As the European Commission and UK Government work towards setting up regulations to improve the instant payments sphere, ACI Worldwide has launched ACI Instant Pay. The feature is a real-time payments solution that enables merchants to accept instant online, mobile and in-store payments. It does so through an API integration with ACI Payments Orchestration Platform.
Across the European continent, more is being done to make instant payments a mainstream reality. A proposed European Commission law mandated that financial institutions across Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) countries must offer instant payments under the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme. Doing so at the same cost or lower than standard credit transfers.
But it’s not just banks and financial institutions in the Eurozone that are looking to make changes. Via its New Payments Architecture program, the UK is also looking to further its instant payments journey through the Faster Payments Scheme. Instant payments are a win-win for both merchants and customers. Therefore, it is expected that more merchants will onboard the technology.
Why instant payments for merchants?
- Clearing funds immediately gives merchants greater control of cash flow. It’s estimated that instant receipt of funds could help European businesses unlock €1.34-1.84billion each year.
- Merchants will be able to accept payment for their goods and services without incurring interchange fees, which can reduce operational costs.
- Instant payments are crucial for e-commerce merchants that rely on fast delivery to be competitive. Payment reaches their account instantly with no settlement delays or chargebacks. They can safely release goods and services straight away.
“Payments need to keep pace with an increasingly digital society. In Europe, 90 per cent of people aged 16 to 74 now use the internet. A further 74 per cent buy or order goods online,” commented Basant Singh, global head of ACI’s merchant business.
“In our expanding ‘always on’ transactional world, giving and receiving money electronically should be as instantaneous as handing over cash. ACI Worldwide and ACI Instant Pay are ready to help European merchants and their customers take advantage of the instant payments opportunity in the UK and Europe.”
