Koenigsberg emphasizes that IPF’s key innovation was bridging national payment systems using ISO 20022 standards rather than replacing them. “I recall a very extensive live-mapping exercise… literally like physical post-it notes paper all over the walls,” he says, describing the painstaking work behind the IPFA’s enduring infrastructure.

This bridge, which remains in use today, allowed banks of all sizes to manage their clients’ payments directly, rather than outsourcing them. “It democratized the way payments are made,” Koenigsberg notes. IPFA’s work also facilitated real-time cross-border payments in the Southern African Development Community and improved transactions between the U.S. and Europe.

Visa’s acquisition of Earthport in 2019 was a continuation of this vision, integrating it with Visa’s broader international strategy, alongside later acquisitions of YellowPepper and Currencycloud. The legacy of IPFA, which formally disbanded in 2023 with “mission accomplished,” lives on in today’s global payments ecosystem.