{
  "id": 5048801,
  "title": "Interoperability Now Drives Asia-Pacific’s Real-Time Payments Agenda",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/interoperability-now-drives-asia-pacifics-real-time-payments-agenda",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-02T08:03:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PYMNTS",
    "slug": "pymnts",
    "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/real-time-payments/2026/interoperability-now-drives-asia-pacifics-real-time-payments-agenda/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Real-time payments in Asia-Pacific are moving towards a new phase, with countries joining forces to connect their domestic instant payment systems across borders. Project Nexus, backed by the Bank for International Settlements, is linking Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines to create a common cross-border framework. This change reduces delays and costs associated with routing payments through correspondent banks. Meanwhile, India is exploring a link between Alipay+ and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for cross-border transactions, while China prepares to launch mBridge, a digital currency platform that settles payments directly between central banks. Domestic upgrades are also advancing, with Singapore evaluating a second generation of PayNow and Thailand preparing for automatic payments based on preset conditions.",
  "summary": "Real-time payments in Asia-Pacific are entering a new phase. After years of building domestic instant payment rails, countries across the region are now connecting those systems across borders, expanding their commercial uses and laying the groundwork for transactions that run without a person at each step. The clearest example of that shift is Project Nexus. […] The post Interoperability Now…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}