ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, today announced it has provided the back-end technology for TransferWise’s successful integration into the Faster Payments Scheme.
Craig Saks, Group President Strategic Products, ACI Worldwide comments:
“In December, 2015, we announced that TransferWise had selected our UP Framework to power its global network.
“We are excited that TransferWise has been able to complete the onboarding process in record time and is the first fintech to connect to the Faster Payments Scheme via the New Access Model.”
“We encourage all PSPs and financial institutions looking to gain access to Faster Payments in the UK, to move to the New Access Model, which provides the ability to offer their customers real-time payments 24/7.”
Earlier this year, ACI was awarded a ‘trust mark’ accreditation by Faster Payments Scheme Limited (FSPL), the official recognition as one of the ‘technical aggregators’ that helps payment and financial institutions gain access to real-time Faster Payments in a single or multi-tenant environment through the New Access Model. The model was introduced by the Faster Payments Scheme in order to increase competition in the financial services sector and open up the market to new entrants.
Based on the New Access Model, ACI offers Payment Service Providers (PSPs), banks and payment processors a ‘pay as you go’ solution that manages all IT and connectivity requirements to process payments via the Faster Payments Scheme. For non-PSPs, a sponsor bank would offer settlement and liquidity services.
ACI’s UP Immediate Payments solution is highly flexible and adaptable, enabling access to all IP schemes globally. It has been used by many existing scheme members to access Faster Payments since launching in 2008.
In recent years, demand for ACI’s private cloud solutions has grown considerably, and in response, ACI will open a new data centre in Limerick, Ireland later this month—serving its growing European customer base.
Lukas May, Head of Banking, TransferWise, said:
“ACI’s out-of-the-box solution helped speed up our integration with the Faster Payments Scheme (FPS). Our direct connection with FPS is an important step toward real competition in financial services, reducing our reliance on banks for access to the ‘pipes’ of the payment system. This is great news for UK consumers - it means we can offer faster, more reliable, and cheaper payments.”
Craig Tillotson, Chief Executive of Faster Payments, said:
“The fact that customers of a new fintech company are now profiting from real-time payments underlines the revolutionary contribution our New Access Model is starting to make. It enables payment service providers of all shapes and sizes to offer their customers the real-time, 24/7 payments they demand.”
Independent research commissioned by Faster Payments predicts the size of the UK real-time payments market is likely to almost triple in the next five years, with annualised growth of 20 percent forecast, leading to 3.3 billion Faster Payments being sent in 2020 alone.