Are fintechs cheaper than banks for cross-border payments?

According to BIS research summarized by Finextra, yes. Operators such as Wise and Remitly have substantially cut costs relative to traditional retail bank wires, though cross-border payments overall remain slow and expensive.

Are stablecoins a cheaper cross-border rail?

Not clearly. The BIS paper finds stablecoin costs depend on on- and off-ramp charges, and the BIS describes friction as a continuing problem for the stablecoin channel.

Where does the cost sit in a bank wire?

BIS Working Paper 1385 reports FX markups of about 2% to 4.7% in its small sample, before wire fees. The sample is limited, so the range should not be read as a market average.

BIS: Fintechs undercut bank wires; stablecoins lag on cost

BIS research finds fintech transfer operators cheaper than retail bank wires, while stablecoin costs hinge on on- and off-ramp fees.

Fintech transfer operators such as Wise and Remitly now beat retail bank wires on cross-border cost, while stablecoins do not clearly win once on- and off-ramp fees are counted, according to BIS research. The pricing pressure therefore falls on bank FX markups, not on crypto rails, which still carry friction.

The Ledger Desk October 23, 2026 Updated October 23, 2026 · 3 min read

BIS research reported by Finextra finds fintech operators such as Wise and Remitly have substantially cut costs relative to retail bank wires.
BIS Working Paper 1385 reports bank FX markups of roughly 2% to 4.7% before wire fees in its small sample.
Stablecoin transfer costs depend heavily on on- and off-ramp charges, so a cheap token transfer does not mean a cheap end-to-end payment.
The competitive pressure on incumbents is about FX margin and transparency, not about the settlement technology itself.
Compliance and treasury teams should compare all-in delivered cost, not headline fees, when choosing a cross-border rail.

Cross-border payments remain slow and expensive, but the cost gap is no longer between banks and crypto. According to BIS research summarized by Finextra, fintech operators such as Wise and Remitly have substantially cut costs relative to retail bank wires, while stablecoins still suffer from friction. The incumbent exposed here is the bank FX margin, not the correspondent network as such.

Why fintechs win on price

The BIS paper, Working Paper 1385, compares bank wires, fintech transfer operators and stablecoin transfers. In its small sample, bank FX markups ran from about 2% to 4.7% before wire fees. Fintech operators priced well below that. The mechanism is structural: a bank wire runs through the correspondent banking chain and layers an exchange-rate spread on top, while a specialist operator competes directly on the delivered amount.

Why stablecoins have not closed the gap

Stablecoin transfers look cheap at the token layer, but the BIS paper finds the total cost depends on on- and off-ramp charges, the points where a payer converts local currency into tokens and back again. Those conversion steps reintroduce spreads and fees, which is where the reported friction sits. The practical reading is that the rail is not the bottleneck; the entry and exit points are.

What this means for banks and compliance teams

The second-order effect is pricing transparency. Once a fintech quote shows the exact amount delivered, a bank wire with a separate fee and an embedded FX margin becomes easy to benchmark. Compliance and treasury teams should compare all-in delivered cost per corridor, and treat stablecoin routes as a separate risk review covering on-ramp and off-ramp counterparties. The BIS has long framed the cross-border cost problem as a global one, so incumbents should expect continued scrutiny rather than a single fix.

What to watch next: whether banks cut FX spreads or unbundle fees in response, and whether stablecoin ramp costs fall enough to change the BIS comparison. The paper's sample is small, and its findings should be read as directional evidence rather than a complete market measurement.

Are fintechs cheaper than banks for cross-border payments?: According to BIS research summarized by Finextra, yes. Operators such as Wise and Remitly have substantially cut costs relative to traditional retail bank wires, though cross-border payments overall remain slow and expensive.
Are stablecoins a cheaper cross-border rail?: Not clearly. The BIS paper finds stablecoin costs depend on on- and off-ramp charges, and the BIS describes friction as a continuing problem for the stablecoin channel.
Where does the cost sit in a bank wire?: BIS Working Paper 1385 reports FX markups of about 2% to 4.7% in its small sample, before wire fees. The sample is limited, so the range should not be read as a market average.

Fintechs top banks and stablecoins for cheap cross-border payment - BIS research — Finextra
Competing rails for crossborder payments: banks, fintechs, and stablecoins (Working Paper 1385) — Bank for International Settlements
Cross-border payments (BIS speech, 28 October 2025) — Bank for International Settlements

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