Digital Transactions
ACI Worldwide Inc. early Tuesday announced it is offering a real-time payments service to U.S. merchants and launched a platform to ease acceptance of digital wallets for merchants in more than 70 countries.
ACI Instant Pay is aimed at easing acceptance of online and mobile transactions, as well as payments in physical stores, with real-time movement of funds. The service, based on software the Miami-based company has developed for faster payments and available through a single application programming interface integration, comes a few months before the expected launch of FedNow, the real-time transaction platform built by the Federal Reserve. ACI previously forecast that the volume of real-time transactions in the U.S. market would total 8.9 billion by 2026, more than quadrupling the 1.8 billion seen in 2021.
While the new service is available through online, mobile-app, and in-store channels, the in-store option will be presented to consumers via a QR code appearing on a screen visible to shoppers. Consumers will scan the code to trigger payment
ACI argues Instant Pay will help relieve merchants of the burden of credit card interchange costs while offering immediate liquidity and virtually eliminating the risk of chargebacks. Only insufficient funds will trigger a declined transaction, the company says. Information was not immediately available regarding probable fees for the new service. ACI did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.
Still, ACI sees the service having an immediate appeal not only for merchants but for consumers, as well. “Many shoppers are frustrated by traditional payment options. They want more choice, greater transparency, and better control, online and in-store,” said Debbie Guerra, chief product officer, in a statement.