How an APAC fintech reduced cross-border payment delays

In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, cross-border payments connect some of the world’s fastest-growing economies — from Singapore and Australia to Vietnam and the Philippines. Yet, many companies still struggle with delayed transactions caused by multiple currencies, inconsistent regulations, and legacy infrastructure. This case study examines how a regional fintech firm redesigned its payment operations to overcome these issues, reducing average transfer times from days to minutes.

The Starting Point: A Regional Bottleneck

The company, based in Singapore, processed payments for e-commerce and B2B clients across ten Asian countries. Despite modern interfaces, its underlying infrastructure relied on traditional correspondent banking routes.

Each payment passed through two or three intermediary banks, creating:

• Processing times of up to 4 business days.
• Unpredictable costs due to intermediary deductions.
• Frequent delays caused by mismatched compliance standards.

Customers complained about inconsistent delivery times, particularly for transfers to countries with strict currency controls, such as Indonesia and India.

Diagnosing the Problem

An internal audit identified three main causes of delay:

1. Fragmented Clearing Systems
   Each destination country used a different local clearing network. Integration with them required manual reconciliation and multiple settlement accounts.
2. Time Zone Misalignment
   Transactions initiated in Singapore often missed local cut-off times in Australia or Japan, rolling over to the next business day.
3. Manual Compliance Screening
   AML and sanctions checks were performed manually by back-office teams, slowing down transaction approval and increasing operational costs.

It became clear that to achieve real-time efficiency, the company needed a structural overhaul of its cross-border payment architecture.

Step 1: Building a Multi-Rail Payment Infrastructure

Instead of relying solely on the SWIFT network, the fintech introduced a multi-rail infrastructure — integrating several payment channels simultaneously:

• SWIFT gpi for global tracking and reliability.
• Domestic real-time networks such as PayNow (Singapore), Faster Payments (Australia), and PromptPay (Thailand).
• Blockchain-based corridors for pilot transactions in partnership with RippleNet and Stellar.

This multi-rail setup allowed payments to route dynamically through the fastest available channel, based on destination and currency.

Step 2: Implementing Real-Time Compliance Checks

The next improvement involved deploying an AI-driven compliance engine capable of screening transactions instantly. Instead of batch verification, the system:

• Cross-checked each payment against sanctions and watchlists in milliseconds.
• Flagged anomalies based on transaction patterns.
• Automatically requested additional documentation if risk thresholds were exceeded.

This automation reduced compliance-related delays by 90%, freeing the operations team to focus on complex reviews only.

Step 3: Expanding Local Settlement Partnerships

To eliminate dependency on intermediary banks, the fintech established direct settlement relationships with partner institutions in six key markets: Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.

By maintaining local liquidity pools in local currencies, the company could deliver payments instantly via domestic clearing networks instead of routing everything through US dollar channels.

As a result:

• Transaction time for intra-Asia payments dropped from 48 hours to under 2 hours.
• Settlement costs fell by more than 40%.
• Clients gained access to more competitive FX rates.

Step 4: Introducing End-to-End Payment Tracking

Borrowing principles from logistics, the fintech added real-time payment tracking for clients. Each transaction received a unique tracking ID visible through an online portal, showing:

• Payment status (initiated, in processing, delivered).
• Destination bank confirmation.
• Timestamp for each stage of the transfer.

This transparency eliminated uncertainty, allowing businesses to plan around precise delivery times. It also improved customer trust — a critical factor for retaining enterprise clients in the region.

Step 5: Aligning with Regional Compliance Standards

The company harmonized its processes with regulations from major APAC jurisdictions, including:

• MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) guidelines on electronic payments.
• AUSTRAC (Australia’s financial intelligence unit) reporting requirements.
• Bank of Thailand and Bank Indonesia local currency settlement frameworks.

Creating a unified compliance policy helped prevent repeated document requests and accelerated cross-border onboarding for new clients.

Step 6: Real-Time Reporting and Treasury Integration

To manage liquidity efficiently across multiple currencies, the company deployed an integrated treasury management system (TMS).

The system:

• Displayed real-time balances in every local account.
• Forecasted cash flow based on transaction volume.
• Automatically rebalanced funds between currencies as needed.

This automation ensured sufficient liquidity for same-day payouts while minimizing idle capital.

Quantifiable Results

After full deployment of the new infrastructure, performance indicators improved dramatically:

• Average settlement time: reduced from 3.8 days to 45 minutes for regional payments.
• Operational cost savings: 37% through lower intermediary and FX fees.
• Client satisfaction: 94% of customers reported faster and more predictable payments.
• Compliance incidents: dropped to near zero thanks to automated screening.

These results proved that even within a fragmented regulatory region, technology and partnership can achieve near real-time cross-border settlement.

Lessons Learned

1. Diversify payment rails. Relying on one network (SWIFT) limits flexibility; combining local and global systems creates redundancy and speed.
2. Automate compliance. Real-time screening reduces delays and ensures continuous oversight.
3. Local liquidity matters. Direct settlement accounts in key markets cut costs and remove intermediaries.
4. Transparency drives retention. Clients value the ability to track payments as they do shipments.
5. Regional alignment reduces friction. Standardizing documentation and reporting prevents repeated checks.

The Broader Impact on APAC Finance

This case reflects a broader regional trend — the digital transformation of cross-border payments across Asia-Pacific. Central banks and private firms are working toward interoperability between domestic real-time systems, such as the ASEAN Payment Connectivity Project, which links networks like PayNow, PromptPay, and DuitNow.

The fintech’s success demonstrated how collaboration between regulators, banks, and technology providers can remove long-standing barriers to efficient international payments