Geopolitical tensions and international financial fragmentation : evidence and implications

The 28th Geneva Report examines how rising geopolitical tensions are reshaping global finance. As the cooperative order that supported decades of economic integration gives way to fragmentation, trade, investment, and financial linkages are being redrawn along strategic lines.The authors explore how these shifts - from reconfigured payment systems to changing reserve currency use - threaten the efficiency and resilience of international finance. They warn that new geopolitical fault lines risk weakening the global financial safety net and complicating crisis coordination.The report highlights the uneven costs of fragmentation, with emerging economies particularly exposed, and calls for policies that preserve openness, strengthen resilience, and reform international institutions to sustain stability in an increasingly multipolar world.