The region’s share of global revenue dropped from 24.3% in 2020 as fintech competition and regulatory shifts reshaped the market.

Europe’s share of global cross-border payment revenue slipped 1.5 percentage points between 2020 and 2024, driven by faster growth in Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the rise of non-bank competitors. From 24.3% in 2020, the region’s share declined to 22.8% in 2024, according to aggregated industry data. While the shift is modest in absolute terms, it is significant in a market now estimated at over $905 billion and expanding rapidly, where even marginal share changes represent billions of dollars in revenue flows.

The Decline in Context

Europe’s loss of 1.5 percentage points of global cross-border payment revenue occurred against a backdrop of strong overall market growth. The global cross-border payments market is estimated at over $905 billion and growing, making the region’s relative decline a material competitive signal. The trend is projected to continue: by 2035, Europe is expected to account for 22.2% of global revenue, suggesting further slight erosion of approximately 0.6 percentage points from current levels.

Share (%) (%)Source: Orionmano Industries

The 1.5 pp decline is a relative measure: Europe’s absolute revenue from cross-border payments has likely continued growing alongside the global market, but at a slower pace than rival regions. This decoupling reflects structural shifts in where payment flows are originating and which providers are capturing value.

Drivers of Erosion: Competition and Regulation

Two interrelated forces are reshaping Europe’s cross-border payments landscape: the rise of fintech competitors and the impact of new regulatory mandates.

Fintechs and neobanks have rapidly gained ground in person-to-person (P2P) cross-border payments, eroding banks’ dominance in Europe. Visa’s analysis notes that banks, once dominant in this segment, have seen their share erode as new entrants deliver faster, cheaper, and more intuitive services. This competitive pressure is not unique to Europe, but the region’s mature banking infrastructure and high smartphone penetration make it an attractive battleground for digital-first providers.

Speed metrics reveal a mixed picture. Globally, the share of payment services by payment service providers (PSPs) settling within one hour declined to 33.5% in 2024, a drop of 0.7 percentage points from 2023. For P2P payments specifically, 46.4% of services settled within one hour — the closest of any use case to G20 targets, but with only limited progress since 2023. Notably, Europe-Eurozone recorded the largest improvement in wholesale cross-border payment speed among all regions, but retail speed deteriorated overall. This suggests that while high-value corporate flows are becoming more efficient, consumer-facing payment corridors are lagging.

Regulatory action is accelerating. The European Parliament’s 2024 legislation mandates that instant euro transfers be offered at no extra cost to consumers and businesses, a measure expected to boost adoption of SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) across 36 countries. SCT Inst already enables euro transfers in under 10 seconds, and the pricing mandate aims to close the gap between standard and instant transactions. Lower fees and greater transparency for consumers and enterprises are explicit regulatory targets. However, the speed of retail payments deteriorated since 2023, with the share of payment services by PSPs settling within one business day falling by 5 percentage points to 69%, suggesting that regulatory intent has not yet translated into measurable operational improvements across all corridors.

Regional Competitive Dynamics

Europe’s performance must be assessed relative to peer regions, particularly in speed, cost, and market structure.

Europe and Central Asia retain the lead for cheapest retail cross-border payments. The region has the smallest share of corridors costing more than 3% of the send amount, a key G20 target threshold. However, progress is uneven: the region’s retail corridors continue to experience slow speeds, tempering the cost advantage.

Speed improvements elsewhere are reshaping competitive dynamics. Middle East and Africa, and Latin America, have shown the most significant improvements in retail speed since 2024. P2P retail cross-border payments sent from Latin America and the Caribbean experienced one of the most pronounced speed gains globally. Meanwhile, North America maintained its lead in wholesale payment speed, while Sub-Saharan Africa lags on both cost and speed targets.

Europe remains a major source of global remittance outflows. In 2024, $234 billion originated from European countries, accounting for 27.6% of global remittances. Five countries — Germany, the UK, France, Spain, and Italy — each send more than $20 billion annually in remittances. Europe’s migrant population of 94 million provides a structural demand base for cross-border P2P payments. This deep remittance infrastructure offers a defensive moat against share erosion, but also means the region’s revenue profile is disproportionately exposed to any shifts in migration patterns or corridor competition.

Outlook

Europe’s regulatory push for instant and cheaper cross-border payments, combined with its entrenched remittance corridors, may slow further share erosion, but the region must accelerate modernisation to compete with faster-growing markets in Asia and Latin America. The 2024 instant transfer legislation is a meaningful step, but implementation lags and retail speed deterioration suggest the payoff will take time. Europe’s wholesale payment improvements are encouraging, yet retail corridors — where consumers directly experience cross-border payments — remain slow. As other regions improve both cost and speed, Europe’s lead on affordability may narrow, making the case for sustained investment in modernisation more urgent.