Digital payments are at the centre of digital trade expansion and serve as a key enabling factor for digital commerce. Firms will not provide goods or services if they cannot be paid. Payment services, therefore, are a critical component of the online services ecosystem that allows consumers to conveniently make purchases for goods and services from merchants globally and for firms to sell around the world far more easily and cheaply than ever before. Cross-border digital payments, in particular, are instrumental for the development of the regional economy and the growth and resilience of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) looking to thrive in a post-Covid pandemic environment. New innovations within the e-payments space, like e-wallets and blockchain, and initiatives by governments aimed at fostering increased use of digital payments, will likely improve access and lower the costs of cross-border transactions, especially for MSMEs. However, most of this innovation has taken place in the domestic space, where payments are experiencing improvements in terms of speed and convenience. Conversely, cross-border e-payments remain slow, costly and opaque, and difficult to manage. A lack of access as well as regulatory and payment network interoperability means that payments remain one of the most challenging issues for MSMEs hoping to engage in cross-border e-commerce in the region. As governments in the region continue to promote initiatives that improve access and use of digital payments, the challenges of managing cross-border transactions are often under-appreciated by policymakers. MSME merchants and financial service providers continue to struggle to develop and sell their products and services across borders.