Cross-border B2B payments are entering a new phase.
A decade ago, any company wanting to pay a supplier in Manila, invoice a customer in São Paulo, or pay a remote contractor in Nairobi had effectively one option. They had to navigate correspondent banking, eat the FX markup, and wait several days for settlement.
Today, a new generation of platforms offers direct connections to local payment systems, real-time settlement, multi-currency accounts, and increasingly, stablecoin rails. All of it through a single API.
The result is a category that has graduated from "SWIFT alternative" to full-stack financial infrastructure for global businesses.
The scale is already significant. In its most recent fiscal quarter, Wise alone processed USD 66.2B (£49.4B) in cross-border transactions, up 26% year-over-year. Airwallex reports roughly USD 100B in annualized payment volume.
Specialist networks like Thunes are now cited by Juniper Research as competing directly with Swift and Visa on the metrics that matter most to modern businesses: speed, coverage, transparency, and cost.
Here are five platforms currently defining the B2B cross-border payments category in 2026, ranked by a mix of volume, reach, product breadth, and competitive momentum.
1. Wise Platform
HQ: London, U.K.
Wise was founded as TransferWise in January 2011 by Estonian co-founders Mr. Kristo Käärmann (CEO) and Mr. Taavet Hinrikus. The idea came from the duo's own frustration with bank FX markups while moving money between Estonia and the U.K.
They solved it with a peer-to-peer matching model that cut out correspondent banking.
The company went public via direct listing on the London Stock Exchange in July 2021 at an $10B (£8B) market cap. It rebranded from TransferWise to Wise alongside the listing and is currently pursuing a secondary Nasdaq listing in 2026. Wise Platform is its B2B infrastructure arm.
Wise Platform gives banks and businesses access to one of the largest direct-connected cross-border networks available. It supports 40+ currencies and holds 80 regulatory licenses globally.
The platform has direct membership in eight domestic faster-payments systems: Australia, Brazil, Europe, Hungary, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and the U.K. It also partners with 90+ banks worldwide. In January 2026, Wise became one of the first payment institutions granted membership to Payments Canada, adding another direct rail.
The platform is powered by 950+ engineers and integrates via API or Swift.
It serves 11.3M active customers.
Roughly 80% of Platform-routed payments settle instantly, and 88% land within 24 hours. Platform customers include Bank Mandiri in Indonesia, SME neobank Aspire in Southeast Asia, Malaysian bank MBSB, and Upwork for freelancer payouts.
For banks modernizing their correspondent banking stack or SME platforms needing embedded global payments, Wise Platform is one of the clearest category leaders by volume and cost transparency.

2. Thunes
HQ: Singapore
Thunes was spun out of TransferTo, a Singapore-based mobile payments business founded in 2005. The cross-border payments arm branched off in 2016 under co-founders Mr. Peter De Caluwe (CEO) and Mr. Eric Barbier.
The rebrand to Thunes was completed in early 2019. De Caluwe led the company through its early years, moved into a Deputy Chairman role in January 2024, and returned as CEO in October 2025 after the 18-month tenure of former Worldpay executive Mr. Floris de Kort.
The company has raised over USD 362M across five rounds. Its USD 150M Series D was led by Apis Partners and Vitruvian Partners. Key investors include Visa, Marshall Wace, Insight Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Helios Investment Partners, GGV Capital, and Checkout.com.
The Direct Global Network spans 140 countries, 90 currencies, and 220+ payment methods. It has direct connections to 145 mobile wallet brands including M-Pesa, GCash, AliPay, and WeChat Pay HK.
The platform is backed by 50 regulatory licenses, including MAS, FCA, ACPR, FinCEN, and 50 U.S. state money-transmitter licenses. It serves 720+ Network Members including Uber, Deliveroo, Grab, Airbnb, Payoneer, WorldRemit, Equity Bank, PayPal, and Remitly.
In-house products include the SmartX Treasury System for FX and liquidity automation and the Fortress Compliance Platform for monitoring and sanctions screening.
Recent strategic moves have focused on interoperability and stablecoin rails. Thunes extended its Pay-to-Banks and Pay-to-Wallets solutions to the 11,500 banks on Swift. In 2025, it also acquired Tilia, an all-in-one payments platform for online games, virtual worlds, and creator economies previously owned by Second Life's parent Linden Lab. and launched Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets.
It also partnered with Circle on USDC-based settlement.
In 2026, Juniper Research placed Thunes in the top three globally alongside Swift and Visa. The company also won Best Cross-Border Payment Solution at the MPE Awards 2026 and FStech's Cross-Border Payment Infrastructure of the Year.

3.Xflow
HQ: Bengaluru, India
Back in 2021, Xflow started with a simple idea. Sending and receiving money across borders shouldn't be such a headache for Indian businesses. At the time, many exporters and SaaS companies were losing money to poor exchange rates, waiting days for payments to clear, and spending far too much time dealing with banking paperwork.
Instead of asking businesses to work around those problems, Xflow tried to remove them. The platform gives companies virtual accounts that can receive payments in more than 25 currencies from customers across 140-plus countries. In places where local payment networks are available, customers can pay as they normally would at home, while the Indian business receives the money directly in its bank account, often by the next business day.
The platform also handles much of the paperwork that usually comes with international payments. Documents such as eFIRA and FIRC are processed through RBI-authorized banking partners, so finance teams don't have to chase them manually every time a payment arrives.
Another thing Xflow has focused on is making costs easier to understand. Businesses aren't left guessing how much they'll receive after hidden exchange rate markups or intermediary bank deductions. Where local payment rails are available, foreign exchange rates are linked to the mid-market rate. Companies can also send invoices, create payment links, keep an eye on incoming payments, and sync transactions with Zoho Books or Tally to make reconciliation less of a chore.
The company has added more features over time as well. After receiving RBI authorization, it expanded from export collections to supporting import payments too. It has also earned ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certifications and raised more than US$16 million from investors, including General Catalyst and PayPal Ventures.



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