Watch more: Need to Know With Bank of America’s Narendra Kumar Parhi

Cross-border payments in Asia-Pacific are being pulled toward the speed of the region’s domestic commerce, leaving companies in the United States to contend with payment systems that can move money around the clock while regulations, treasury practices and operating conventions remain divided by market.

APAC occupies a central position in global commerce. China, Vietnam, Malaysia, India and the Philippines are important links in global supply chains, while trade within Asia has also expanded, Narendra Kumar Parhi, managing director and head of Payments and Receivables Products, GPS APAC at Bank of America, told PYMNTS.

That commercial activity is meeting payment infrastructure that is already well established in many markets.

“The first thing the U.S. companies should recognize is that in APAC markets, real-time payments are no longer viewed as a premium capability,” Parhi said. “Whether they deal with consumers or partners or other corporates, real-time payments are a basic requirement in almost all APAC markets.”

The consequence for U.S. companies extends beyond adding another payment option. A company selling to consumers, paying suppliers or operating subsidiaries in the region must account for local expectations surrounding when money moves, when recipients know that it has arrived and what information travels with the transaction.

“It is a collection of highly advanced, but very distinct payment markets,” Parhi said.

S. companies therefore need to evaluate “both the infrastructure and the payment capabilities, as well as the connectivity … along with the local regulatory framework and requirements,” he said.

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