Following the U.S., ACI Launches Real Time Payments in Europe And the U.K.

ACI Worldwide Inc. has launched its Instant Pay real-time payment solution in Europe and the United Kingdom. The move comes against the backdrop of a regulatory push in Europe mandating that financial institutions across the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) countries in Europe offer instant payments under the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer solution. At the same time, regulators in the U.K. have launched the Faster Payments program, which enables interbank payments.

ACI bills Instant Pay as enabling consumers to pay merchants directly from their bank account in real time. In addition, ACI says, Instant Pay is expected to increase approval rates, as declined transactions will only occur when consumers have insufficient funds in their accounts. Real-time payments are also expected to help e-commerce merchants that rely on fast delivery to be competitive by eliminating settlement delays and the risk of chargebacks. As a result, e-commerce merchants can ship goods faster, ACI says.

“Payments need to keep pace with an increasingly digital society. In Europe, 90% of people ages 16 to 74 now use the Internet, and 74% buy or order goods online,” Basant Singh, global head of ACI’s merchant business, says in a statement. “In our expanding ‘always on’ transactional world, giving and receiving money electronically should be as instantaneous as handing over cash.”

ACI introduced Instant Pay in the United States earlier this year along with the launch of its Wallet Hub, a single platform for more than 200 global and regional wallets that are used online, through apps, or at physical checkouts. 

Instant Pay is based on software ACI developed for faster payments in advance of the expected July launch of FedNow, the Federal Reserve’s real-time payment platform. ACI became FedNow-certified in May.