international transfers faster, cheaper, and more transparent — and because the target is defined end to end, the final credit to the beneficiary's account counts toward the clock. The report, however, also highlights wide country-level variation in how quickly international transactions are completed, and it calls on the industry to prioritise “one-leg-out” models and end-to-end tracking to drive improvements at scale.

Rapid processing on the world's busiest payment routes

Since June, banks around the world have been using Swift's retail payments framework to deliver a best-in-class experience along some of the world's busiest payment routes, including corridors serving five of the biggest remittance-receiving markets. Remittance corridors carry particular weight because the funds typically go straight to individual households, making the difference between seconds and hours immediately tangible for recipients. Under the framework, transactions have been completed end-to-end in minutes and even seconds — including a payment from Turkey to Spain completed in 15 seconds, one from Australia to India in 37 seconds, and a transfer from Brazil to the United States in just a minute.

The 'last mile' accounts for most of the wait

Swift's research shows that while inter-bank processing times are fast, end customers do not always benefit, because of frictions that arise between a payment arriving at the receiving institution and it being credited to the beneficiary's account. This final stage of a transaction, known as the “last mile”, accounts for 80% of the average transaction's total journey time. In other words, most of the wait lands after a payment has already crossed the network — and end-to-end benchmarks such as the G20's one-hour target capture that final leg in full.

The latest Spotlight on Speed report examines the drivers of these delays and where improvements can be made, revealing wide variation in last-mile processing times. It analysed 40 receiving markets and found that in one third of them, the median processing time between the receiving institution and the beneficiary's account is around an hour. At that level, a typical last mile alone would consume the entire one-hour window the G20 target allows for the whole journey. Elsewhere, the picture is mixed, with fast payments existing alongside significantly slower transactions.

The findings highlight where coordinated action by the industry and regulators can help translate faster cross-border processing into a more consistent experience for customers. Swift's report recommends that the industry prioritise “one-leg-out” arrangements, which enable in-country instant payment systems to process the domestic leg of international payments. Swift's global network already enables fast cross-border payments to some markets under one-leg-out agreements, with its end-to-end tracking capabilities extended across the domestic leg.

Thierry Chilosi, Chief Business Officer at Swift, said: “Cross-border processing speeds are consistently fast, but if we're to deliver the experience that customers expect then the challenge now is to tackle the inconsistency that we see in the last mile in markets around the world. As we've shown over the last few months, connecting Swift's trusted infrastructure with domestic instant payment systems is driving improvements in speed, predictability and transparency—so if we want to scale the improvements we've been making then these one-leg-out arrangements should absolutely be a priority.”

Extending the benefits of digital finance

Alongside its work to bring the cross-border experience in line with what consumers have come to expect domestically, Swift is also working to extend the benefits of digital finance globally through its network of 12,500 institutions across more than 200 markets. By the end of the year, 19 early-adopter financial institutions will have made use of Swift's blockchain ledger for tokenised deposit transactions, using five major currencies. With the report urging wider use of one-leg-out arrangements, how many additional receiving markets link their instant payment systems to Swift — and whether future editions of Spotlight on Speed show last-mile times converging toward the fastest performers — will provide concrete markers of progress against the 2027 deadline.