US Faster Payments Council Expands With ACI Worldwide

Membership in the U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC) is growing with the addition of ACI Worldwide, as the electronic payments and banking solution provider announced this week.

The company is joining the FPC to support U.S. initiatives of innovating in faster payments capabilities and promoting adoption of real-time payments. ACI Worldwide noted it already has a strong foothold in the real-time payments space, with integrations with 18 real-time domestic payment networks around the globe.

In the U.S., ACI Worldwide is connected to Zelle and The Clearing House (TCH), the latter of which offers Same-Day ACH services. ACI Worldwide said it will now support the Federal Reserve’s upcoming FedNow service.

“As an independent, solution-agnostic member organization, the FPC is in a unique position to work with all industry stakeholders and tackle challenges that may be more difficult to address through bilateral cooperation alone,” said Faster Payments Council Executive Director Kim Ford in a statement. “We look forward to leveraging ACI’s vast experience in global payments as we continue to create a dialogue and facilitate action to drive the adoption of faster payments in the U.S.”

“ACI’s commitment to the advancement of faster payments in the U.S. goes beyond our business goals,” added ACI Worldwide Head of Real-Time Payments Craig Ramsey.

The FPC was founded last year by the Federal Reserve, with 27 members of the Governance Framework Formation team establishing the Council’s framework. The Federal Reserve subsequently announced its plans for FedNow, which aims to promote competition in the faster payments service provider market in the U.S.

In May, the FPC announced it had completed its first member election for its board of directors, with Walmart’s Reed Luhtanen, NACHA’s Jane Larimer, Visa’s Matt Friend and Mastercard’s Andrea Gilman among the elected members.

“Our job is to convene industry stakeholders to chart a path to ubiquitous faster payments, and these newly elected leaders will be instrumental in achieving that vision,” Kevin Christensen, FPC’s acting executive director and interim board member, said at the time.