Cross-border payments underpin global trade, but delivering them efficiently, securely and at scale requires more than technology.
At ANZ, Cindy He serves as an Associate Director for Global Cross-Border Payments.
From piloting blockchain-based pension payments to engaging with regulators on digital trade frameworks, Cindy’s work highlights the intersection of payments, trade, and digital transformation. In this interview, she shares her journey from law and government relations into banking, the lessons learned from innovation pilots, and her perspective on what skills will define the next generation of digital trade and payments leaders.
Leading innovation in cross-border payments
How does this role connect to digital transformation in international trade?
As Associate Director for global cross-border payments at ANZ, what does a typical day involve? How is your time split between different priorities?
My role is unique because I moved into the payments team from ANZ’s innovation team in transaction banking. I split my time evenly between day-to-day product management, which involves owning the product, managing risks, and handling business-as-usual tasks, as well as looking ahead strategically.
That means thinking about the future of cross-border payments, how customer expectations are evolving, and what kind of experiences we want to deliver over the next several years. I also keep an eye on new propositions emerging in the market so that we can stay competitive.
What are some key trends you have seen in the last 12 months when it comes to ANZ’s cross-border payments and do these reflect broader industry-wide shifts in international trade?
In payments, one of the biggest trends has been the push from the G20’s global roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments.
The roadmap sets clear targets, such as ensuring that 75% of cross-border payments reach the beneficiary within an hour by 2027, and nearly all by 2030. These milestones give banks and financial institutions a pivotal catalyst for shaping their long-term payment strategies.
On the trade side, payments play a critical role since money moves with goods. Faster, cheaper, and more accessible payments will naturally benefit trade. The difference is that payments have clearly defined, government-backed goals, while trade still struggles with alignment across countries.
For example, not all jurisdictions have adopted electronic documents, and policy adoption varies widely. As a result, payments are advancing faster than trade, which still needs greater policy harmonisation.
Read: ‘How the electronic bill of lading (eBL) is transforming digital trade‘
The MLETR framework is also seeing uneven adoption across countries. How does this variation affect the pace of progress in global trade practices?
The MLETR framework has been on the agenda for years, but yes, adoption is uneven.
For example, Singapore, Bahrain and the UK are some of the countries that have fully implemented MLETR , while the Netherlands is considering a draft bill in 2025. Some reasons for this include countries appearing to scope implementation by document type. Some countries start with one or two documents, while others take on a broader range from the outset. Secondly, while MLETR is a critical step towards paperless trade, it focuses on documents of title (e.g. Bill of Lading, Bill of Exchange).
Overall, this means there is variation in which digital trade documents receive legal effect globally. Ultimately, we need all trade documentation to be digitised in order for the benefits of digitalisation to be fully realised across the parties in a global supply chain.
In Australia, these issues have been discussed in multiple forums. The Australian government conducted a consultation on the MLETR framework in late 2024, encouraging industry feedback and contributions to the topic. ANZ has been proactively supporting this dialogue and working with other organisations to pilot solutions that contribute to end-to-end trade digitalisation, as well as hold conferences that can facilitate greater private-public sector collaboration.
Understand the stages of MLETR alignment globally here.
MLETR Foundations
Can you walk us through how a payment innovation moves from concept to pilot? Have you seen a use case evolve significantly during that process?
From my experience, the most successful payment innovations start with the customer.
Often, we’ll brainstorm a use case together before we even move to proof of concept or pilot. By involving customers from the very beginning, they feel part of the solution and we can validate ideas in real-time with their feedback. That co-creation process keeps us focused on solving real problems rather than chasing shiny ideas.
A good example is the central bank digital currency pilot we joined in 2023 with the Reserve Bank of Australia. One use case sought to automate superannuation (pension) payments using blockchain, smart contracts, and digital currency. At the same time, a new law required superannuation to soon be paid on the same day as wages, shifting from quarterly to fortnightly payments.
We partnered with our superannuation industry clients and showed them how this technology could potentially help them deliver faster outcomes for Australians, in turn meeting the new regulatory requirements. Their response was positive, and by co-developing the solution, we built something practical, timely, and future-focused.
The ‘holy trifecta’ is when a pilot brings together the regulator, the customer, and the bank.
That way, everyone is learning at the same time, insights can be shared, and solutions can move faster.
Certificate in Digital Trade Strategy (CDTS)
Modernising transaction banking: From research to real-world impact
What’s driving the evolution of trade and cash management?
In your early work as an analyst, you focused on payments and cash management (PCM) and trade finance trends. What were the key takeaways you took from that role and what’s changed most in these areas since then?
When I first worked in PCM and trade finance, much of the focus was on proof of concepts and pilots. We were testing emerging technologies like AI and blockchain to see what was possible.
The biggest shift since then is ‘innovation maturity’. We’ve moved past technological experimentation into asking: how do we commercialise these solutions at scale, especially in an evolving regulatory environment? That’s the real difference today; turning tested use cases into practical, compliant, market-ready products.
What lessons from managing innovation pilots and fintech partnerships do you still apply in your strategy work today?
Working in innovation taught me to embrace collaboration. In that space, you see the newest technologies and the best fintechs up close, and you quickly learn that no organisation can do everything on its own. Strategic partnerships across the industry will be essential to the future of innovation.
Cross-border payments & trade interoperability
How do digital solutions address frictions in global transactions?
In your view, what are the most persistent pain points in cross-border payments and where do you see the biggest opportunities for resolution?
One of the biggest pain point in cross-border payments is that funds and payment information still move separately. You can send the money at one point in time, while the payment message follows later.
That creates reconciliation challenges, adds administrative burden, and increases risk. It’s a legacy of how banking infrastructure was originally designed, with SWIFT handling payment messages and the funds moving through separate channels.
Significant opportunity lies in blockchain, distributed ledger technology, and tokenisation.
One of the earliest use cases for blockchain was cross-border payments, because it allows the payment information and funds to move simultaneously. That’s why it’s faster and more efficient.
Looking ahead, the same principle could transform international trade.
Today, the movement of goods, trade documents, and funds often don’t align, which creates even more complexity. If all three could be tracked and moved together, it would remove significant inefficiencies – as well as paving the path for further automation and data analytics.
What internal challenges do you face in driving early-stage innovation with new technologies?
One of the biggest early challenges is awareness. When your day- job involves working with emerging technology, its potential feels obvious, but you still need to bring colleagues along on that journey. Internal buy-in is just as essential as engagement with regulators or customers.
How does the work you’re doing align with key interoperability efforts like ISO 20022, blockchain standards, and supply chain digitisation?
In the payments industry globally, ISO 20022 has been a huge focus.
Every year there’s progress on adoption, and banks, including ANZ, have invested in upgrading infrastructure to send and receive enriched messages using the new data standards.
Trade, however, doesn’t yet have the same global alignment. Payments may lead the way, and trade will likely follow by adopting some of the same standards.
Ultimately, the real opportunity lies in data. Richer information sharing across organisations won’t just improve payment processing; it will strengthen fraud detection, cybersecurity, and financial crime monitoring.
Those benefits will be just as critical for trade as they are for payments.
How has the Certificate in Digital Trade Strategy (CDTS) shaped the way you approach challenges around emerging digital infrastructure?
Taking the CDTS programme reinforced how critical public-private collaboration is for digital trade. It also showed that the private sector can lead industry through driving the dialogue.
The course also highlighted the wealth of organisations already working on digital standards, such as ICC, ITFA, and DCSA, and encouraged us to connect with them.
I took that to heart: I reached out to course speakers, invited them to ANZ events, and built new connections for our teams. These networks act as icebreakers, foster collaboration, and ensure we’re not tackling challenges alone.
The course gave me both knowledge and community. It taught me that collaboration, whether through pilots, conferences, or partnerships, is what really accelerates change in digital trade.
Certificate in Digital Trade Strategy (CDTS)
The future of payments and trade infrastructure
What role will banks play in tomorrow’s digital trade landscape?
What do you think the global payments landscape will look like in 5-10 years, especially in terms of infrastructure and governance?
Looking 5 to 10 years ahead, I see two big shifts.
First, I hope we solve the fragmentation between funds, payment messages, and goods. Today they move separately, but with existing technology, we should be able to bring them together within the decade.
Second, I expect fewer silos in our systems. Right now, data is structured differently across platforms, which can slow down automation and interoperability. Greater adoption of common standards and more seamless system-to-system data exchange will be critical.
Advice for future digital trade and payments leaders
What can others learn from your experience across law, policy, and payments?
Having started your career in government relations and law, what lessons have shaped the way you navigate banking innovation – and what skills do you believe are essential for the next generation of payments and trade leaders?
My background in government relations and law taught me that strong communication skills are essential in any organisation, especially in areas like banking innovation, where the subject matter can be highly technical. We’re in a period of rapid disruption, with new technologies emerging all the time.
To move quickly, you need to understand enough of the technology and then explain it clearly to senior stakeholders and decision makers. Companies that prioritise clear communication make faster progress.
For the next generation of leaders, that skill is non-negotiable. You need to know your audience and adapt your language – the way you speak to technologists is very different from how you speak to lawyers or relationship managers. If you can tailor your message so it resonates with each group, you can influence decisions and move initiatives forward.
The second critical skill is embracing new technology, especially AI. Learning how to prompt effectively and use tools like generative AI can save huge amounts of time and reshape how we innovate. Even small steps, like using AI to generate images, help teams think differently about its potential.
The better you communicate change and the more open you are to new tools, the easier it is to build buy-in and drive innovation forward. Those skills will define how quickly and effectively the next generation of payments and trade leaders can lead change.
