Ready or Not, The Time Is Now for Real-Time Payments

Research from ACI and GlobalData confirms that demand for real-time payments is only going in one direction: up. The root cause of this increasing demand is rising customer expectations and behaviors; clunky and opaque payment experiences are becoming less tolerable in a world where customers can buy, watch and listen to almost anything with a swipe, tap or click.

When It Comes to Payments, COVID-19 Crisis Could Lead to Long-Term Shifts in Consumer Behavior [Q&A]

ACI Worldwide and GlobalData recently launched Prime Time for Real-Time, a new global report tracking and analyzing real-time payments volumes, growth and dynamics across 30 global markets. According to the global research, an industry first, more than half a trillion real-time payments transactions will be processed over the next five years. I discussed what the findings mean, and how the COVID-19 pandemic might be a further catalyst for behavioral change, with ACI’s global head of real-time payments, Craig Ramsey.

Merchant Considerations for Protecting Payments During the COVID-19 Crisis

As the spread of COVID-19 continues to impact businesses of all shapes and sizes in unprecedented ways, the power of payments has never been clearer. Drastic increases in online transaction volume and the need for essential in-store payment processing create new challenges for online and brick-and-mortar retailers alike. Here are a few ways that merchants can protect their business – from the perspective of payment processing and fraud mitigation – during this uncertain time.

TCH RTP and FedNow: What’s Next for U.S. Immediate Payments?

It has taken some time, but immediate payments (IP) are on the move in the United States. Although the speed of adoption has been slightly behind the curve of regions like India, the Nordics and the U.K., the U.S. has seen significant year-on-year IP growth of 69 percent.

Global Fraud Landscape Evolving Quicker Than Ever – What Banks Need to Know

In the fraud prevention and cybercrime world, we often talk about fraudsters as the ultimate opportunists – looking for any weakness in a system that can be exploited. In recent years, as technological systems have advanced, fraudsters have increasingly turned to ”social engineering” to achieve their goals. Basically, hacking the person rather than hacking the system, as humans become the weakest link in the chain.

Social, Mobile and Instant Payments: How Digital Payment Overlay Services Will Power Up P27

For some years now, the Nordics region has been a global-standard bearer for payments and financial services innovation. Sweden has for many years been a leader in the progressive move towards cashlessness, championing the range of efficiencies that it brings. Major payments innovators like Klarna, FundedByMe and iZettle are based in the region, rubber-stamping Stockholm as a genuine fintech hub. Analysts and insight leaders also regularly single the Nordics out as a genuine leader, in particular praising the collaboration between governments, regulators, financial institutions and businesses that has led to such fertile ground for financial modernization initiatives.

Higher Education Payments: Creating a Better Billing Experience for Students, Families and the Institution

For students and their families alike, paying for college may be one of the most stressful situations they can face. According to The Princeton Review’s 2020 College Hopes & Worries Survey Report, more than half of parents expect their child’s college degree—four years of tuition, room & board, fees, books and other expenses—to cost $100,000. Such a large and important cost deserves a corresponding payment system that matches up.

Rise of the Subscription Billing Economy: Trends, Challenges and Solutions

Ownership is a thing of the past. In fact, today’s consumers are less concerned with physical possessions and more interested in experiences. More than half of adults wish they could own less stuff and 70 percent say that subscribing to products and services releases people from the burden of ownership (e.g., maintenance, clutter, declining value).

Gen Z Has Arrived. Is Your Business Ready for the Next Generation’s Billing and Payment Preferences?

Move over Millennials, Gen Z has arrived. They’re entering the workforce… and they too have bills to pay.

The largest of any generation, Gen Z is the first to grow up entirely surrounded by the technology that defines today’s world, from smartphones and social media to ubiquitous high-speed internet. This digital exposure has given Gen Zers – the oldest of whom are 22 – distinct digital preferences and, not unlike Millennials, the need for instant gratification.

Women in Payments: Celebrating International Women’s Day 2020

International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8, honors the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women – including equality for all women.

To commemorate the occasion, we spoke with a few female leaders in the payments industry about what the day means both for them and for the wider payments industry. The comments and insights we received were nothing short of inspiring and encouraging.