BNY Launches Pay-to-Wallet Solution to Streamline Cross-Border Payments to Digital Wallets

BNY has launched a Pay-to-Wallet capability, enabling financial institutions to facilitate cross-border payments from traditional bank accounts directly to retail digital wallets via existing SWIFT infrastructure. For fintech professionals, this bridges the gap between legacy correspondent banking and high-growth digital wallet ecosystems, reducing the technical burden of managing multiple direct wallet integrations.

What was announced

The new capability allows banks to tap into the burgeoning digital wallet market without the necessity of building bespoke technology stacks or complex layers of integration. By leveraging BNY’s established USD clearing network and its 24/7/365 processing infrastructure, participating banks can route payments through familiar SWIFT messaging channels. This approach is designed to lower the barrier to entry for banks looking to offer more versatile payout options to their retail customers while reducing implementation complexity and time-to-market.

The service is initially being enabled with selected participants in the Asia Pacific region, a market where digital-first payment methods have seen rapid adoption. Notable early users of the Pay-to-Wallet capability include Kookmin Bank in South Korea and Taishin Bank. The move addresses a significant shift in consumer behavior; in the Asia Pacific region, retail digital wallets currently account for 50% of all point-of-sale transactions. This figure is projected to exceed 60% by 2027, highlighting the necessity for banks to connect with these digital endpoints.

By utilizing correspondent banking infrastructure, BNY is positioning the service as a scalable solution for banks to capture payment flows that might otherwise migrate toward alternative, non-bank rails. The capability is designed to handle the complexity of connecting bank accounts to various participating retail wallet providers across different jurisdictions, with plans to expand the service globally over time.

"Digital wallets are becoming central to the cross-border payments landscape particularly in wallet-led markets across Asia Pacific and other high-growth corridors. To meet this growing demand, banks need capabilities they can deploy without having to build layers of integration with wallet providers. BNY's enablement of a Pay-to-Wallet capability provides a practical and scalable way to support payments from bank accounts to participating digital wallets through trusted existing infrastructure, making it faster and easier for participating banks to access digital wallet payment flows."

Fabian Khoshbakht, Head of Global Payments & Trade, APAC at BNY.

The companies involved

BNY, the global financial services company listed on the NYSE, serves as a critical pillar of the global financial infrastructure. The firm has a deep history in clearing and custody, often acting as a primary intermediary for international USD transactions. Its role in this announcement leverages its extensive USD clearing network, which operates around the clock to support global liquidity and trade. BNY has been a consistent participant in the modernization of cross-border payment rails, seeking to integrate traditional banking security with modern digital delivery methods.

Kookmin Bank, also known as KB Kookmin Bank, is a major financial institution based in South Korea and is part of the KB Financial Group. It is one of the largest banks in its home market, with a significant focus on foreign exchange business and retail services. Taishin Bank is another prominent financial institution in the Asia Pacific region participating in the initiative. Both banks are navigating a regional landscape where digital-first payment methods are rapidly displacing traditional cash and card transactions. As these institutions look to modernize their cross-border offerings, they are increasingly relying on global partners like BNY to bridge the gap between local wallet ecosystems and international banking standards.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has extensively covered BNY’s role in the evolution of financial market infrastructure, with 81 stories documenting the firm’s various initiatives. In late 2025, we reported on the firm’s efforts to modernize securities lending when EquiLend's 1Source Goes Live With BNY and National Bank of Canada. This move highlighted BNY’s commitment to adopting real-time data sharing in complex financial workflows. Furthermore, BNY has been a key voice in assessing industry readiness for major regulatory shifts. We previously covered their insights in Industry Braces for U.S. Treasury Central Clearing: New Survey Reveals Readiness Gaps and Rising Costs, which examined how financial institutions are preparing for new clearing mandates. These reports illustrate a consistent strategy of leveraging technology to solve structural inefficiencies in global finance.

What this means

The launch of Pay-to-Wallet represents a strategic defense of the correspondent banking model. By enabling banks to reach digital wallets through SWIFT, BNY is attempting to prevent the total migration of retail cross-border flows to closed-loop fintech ecosystems. This moves the needle by solving the "last mile" problem in high-growth markets like Asia Pacific, where the bank account is no longer the primary endpoint for many consumers. However, this development puts significant pressure on other tier-one clearing banks to offer similar interoperability. The open question for the sector is whether the inherent costs of the SWIFT network can remain competitive against the low-fee structures of native digital wallet networks as they continue to scale.