Cross-border payments: the last mile consumes the speed.

Define when the transfer is actually complete.

A useful comparison follows the payment from the sender’s instruction to usable funds at the destination. Identify currency conversion, prefunding, operating hours, beneficiary checks and payout conditions. Separate an infrastructure confirmation from customer availability. A low visible fee can coexist with a costly exchange rate or a difficult cash-out journey. The result depends on the corridor, customer type and payout method.

Test a corridor rather than a slogan.

Measure total cost and time over a representative set of transactions, including exceptions and returns. State the starting and ending event for each timing measure. Examine support and liquidity needs before assuming that a faster rail produces a cheaper business. The Russian study uses historical FSB and World Bank material and the published Nexus blueprint as context. It does not claim that every proposed connection is operational or that reported historical averages are current quotations for an individual transfer.

Sources for the full study.