Countries in South and Southeast Asia are building national payment infrastructures to reduce the dependence on dominant financial infrastructures. The interest of states to use financial ‘capabilities’ to reshape financial networks shows how governments employ tools of financial statecraft. Although financial statecraft does not traditionally refer to financial infrastructures, I argue that systemic and defensive financial statecraft applies to national payment platforms. I further develop financial statecraft by adding the theoretical understanding of infrastructures in network theory. A qualitative comparative analysis of unique data collected through interviews in India, Malaysia and Singapore shows that national payment platforms reshape dominant international financial networks by building international financial infrastructures that are controlled by the respective central banks. These findings also add a new nuance to the general understanding of infrastructures in hierarchical networks indicating that less powerful states can also use national payment infrastructures to connect with other states and therefore reshape financial networks.
