The payments sector has recently experienced a maturity not seen in decades. Largely as a result of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and the Faster Payments initiative, moving money across borders in Europe is now relatively simple and friction-free. If only the same could be said of all elements of the payments system.
Even in 2025 – and despite all of the innovation which we have seen in the sector -global payroll providers continue to face a costly labyrinth of fragmented payment rules, data gaps, and outdated networks, leading to failures and eroded trust beyond SEPA’s reach. The true cost of this global payment patchwork extends far beyond fees, encompassing hidden expenses from manual corrections and failed payment investigations. This need not be the case.
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Ingrained complexity and friction
This complexity is somewhat mystifying, and unnecessary.
For instance, payroll providers must get to grips with a multi-layered system comprising obligatory contributions like taxes and social security, which vary from country to country. In addition, these providers are often required to manage non-statutory benefits such as health insurance and meal vouchers, which are often used by companies to attract and retain talent. Managing these payments accurately, on time, and in compliance with local regulations can be a major headache.
For payroll providers, payment errors or failures can increase customer complaints, leading to an increased burden on support teams. If there are even just a few such errors each month, the time spent on remediation can mount quickly.
The limitations of payments orchestration
For a long time, payroll providers have used payment orchestration to simplify their cross-border payments. Traditionally, the orchestration layer provided a single platform through which a multitude of payment providers and gateways can be managed.
On its own, however, payments orchestration is insufficient as the current models fall short for high-volume global disbursements by not fully abstracting away underlying contractual and compliance burdens. For one, orchestration consolidates settlement service providers only. It does nothing for collections or payout processes. Moreover, with orchestration, payroll businesses are still required to manage a vast number of contracts, KYC requirements, and APIs. Significant levels of complexity remain unaddressed.
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By GlobalDataThere’s also a major challenge to be addressed around scale. For all their benefits, orchestration platforms are unregulated and unable to sit in the flow of funds. That means users are unable to scale them fast or effectively, which in turn drives up costs.
Reducing complexity through payment curation and smart automation
Recently, however, innovations in financial technology and smart automation are opening new approaches to cross-border payments that promise to address many of the challenges faced by payroll providers.
Payments curation allows organisations to access the best payments providers around the world through a single contract and one API. With the potential to become a new industry benchmark, payments curation offers unprecedented precision, cost reduction, and operational simplicity through intelligent validation and direct local payment rails. In turn, businesses like payroll companies need only pay once to enable a full payments stack inclusive of payment acceptance, settlement accounts, and payouts and the ability to manage them across borders.
In addition to the process resulting in reduced complexity, payments curation also enables payroll companies alike to draw on advanced data validation processes that enable them to automatically check account details to meet the unique requirements of each jurisdiction. Using AI, data validation engines can scrutinise each payment request received by payroll companies to ensure they include all the necessary details for the country in question. This method leads to highly accurate transactions and fewer payment rejections, improving not only the process for payer and payee, and in turn boosting company trust and loyalty.
Finally, payments curation enables organisations to make use of local payment rails, saving them the trouble of managing a large network of correspondent banks. Using local payment rails in this way helps avoid the delays and complexity that are commonplace with international transfers. As a result, payment providers can accelerate their payments processing while also reducing the considerable fees that often come with cross-border transactions.
Bringing payroll into the digital age
The proliferation of digital services has raised expectations. Now more than ever people demand convenience, speed, and simplicity – and that is no different when it comes to payments. Payroll companies must ensure they can meet this demand with efficient, low-cost payments that work every time. Failure to do so could ultimately damage customer relationships and lead to lost business. Fortunately, with payments curation and smart automation, businesses have a cross-border payments option that’s much better suited to the digital age. Those that embrace these innovations stand to gain a significant competitive advantage.
Eddie Harrison is Chief Growth Officer and co-founder of Navro
