Cross-border payment failures drive up banks' costs

LexisNexis found that financial institutions also spend more resources resolving transaction issues.

Failed cross-border payments continue to create additional costs for financial institutions, with some incurring bank charges and spending more resources to resolve transaction issues.

A LexisNexis Risk Solutions survey of 150 financial institutions worldwide, conducted in the third quarter of 2025, found that 34% of respondents said between 12% and 25% of their failed cross-border transactions incurred charges from banking partners.

Another 18% reported that more than 25% of failed transactions resulted in charges or fees.

Meanwhile, 59% of institutions said between 4% and 8% of their cross-border payments required additional enrichment, beneficiary verification, or repair before they could be processed.

These procedures involve checking or correcting payment details before a transaction can proceed.

The findings also showed that 38% of respondents reported that 6% to 8% of their payments required additional checks or repairs, whilst 21% said the proportion was between 4% and 5%.

For charges imposed by banking partners, 23% of respondents said these applied to 12% to 15% of failed transactions, whilst 11% reported charges on 1% to 3% of such payments.

The report found that failed payments require financial institutions to spend additional time, resources, and money resolving transaction issues, alongside any fees imposed by banking partners.