Revealed: The key trends behind the world’s leading cross-border payments companies

• FXC Intelligence, the leading provider of cross-border payments data and intelligence, last week published the sixth annual Cross-Border Payments 100, the definitive benchmark of the most important players in the industry.
• Today, FXC Intelligence shares a new report featuring analysis of the data behind the companies included in this year’s Top 100 – how long they’ve been around, who’s leading them, who’s backing them and how big they are – to provide a unique picture of the industry in 2024.
• With six years of Top 100 data to leverage, FXC Intelligence is well positioned to share the key trends shaping the cross-border payments industry for 2024.

Last week, FXC Intelligence published the sixth annual Cross-Border Payments 100, the definitive benchmark of the most important players in the industry. 

Today, FXC Intelligence is sharing analysis of the data behind the companies included in the Top 100 to reveal key trends in cross border payments for 2024.

As part of the report, FXC Intelligence has analysed the age of the companies; the leaders of the companies; how the companies are funded; where they are based; and how big they are. 

Here are the key trends revealed by the analysis:

Gender diversity is still a challenge for global payments

This year, only four companies had a woman as CEO or in a leadership role that most closely resembled CEO for the company. Though women continue to play a role at C-suite level and in senior roles across many of the businesses we track, it is telling that the most senior position at almost all of the companies on our list continues to be filled by a man. 

VC-backing has been critical to scale

While the venture capital market has seen a dip recently, it is clear to see the impact of funding since 2010 in the Top 100, which features even more VC-backed payments challengers this year. Despite being founded much later than some of the more established players (e.g. banks), many of these companies already have employee counts well over 1,000 and a global presence worldwide, highlighting the continued impact that VC funding has had on the cross-border payments space. 

B2B payments is where companies see the opportunities

Out of the total companies on our list with B2B payments as a main focus area, 71% of them were founded in or after 2000, with 43% founded in 2010 or later. This reflects a shift that we are beginning to see in cross-border payments as companies look to capitalise on B2B payments, a fragmented market with no clear frontrunners.

The US remains a leader – but emerging markets are rising

Out of the Top 100, 37 companies were founded in North America, with 35 of those founded in the US. 17, meanwhile, were founded in the UK. With the exception of these frontrunners, companies have been founded at a diverse set of locations worldwide and several new additions to the Top 100 this year have focused on the LatAm market, including DolFinTech, Grupo Elektra and TransNetwork. 

Commenting on these trends, Daniel Webber, CEO and Founder of FXC Intelligence, said:

“As the market-leading provider of data and intelligence to the cross-border payments industry, FXC Intelligence is uniquely positioned to identify which companies in the space truly matter in our annual Cross-Border Payments 100. 

“We now have six years’ worth of rich data on each of these players, which when leveraged reveal the key driving forces that have shaped the industry over the past six years and the challenges that remain to be tackled. 

“As has been the case in previous years, the lack of female representation at the top of these companies continues to be a challenging sticking point in the industry. I urge all decision makers to ensure that the excellent female talent in the industry is given effective support to reach leadership positions.”

To read the 2024 Cross-Border Payments 100 in full, click here and to read the analysis of the companies in the Top 100 click here. 

Further information

• FXC Intelligence is the industry leader in cross-border payments data and intelligence.
• The world's biggest banks, payments and big tech companies use our critical data to make vital decisions that shape their day-to-day operations, product development and strategy.
• Our data is also used by a number of international bodies, including the World Bank and the Financial Stability Board, to provide the most important indices in the sector.
• We track pricing, market size and product changes as they happen and update our dataset at high frequency, giving our clients the competitive edge they need to stay on top in a rapidly changing market.
• Our platform, which is built on top of our data, offers solutions such as a price engine and sales enablement tool to drive our clients’ growth and profit.
• Our data gives us a unique understanding of cross-border payments and we share our analysis and insights every week with subscribers to our newsletter, the most widely read in the cross-border payments market globally. Interested and want to find out more? Sign up to our newsletter here.

Kezia Johnson
External Communications and Branding Manager
kjohnson@fxcintel.com