As the United States officially assumes the rotating presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) on December 1, 2025, it gains a critical opportunity to consolidate its competitive advantages in the global financial system. To seize this opportunity, the U.S. must genuinely fulfill its G20 commitments on modernizing cross-border payments, focus on enhancing price transparency, and expand direct access to U.S. payment systems. Achieving the goals of speed, lower costs, transparency, and financial inclusion has become an economic necessity for the American people.

The U.S. financial system is vibrant and plays a key role globally, which gives it the responsibility to lead payment modernization. However, unlike other G20 economies—including the UK, Singapore, Brazil, and Canada—the U.S. has not yet expanded direct access to its national payment rails to institutions beyond deposit-taking banks. The Federal Reserve's current conservative interpretation of the Federal Reserve Act restricts access to payment rails, forcing innovative non-bank payment companies to rely on a slow and costly correspondent banking system, increasing friction for consumers and making the U.S. the only G7 economy that has not advanced direct access for non-bank payment institutions.

Brigit Carroll, Head of Americas Policy at Wise
Brigit Carroll
Image provided courtesy of Wise
 

The current situation causes Americans to pay higher costs for inferior payment experiences, hinders innovation, and impedes financial inclusion, making it harder for low-income and unbanked populations to access faster, more affordable digital services. Encouragingly, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller recently proposed establishing a new "skinny master account" to expand payment system access for eligible financial institutions. This move could bring the U.S. closer to G20 goals, unleash greater competitive vitality, accelerate payment speeds, and reduce costs for millions of Americans.

The G20 framework also emphasizes transparency in cross-border transfers, ensuring consumers understand thetruecost of each payment. When financial institutions conceal fees, they deceive customers, undermine trust, and stifle genuine competition, preventing consumers from accurately comparing different services. The U.S. has previously demonstrated global leadership in transparency, such as through the Remittance Rule implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which requires service providers to disclose exchange rates and fees before a transaction is completed. Now, the spirit of "radical transparency" should be extended to all cross-border payments, and mandating disclosure of total costs must become the foundation of 21st-century digital transactions.

Enhancing price transparency will save Americans billions of dollars. According to research estimates from Wise, eliminating hidden exchange rate markups could save U.S. consumers and small businesses approximately $19 billion in 2025 alone, with potential savings reaching $46 billion by 2027. The time is ripe for the U.S. to deliver on G20 goals and pursue the dividends of a faster, cheaper, and more competitive financial ecosystem. This means expanding direct access to Federal Reserve payment systems to non-bank payment companies and improving price transparency in cross-border payments. These measures will send a clear signal: in the next generation of global payments, the U.S. intends to lead, not follow.

The U.S. must leverage its G20 presidency to demonstrate that its global financial leadership is rooted in a modernized, competitive domestic financial system.