Against the backdrop of profound changes in the global trade landscape, foreign trade enterprises are opening up new spaces in the international market with flexible adaptability and innovative resilience. At the same time, their demand for financial services is becoming increasingly diversified. Recently, Shanghai Securities News reporters visited multiple foreign trade enterprises and payment institutions and learned that in the face of challenges such as high payment costs, low efficiency, and compliance pressure, payment enterprises regard AI and financial technology as the key to breaking through. At the same time, cross-border payment companies are gradually shifting from single settlement services to comprehensive financial service platforms, providing support for their overseas expansion through technology driven and ecological layout. Cross border payments face multiple challenges. Payment is the 'last mile' of trade. The reporter visited different types of enterprises such as cross-border aviation, logistics, and foreign trade and found that due to increasingly fierce market competition and significant exchange rate fluctuations, many enterprises face challenges in payment costs, payment efficiency, and compliance capabilities during the process of going global. Traditional cross-border payment methods generally deduct fees based on the number of transactions, regardless of the payment amount, a fixed handling fee must be deducted. Enterprises facing the C-end have a prominent demand for high-frequency transactions. If they follow the traditional channel of 'charging by transaction', the accumulated transaction fees will be considerable, resulting in a significant decrease in profits. ”Yong Chengxiang, President of Dongguan Industry and Trade Development Promotion Association and Chairman of Foaiwa Crafts, said. The payment deadline directly affects the operation of the enterprise. The traditional payment methods have problems such as cumbersome application processes, low efficiency, and large exchange rate fluctuations, which bring certain pressure to some enterprises in conducting business. Zhong Chenghui, the sales manager of Huaxia Logistics Shenzhen Branch, gave an example that the traditional "T+3 model" has caused delays in overseas warehouse fee payments and service suspensions, almost resulting in customer loss. Gu Yue, Vice General Manager of Bay Area Tourism Brands, said that if the payment for air tickets and hotels is delayed, it may exacerbate the risks brought by exchange rate fluctuations. In addition, foreign trade enterprises will face security and compliance issues in cross-border transactions during the payment process. Shenzhen Luneng Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. is a cross-border enterprise that integrates product design and research and development, online retail, B2B trade, and overseas logistics and warehousing. The company's Chief Financial Officer, He Dongdong, told reporters that it mainly selects payment platforms for cooperation based on rates and compliance. AI and financial technology are key to solving the problem. Cross border payment companies are using intelligent and automated technological means to reduce payment costs, improve payment efficiency and compliance capabilities. Taking a clothing foreign trade enterprise as an example, due to the large order volume and inventory in the clothing industry, the company previously relied on manual processing of order generation, payment verification, logistics synchronization, and other processes. In order to reduce costs and increase efficiency, the company has linked the API interface (application programming interface) of Ant Group's Wanlihui Trade Performance and Trade Guarantee Product "World Trade" in the order processing flow. This measure has helped the company achieve fully automated creation, management, and delivery of orders, from order payment to shipment, without the need for manual intervention. All processes have been automated, greatly improving work efficiency, reducing the possibility of human errors, and lowering payment costs. ”The founder of the clothing foreign trade enterprise stated. Digital technology not only helps enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency, but also plays a key role in stabilizing risk control. Shen Enguang, CEO of Lianlian International, stated that traditional risk control relies on manual labor and is powerless when faced with massive transaction data, while AI builds user behavior models through machine learning to identify abnormal transactions in real time. Taking anti money laundering as an example, Lianlian International has applied AI to the due diligence process, further reducing operating costs. Compliance capability is one of the core barriers in the payment industry. ”Shen Enguang believes that for payment companies, it is worth paying close attention to how to deeply couple AI technology with localized operational capabilities within a compliance framework. From "payment channels" to "ecological empowerment", as brands go global, the demand for cross-border payments by enterprises is shifting from single settlement to comprehensive services, and the competition in the cross-border payment industry is becoming increasingly fierce. Consulting firm Frost&Sullivan predicts that the compound annual growth rate of China's cross-border digital payment market will be 25.2% from 2022 to 2027. Multiple interviewees stated that currently, foreign trade enterprises not only need efficient payments, but also value-added services such as exchange rate locking and supply chain financing. In addition, companies will upgrade their brand image and production equipment during the process of going global, so payment institutions need to be deeply embedded in their industrial chain. Comprehensive financial service platforms are gradually becoming a new track for cross-border payment enterprises. A payment industry analyst stated that the external environment is constantly driving the transformation of the foreign trade industry towards branding, and payment institutions must also shift from being "tool providers" to "ecosystem builders". Looking ahead to the future, Wang Pengbo, an analyst at Broadcom Consulting, stated that the integration of the cross-border payment industry will intensify. Top payment institutions will continue to expand their market share by leveraging their advantages in brand, technology, and resources, and improve their business layout through mergers and acquisitions, cooperation, and other means to expand into the global market. Some payment institutions with poor strength may be eliminated or acquired, and the industry concentration will further increase. "In addition, cross-border cooperation will increase, and cross-border payment institutions will have more cooperation with banks, international card schemes, Internet platforms, etc. ”Wang Pengbo said that compliance building, technological breakthroughs, and ecological empowerment will become important engines for the high-quality development of the cross-border payment industry. (New Society)