Bradesco Completed First Real-Time Cross-Border Payment

The pilot used Bank of America’s payment solution, offering faster international settlements for corporate clients.

Updated on Oct. 8, 2026 in Financial Services

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Bradesco completed its first cross-border payment using Bank of America’s real-time settlement solution, routing a transaction through Hong Kong’s instant-payment infrastructure. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Bradesco has completed the first transaction using Bank of America's cross-border real-time payments solution. The pilot payment was settled in Hong Kong dollars using the local Faster Payment System, demonstrating an alternative for international transfers.

Why it matters

Financial institutions are testing these solutions to accelerate international payments without forcing clients to abandon their existing banking infrastructure. This shift aims to reduce settlement times for businesses that currently rely on slower, legacy cross-border rails.

The pilot involved a single transaction delivered through the Hong Kong Faster Payment System via existing Swift connectivity. The full scope of future implementation remains unknown as the bank prepares to expand the service across more countries and currencies.

The players

Bradesco

A major Brazilian financial services institution with a vast domestic branch network.

Bank of America

A global banking leader that provides comprehensive treasury and payment services to corporations.

The details

The payment was routed through Bradesco’s existing Swift connectivity but finalized via the Hong Kong Faster Payment System to achieve real-time delivery. This mechanism allows banks to integrate modern, local instant-payment rails into their established global networks. Bank of America plans to integrate this capability into its CashPro platform to scale access for international clients.

Timeline

  1. June 2026: Bank of America announced the initial cross-border payments solution.

  2. October 8, 2026: Bank of America confirmed the successful completion of the Bradesco pilot.

Market Landscape

The pilot reflects a broader industry shift toward integrating local instant-payment rails with the established Swift international payments standard. This approach follows a growing trend of banks seeking to modernize infrastructure without discarding their existing global connectivity.

International businesses should track the rollout of this solution on the CashPro platform to evaluate if it can reduce their settlement times. Operators should review their current cross-border payment providers to determine if they offer similar access to local real-time systems.

The takeaway

This development highlights the industry movement to bridge slow legacy cross-border rails with high-speed local payment systems. Operators should monitor their banking partners for the availability of real-time cross-border options that can improve working capital turnover.

Further reading

For more context on how banks are updating global payment infrastructure, visit our Financial Services section.

Source note: This article includes information reported by Financial IT.

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Do you trust that new banking technology will make your international payments faster and cheaper?