ACI Worldwide Debuts ‘Instant Pay’ Ahead of FedNow Launch

Payments company ACI Worldwide has unveiled a real-time payment solution for merchants.

Launched Tuesday (Jan. 17), ACI Instant Pay is designed to help merchants boost their business ahead of the planned debut of the U.S. domestic real-time payments scheme FedNow later this year. It also comes at a time when a majority of merchants in the U.S. say they want real-time payments.

“Many shoppers are frustrated by traditional payment options,” Debbie Guerra, chief product officer at ACI Worldwide, said in a news release. “They want more choice, greater transparency and better control, online and in-store. ACI Instant Pay helps merchants capture and engage new customers while driving growth and lowering costs.”

According to the release, merchants can enable ACI Instant Pay through API integration with ACI’s payments orchestration platform. Once integrated, ACI Instant Pay appears to merchants as an alternative online, in-store or mobile app payment method.

Research last year by ACI and PYMNTS found that 65% of non-grocery retailers are adding real-time payments as a payment method, as are 55% of grocery retailers and 56% of convenience stores. That’s according to the report “Navigating Big Retail’s Digital Shift: The New Payments Strategy Evolution.”

As instant payments begin getting the attention of consumers raised on P2P transfers and retailers that see faster payment rails bringing new experiences and efficiencies to their business, interest in adding this payment feature is increasing.

“Retailers are prioritizing real-time payments as an innovation launchpad,” the report said. “Currently, 52% of U.S. retailers and 56% of U.K. retailers accept real-time payments or plan to do so in the next three years. Real-time payments are a powerful innovation tool for an improved in-store customer experience.”

More recently, PYMNTS noted that 61% of businesses say that real-time payments will offer them a competitive advantage.

One main reason is businesses learning their customers have come to expect faster payments — just as they see fast and always-on capabilities in other digital interactions, according to the “Real-Time Payments Tracker®,” a PYMNTS and The Clearing House collaboration.

“Customers expect the same behavior in financial transactions as in everything else they do when it comes to everyday services, with the key theme being instant gratification,” J.P. Morgan Head of Global Real-Time Payments Rupa Krishnan said in the report.

The launch of ACI Instant Pay came the same day the company unveiled a multi-country network designed to capitalize on the rising popularity of digital wallets.

The ACI Wallet Hub connects merchants in 70-plus countries to a single hub for more than 200 digital wallets, the payments company said, letting them “deliver native wallet checkout experiences for consumers.”