ACI Worldwide, Inc. announced the launch of ACI Instant Pay, a new real-time payments solution that enables merchants in the U.S. to accept online, mobile and in-store payments instantly. The expansion of ACI's real-time payments software solutions to merchants reinforces ACI's global leadership in powering domestic and pan-regional real-time schemes reaching billions worldwide. Merchants can enable ACI Instant Pay via simple API integration with ACI's payments orchestration platform.

Once integrated, ACI Instant Pay appears to merchants as an alternative payment method through all major channels: online, in-store and mobile app. For in-store payments, a QR code displayed on a consumer-accessible screen enables customers to initiate and complete payments via their mobile device, enabling a smooth, secure and one-click checkout experience. With the expected launch of the U.S. domestic real-time payments scheme FedNow in 2023, ACI Instant Pay will allow U.S.-based merchants to boost their businesses by accepting and processing real-time payments, which are expected to grow in popularity over the next few years.

ACI's 2022 Prime Time for Real-Time report forecasts the annual volume of real-time transactions in the U.S. to reach 8.9 billion by 2026, up from 1.8 billion in 2021, representing a compound annual growth rate of 37%. ACI Instant Pay Benefits at a Glance: Freedom from interchange fee burden: providing welcome relief from the rising costs of processing payments by card, which now average 2-4% of each transaction. Instant settlement equals instant liquidity for merchants.

Chargebacks are eliminated: with account validation carried out pre-payment, only insufficient funds can result in declined transactions. That means no more chargebacks, while fraud exposure also shifts to the banks. Integration simplicity: Single, simple API integration for secure eCommerce and QR code integration in-store.