Author: Digital Trade Outlook

Frankfurt, Germany — October 1, 2025 — Nium and Emirates NBD have expanded their cross-border payments partnership, extending real-time payout capabilities across the Emirates NBD Group in the UAE, with a rollout in Saudi Arabia currently under consideration. The partnership, first announced in 2024, now allows a broader base of Emirates NBD customers to access international transfers through Nium’s payments infrastructure. The expansion comes as demand continues to rise for faster and more cost-efficient remittance services across the region. Expansion Across UAE with Saudi Rollout in Focus The extended collaboration enables Emirates NBD to offer real-time cross-border payment services across…

Brussels, Belgium — September 29, 2025 — SWIFT said it is developing a blockchain-based shared ledger in collaboration with more than 30 global financial institutions, aimed at enabling real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments. The initiative marks an expansion of its infrastructure strategy as the industry explores digital asset-based payment models. The project will begin with a conceptual prototype built with Consensys, focusing initially on cross-border payments. SWIFT said the ledger is intended to support the movement of regulated tokenised value while maintaining interoperability with existing financial systems. Building Digital Infrastructure for Payments The proposed ledger will act as a secure, shared…