Quick Reference: Global Payments & Digital Currency Terms
Term / Acronym |
Full name / concept |
What it means (in one line) |
| Payment rails | — | The underlying infrastructure that moves money between banks, businesses, and individuals. |
| SWIFT | Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication | The global messaging network banks use to send secure payment instructions across borders. |
| SWIFT gpi | SWIFT Global Payments Innovation | An upgraded SWIFT system that makes international payments faster, traceable, and more transparent.
|
| CBDCs | Central Bank Digital Currencies | Digital versions of national currencies issued by central banks for secure, real-time payments. |
| BIS | Bank for International Settlements | The institution that supports central banks in maintaining global monetary and financial stability. |
| mBridge | Multi-CBDC Bridge Project | A joint CBDC pilot by Asian and Middle Eastern central banks to enable instant cross-border payments. |
| Project Agorá | — | A BIS-led initiative testing tokenised money and smart contracts for faster global transactions. |
| Wero / EPI | European Payments Initiative | A pan-European digital wallet enabling instant account-to-account euro payments. |
| SEPA Instant | Single Euro Payments Area | A system allowing euro transfers within Europe to settle within seconds, regardless of bank. |
| BRICS Pay | — | A payments system being built by BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to trade in local currencies and reduce USD reliance. |
| Blockchain | — | A decentralised digital ledger that records transactions securely and transparently. |
| Stablecoins (USDC / USDT) | USDC (USD Coin) and USDT (Tether) | Cryptocurrencies pegged to the U.S. dollar for stable, fast, and low-cost digital payments. USDT is the most widely used stablecoin globally, especially in regions with unstable local currencies. |
| Digital wallets | — | Apps or platforms that store payment credentials and enable instant digital money transfers. |
| ISO 20022 | — | The new global payments messaging standard allows richer, structured data for faster, more accurate processing. |
ESAS
|
Exchange Settlement Account System | New Zealand’s real-time interbank settlement system operated by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. |
ERP
|
Enterprise Resource Planning | Business software integrating finance and treasury functions for automated reconciliation and reporting. |
| Fintech | Financial Technology | Technology-driven firms offering innovative, fast, and cost-efficient financial services. |
| AML | Anti-Money Laundering | Regulations and checks designed to detect and prevent financial crime. |
| B2B Settlements | Business-to-Business Payments | Payments between businesses, increasingly enabled through SWIFT, CBDCs, or blockchain. |
| USD | United States Dollar | The primary global reserve currency used for most international transactions. |
| Global GDP | Gross Domestic Product | The total value of goods and services produced globally — used to measure economic scale. |
| Tokenised money | — | Digital representations of real-world currency or assets issued on a blockchain. |
| Smart contracts | — | Self-executing digital agreements that trigger actions or payments automatically. |
| RBNZ | Reserve Bank of New Zealand | New Zealand’s central bank overseeing monetary policy, financial stability, and settlement systems. |
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