ACI Worldwide Appoints Ravi Pochiraju As Senior VP Growth Markets

ACI Worldwide, a global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, announced on Thursday (Oct. 13) the appointment of Ravi Pochiraju as senior vice president for growth markets.

In a press release, ACI Worldwide said Pochiraju has held senior roles at First Data Corporation, Six Sigma Associates and Citigroup. At First Data, Pochiraju was head of the Asia-Pacific region. Previously, he founded and served as president for Six Sigma Associates, a boutique business transformation and performance improvement consultancy focused on the financial services industry. Pochiraju served in a variety of global roles at Citi that spanned multiple functions, as well as geographical locations.

Pochiraju will lead ACI’s efforts to expand its brand and business presence in emerging markets, such as Latin America, the Middle East, ASEAN and Asia-Pacific, as well developed markets, including Australia, Japan and Korea.

“ACI is well-positioned to capitalize on the tremendous evolving opportunities in emerging markets, both in the area of our traditional strengths in banking, as well as the exploding eCommerce and merchant marketplace,” said Pochiraju in the press release. “It’s an exciting time in the world of FinTech, and we have a great team focused on enabling our partners to succeed in a rapidly changing industry.”

“Ravi has vast global experience leading major groups within some of the world’s leading companies,” said Craig Saks, group president of ACI Worldwide, in the same press release. “He’ll bring tremendous focus to our expanding footprint in these growing and important markets.”

The appointment comes on the heels of a September announcement in which ACI said it is teaming with VocaLink, a global payments systems company, to launch a domestic or regional immediate payments network. In a press release, the companies said it is the first global strategic partnership of its kind and will offer participants a pre-integrated solution, enabling quicker onboarding to the payments scheme and broader reach to more scheme participants in a fast manner. As part of the partnership agreement, VocaLink will provide its Immediate Payments System solution and connectivity software to clearing houses and central banks globally; ACI will deliver its UP Immediate Payments solution, with VocaLink’s Immediate Payments Gateway pre-integrated to enable individual organizations, such as financial institutions and other payment providers, to access the scheme and process transactions.