ACI Worldwide is betting on demand for new payment technology from merchants that want both faster processing and an easier way to tap into multinational e-commerce markets.
The payment processor on Tuesday launched two products covering real-time payments and mobile wallets. The ACI Wallet Hub will offer access to more than 200 digital wallets in more than 70 countries. A second product, ACI Instant Pay, will support-real time processing.
The company hopes to find demand from two different payment trends that are feeding off each other. The total number of digital wallet users is expected to reach 5.2 billion by 2026, up from 2.4 billion currently, according to
Merchants looking to sell in multiple markets will need an easier way to support the myriad local digital wallets in different countries, ACI contends.
Because Apple Pay, PayPal and Google Pay are so dominant, "here in the U.S. we don't get a huge amount of exposure to a lot of mobile wallets," said Dan Coates, principal solution evangelist for ACI Worldwide. "But as you go throughout the world, there are tons of digital wallets."
ACI is using an application programming interface to connect merchants to its payments platform, which provides access to a growing network of digital wallets. The company hopes to expand relationships with merchants by removing the need for stores to have relationships with different payment processors or undergo internal IT projects for each integration. ACI is recruiting more mobile wallets to its network and also plans to expand geographically.
"Merchants don't want to have to pick a winner when it comes to payment type," Coates said. "If a seller has customers in as little as three or four countries, that can be 13 or 14 wallets to support."
ACI is expanding its payments technology as it reportedly ponders a sale. The company has engaged with financial advisors to find potential suitors, though there's no guarantee there will be a sale, reports
ACI faces competition from legacy payment processors and bank technology companies, which have
There is a potential market for firms that can simplify international payments and allow sellers to reach out-of-market consumers.
"Merchants need to provide payment alternatives that their customers want to use, and with global commerce, that can require a lot of different tender types," said Thad Peterson, a strategic advisor for Aite-Novarica.
Processors that specialize in cross-border payments can lessen the burden, but when multiple wallets are added, another layer of complexity comes into play, according to Peterson.
"It's a potential opportunity for payment orchestrators who can manage the complexity of different tender types," he said.
Merchants want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy products, said Gareth Lodge, a senior analyst for global payments at Celent, adding that if a merchant wants to sell into another country, it has to find a way to support the most important payment types in that country.
"The challenge is that the vast majority of payment systems are designed to be domestic, for all sorts of reasons," Lodge said. "They are also often not interoperable on a domestic basis, let alone internationally. Nor do they always have the same rules and fees."
Real-time processing is also part of the mix for payment firms looking to sell internationally through e-commerce.
ACI Instant Pay, which like Wallet Hub is delivered through an API, appears to merchants as an alternative payment method. For in-store payments, a QR code is displayed on a consumer-facing screen to be scanned by the shopper's mobile device. ACI is pegging this launch to an expected debut of FedNow later this spring and the growth of The Clearing House's RTP rail.
ACI's internal research projects real-time transactions in the U.S. will reach nearly 9 billion by 2026, up from 1.8 billion in 2021.
The real-time payment product is launching initially in the U.S., and will launch in the U.K., Brazil and EMEA by the end of the year.
ACI Instant Payments comes as real-time payment schemes enter a new phase that requires different rails to work together to accommodate cross-border payments.
ACI plans to use blockchain to support real-time payments between different countries.
"There are really two types of instant pay that we're building," said Basant Singh, senior vice president and global head of the products and merchant business unit at ACI. "We are building for each region, and we're also working on a cross-border real-time connection. That should be ready by the end of the year."
