Latest opinions that Akhil Rao has shared on Finextra

Join the Community

23,504

Expert opinions

41,346

Total members

343

New members (last 30 days)

184

New opinions (last 30 days)

29,138

Total comments

Join Sign in

Akhil Rao

Director

Nth Exception

Member since

18 Dec 2020

Location

London

View Akhil Rao's full profile

Akhil's opinions

Beyond Messaging: How ISO 20022 Structured Data Will Reshape Global Payments

The global cross border payments ecosystem is undergoing one of its most significant transformations in decades. With the November 2025 deadline marking the end of the coexistence period for SWIFT MT and ISO 20022 messaging standards, financial institutions are accelerating efforts to align with the CBPR+ roadmap. However, this transition is m...

10 May 2025 /payments /regulation

ISO 20022 and Machine Learning: Transforming Cross-Border Payments

In today’s interconnected economy, efficient cross-border payments are crucial for businesses and individuals alike. Yet, traditional payment methods often face challenges such as delays, high costs, and limited transparency. Fortunately, recent innovations in financial technology, notably the adoption of the ISO 20022 messaging standard and machi...

14 May 2024 /payments /retail SWIFT Matters

Demystifying ISO 20022: A Comprehensive Guide for Financial Institutions

In today's rapidly evolving financial landscape, where technology and connectivity play a pivotal role, the need for standardized and efficient communication within the industry has become more crucial than ever. Enter ISO 20022, an international standard for financial messaging that is revolutionizing the way institutions exchange information and...

29 May 2023 /payments /retail

The Global ISO 20022 Journey - Nuances, Complexities and Considerations

Standards are a cornerstone of the financial industry. For over 40 years the SWIFT MT standard has enabled industry automation, reducing the cost and risk of cross-border business, and enabling the development of the correspondent banking system on which world trade depends. Today, around 28 million MT messages are exchanged on the SWIFT network e...

16 August 2022 /payments /regulation SWIFT Matters

Value of ISO 20022 for FinTechs

As a common business language for the financial marketplace, ISO 20022 is firmly positioned as a unifier for new and contrasting FinTech innovations, such as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), Smart Contract (SC), and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Considered the de facto, universal business language for financial industry initiative...

06 September 2021 /payments /retail The Payments Business

DLT in Payments and Settlements - Bridging the Gap

Major transformations in payments and settlements have occurred in generations. The first generation was paper-based. Delivery times for payment instruments took several days domestically and weeks internationally. The second generation involved computerization with batch processing. Links between payment systems were made through manual or file-b...

06 September 2021 /payments Payments strategies 2015-2020-2030

ISO 20022 and APIs will foster Payments standardization

Cross-border payments are more than moving money from one country to another. It’s also about making payments safe, efficient, and compliant with regulations, and the data about the payment that must be transferred as well. For this to take place, a number of checks and processes need to be ensured before the payment is made, while it is moving th...

23 March 2021 /payments Banking Strategy, Digital and Transformation

Will the industry ever achieve 100 percent STP in cross-border payments?

Cross-border payments are becoming faster, but friction remains, slowing some payments down. Will the industry ever achieve 100% STP (straight-through-processing) rates in cross-border payments? The digital transformation of monetary services has accelerated the pace of cross-border payments; in many cases payments are settled almost instantly. Bu...

09 February 2021 /payments /retail

How Exactly will ISO 20022 fix reconciliations?

Any TMS morning starts with updating and reconciling the cash positions across accounts by a daily upload of electronic bank statements (MT 940, 942..). This financial reconciliation focuses on balances and net credit and debit movements across the accounts and helps treasurers build an image of liquidity and dealing capital and other requirements...

26 January 2021 /payments /retail Banking Strategy, Digital and Transformation

Payments Data Strategy in the period of Payments Modernization

Historically, much of the data linked to payments has been underused (or not at all used) — in large part because processing systems were not set up to extract and operationalize this data. AML and Sanctions screening have faced much of heat with the limitations. Can the new standard fix it? Sanctions screening is a control used in the detection,...

18 January 2021 /payments /retail Banking Strategy, Digital and Transformation