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BRICS explores linking fast-payment systems and CBDCs for cross-border retail payments
Our read
BRICS payment links will reach cross-border merchant checkout first through bilateral QR and instant-payment corridors, while CBDCs initially matter more for settlement than for everyday retail spending.
For operators
Cross-border retailers should monitor BRICS payment interoperability and ensure their payment stacks can add local fast-payment and CBDC rails if lower-cost settlement becomes commercially available.
Watch
Formal BRICS roadmap, technical standard, governance body, or pilot timetable for fast-payment and CBDC linkage.
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The report,
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said BRICS is discussing links between fast-payment systems and CBDCs to reduce cross-border retail transaction costs and improve speed. India is also pursuing rupee internationalisation and local-currency trade settlement.
Channel facts
From the report. Source details below
- 2026
What it means for online and offline
Payments companies should prioritize exploratory partnerships with BRICS banks, wallet providers and scheme operators to secure interoperability positions before standards and preferred networks consolidate.
Signals to track
- Bilateral production launches connecting UPI with BRICS payment rails, beyond existing tourist-payment or remittance pilots.
- Central-bank decisions on retail CBDC access for nonresidents, foreign wallets, and merchant acceptance.
- Regulatory changes allowing local-currency merchant settlement, simplified FX conversion, or cross-border QR payment acceptance.
- Payment-provider announcements of BRICS corridor APIs, merchant acquiring support, or instant FX settlement.
- Evidence of lower merchant discount rates, improved authorization rates, or material consumer uptake in pilot corridors.
Likely next moves
Our read of what comes next — analysis, not reported by the source.
- Map cross-border revenue, tourist spending, remittance-linked demand, and supplier payments by BRICS corridor, especially India-linked flows.
- Ask payment service providers whether they support UPI, local instant-payment schemes, local-currency settlement, and future CBDC interoperability APIs.
- Prioritize local-currency pricing and FX transparency in India, Brazil, China, South Africa, and high-volume travel corridors rather than waiting for CBDC rollout.
- Build payment architecture that can add account-to-account and QR-based tender types without redesigning checkout, refunds, reconciliation, or fraud controls.
- Evaluate whether faster local-currency settlement can reduce FX exposure, card interchange, chargeback losses, and cross-border inventory funding costs.
The counter-case
The case against this reading — not reported by the source.
The announcement is aspirational rather than operational. Linking domestic fast-payment rails and CBDCs across BRICS would require difficult alignment on FX conversion, capital controls, sanctions exposure, AML/KYC, data residency, consumer protection, settlement finality and dispute handling. Even if technical interoperability is achieved, merchant and consumer adoption may remain limited without competitive FX rates, broad acceptance and clear regulatory treatment. Existing card networks, correspondent banking, wallets and bilateral payment links already serve many cross-border use cases, reducing the near-term disruptive impact.