Payments made by checks

B2B check usage is down 7% in North America and Canada.¹

26% in 2025

33% in 2022                     

Cross-border payments

The cross-border payments increase suggests a broader participation in international transactions.²

87% in 2025

78% in 2022

Barriers to digital payments

Difficulty in convincing customers to pay digitally is the most-often cited major barrier.³

43% in 2025

30% in 2022

Most frequently cited barriers include customer and supplier acceptance, scarcity of IT resources and the cost of making changes to internal transactions.³

Positive impact of faster payments

In 2025, more than 30% of financial professionals report faster payments are having a positive impact on their organizations.⁴

28% for B2B

12% for B2C                                                       

B2B: Those using faster payments want to stay informed about new developments and adopt faster payment where beneficial⁵

For B2C: More are adopting a wait-and-see approach, while fewer are looking to stay current and adopt the system where beneficial⁵

The most widely used technology

In 2025, data analytics stands out as the most widely implemented technology.⁶

• 13% extensive use                                           
• 41% some use

The top three benefits⁷:

81% cite reduced manual processes

74% cite reduced fraud and errors

63% cite enhanced AP processes automation

ISO 20022 standards⁸

Organizations that have migrated report they are valuable or very valuable to their businesses.

40% In 2025

44% In 2022

Those respondents whose organization currently use the standard have yet to leverage the data and technology offered and, therefore, may not have realized the value of ISO 20022.

Citations: 2025 AFP® Digital Payments Survey Report: ¹page 8, ²page 22, ³page 32, ⁴page 41, ⁵page 42, ⁶page 49, ⁷page 51, ⁸page 56