Bank of America will launch a cross-border real-time payments service for corporate, commercial and financial institution clients next quarter.
The service will let clients send and receive funds instantly through Swift or CashPro, the bank's digital banking platform for corporate and institutional customers. It is aimed at high-volume, low-value international payments, including remittances, gig-worker payouts and eCommerce marketplace payments to vendors.
The move expands payment options for clients already using the bank's existing connectivity, including application programming interfaces and host-to-host channels. Users will not need to invest in new technology to access the service.
Network links
The offering will connect to several domestic real-time payment networks, including SPEI in Mexico, the Faster Payments Service in the United Kingdom and Unified Payments Interface in India. It will also allow inbound real-time payments into the United States.
Funds will be delivered to beneficiaries in local currency. The service will include real-time payment tracking, confirmation when funds are credited, pre-validation of recipient account information and delivery of the full payment amount without deductions.
These features are intended to reduce failed payments and improve visibility over payment status. Payments can be initiated at any time, with funds usually arriving within seconds or minutes.
The launch comes as banks and policymakers continue to focus on long-standing friction in international payments, where transfers can involve several intermediaries and take longer to settle. Bank of America linked the new service to the G20 agenda for faster, cheaper, more transparent and more accessible cross-border payments.
Mark Monaco, Head of Global Payments Solutions at Bank of America, placed the launch in that wider policy context.
"Around the world, policymakers and financial institutions share a common goal: making cross-border payments faster, more transparent, more affordable, and more accessible," said Monaco. "This new capability directly supports the G20 payment objectives while giving our clients a scalable, reliable way to move money globally-without adding operational complexity."
Rising volumes
Bank of America is targeting payment flows that are growing quickly as online commerce and digital work models expand. It cited forecasts that person-to-person cross-border payments will rise by 58% by 2032, while business-to-consumer flows will increase by 131% over the same period.
Those categories include payments that often need to reach recipients quickly and in full, such as remittances sent to individuals, payouts to contractors and gig workers, and disbursements by online marketplaces. In such cases, visibility into when money arrives and certainty about the amount received can be as important as speed.
The service is designed to work through established payment rails rather than requiring customers to adopt a separate system. That approach should make adoption easier for corporate and financial institution clients already connected through Swift or CashPro.
Daniel Stanton, Payments Product Head in Global Payments Solutions at the bank, said the product was designed with client access and operational simplicity in mind.
"We designed this solution with simplicity, trust, and scale in mind," said Stanton. "By combining established payment rails with real-time capabilities and seamless integration, we're giving clients a practical new option for global payments."
Bank of America processes more than USD 450 trillion in payments annually and invests about USD 1 billion a year in payments technology. In the United States, it serves about 70 million consumers and small-business clients, giving it a large domestic base for inbound real-time payment flows.
Swift remains central to the model because it provides the messaging layer used by more than 11,500 financial institutions and corporates across more than 200 countries and territories. The new service uses that connectivity while linking to domestic instant payment systems in specific markets, allowing funds to move through local real-time networks once payment instructions are received.
For large banks, the development reflects a broader effort to modernise cross-border transactions without forcing clients to rebuild treasury systems. For users, the appeal is likely to be a combination of faster settlement, fewer payment deductions and clearer tracking across borders.
Beneficiaries will receive funds in local currency, with no lifting fees or deductions, and clients will receive confirmation once funds are credited.