Newly formed Nexus Global Payments will connect ASEAN-5 and India instant payment systems, enabling real-time cross-border B2B payments by 2026.

Cross-border B2B payments for suppliers in Singapore—historically requiring days to clear and incurring significant costs through correspondent banking chains—are set for an overhaul. Project Nexus, now under the newly incorporated Nexus Global Payments entity in Singapore, will enable B2B suppliers to receive cross-border payments within 60 seconds via existing domestic instant payment systems, directly reducing settlement costs and improving cash conversion cycles from 2026.

The Fragmented State of Cross-Border B2B Payments

Cross-border payments have long been hindered by fragmentation, high costs, and slow processing times (Source 6). While over 70 countries now operate domestic instant payment systems (IPS) that settle in seconds at near-zero cost, these systems remain siloed. Cross-border payments must still route through correspondent banks or global payment platforms, introducing delays and layered fees (Source 5). For businesses—particularly micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that lack the treasury infrastructure of multinational corporations—this fragmentation imposes a structural disadvantage. SMEs today have no simple way to send payments to suppliers in other countries without opening multiple bank accounts in each corridor or relying on costly intermediaries (Source 2). A supplier in Singapore waiting for funds from a buyer in Thailand or India can face settlement times of two to five business days, with opaque FX margins and intermediary charges that erode margin on already tight B2B transactions.

How Project Nexus Enables Real-Time B2B Corridors

Project Nexus directly addresses this fragmentation. At its core, the scheme uses a standardised framework that enables domestic IPS to communicate and interact seamlessly. Through a single integration with the Nexus platform, each connected IPS can transact with all others in the network—eliminating the need for bilateral connections between every pair of countries (Source 6). The network supports multiple payment use cases, including B2B, P2P, business-to-person, and person-to-business flows. Critically, businesses can send supplier payments directly from their existing domestic IPS account, without opening separate accounts in each destination market (Source 2). Settlement is achieved within 60 seconds in most cases, matching the speed of domestic instant payments (Source 7). Nexus Global Payments (NGP) was incorporated in Singapore in March 2025 as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee to operate the scheme, transitioning Project Nexus from a BIS Innovation Hub prototype to live infrastructure (Source 3).

Settlement Time (seconds) (seconds)Source: Orionmano Industries

Impact on Supplier Settlement Costs and Cash Conversion Cycles

The operational and financial implications for Singapore-based B2B suppliers are direct. Project Nexus promises faster, cheaper, and more transparent cross-border payments, reducing transaction costs for corporations engaged in international trade (Source 4). Instead of incurring correspondent banking fees of US$25–US$50 per transaction plus FX spreads of 2–5%, suppliers will transact via connected IPS at fees benchmarked to domestic levels—often near-zero for the sender and recipient. HSBC’s Ma-an David, domestic payables lead for global payments solutions in Asia Pacific, noted that corporations do not want to open accounts in every corridor they transact with; the multilateral interconnection of real-time payment infrastructures under Nexus makes corridor-specific setups redundant (Source 4). This lowers operational overhead for finance and treasury teams. More importantly, cutting settlement time from days to seconds directly improves cash conversion cycles (CCC). A B2B supplier that previously waited four days for an export payment to clear can now receive and deploy the funds within one minute, reducing working capital requirements and the need for bridging finance or bank overdrafts. The impact is especially material for SMEs, where cash flow constraints are the primary cause of business failure.

Implementation Timeline and Governance

The institutional framework for this transition is now in place. In April 2025, the five central bank partners—Reserve Bank of India, Bank Negara Malaysia, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Bank of Thailand—formalised NGP’s incorporation in Singapore (Source 3). NGP will operate as a not-for-profit entity, governed by the partner central banks and responsible for scheme rulebooks, technical standards, and onboarding. Project Nexus is set to go live in 2026, starting with the ASEAN-5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand) and India (Source 4). The BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre continues to support the coalition, and the scheme is designed to expand globally—additional central banks and IPS operators are expected to join as the network demonstrates real-world throughput and reliability (Source 7). For Singapore’s trade finance ecosystem, the outlook is clear: with NGP operational and the network open to additional central banks, Project Nexus is positioned to become a global standard for instant cross-border payments, further integrating Singapore’s trade finance ecosystem and slashing working capital constraints for B2B suppliers.