Sells banks, intermediaries, merchants and billers payments-processing software (card switching, real-time and account-to-account payments) with AI fraud management embedded, under long licence or SaaS/PaaS contracts; since 2025 it has been moving customers to its cloud-native ACI Connetic hub.
What is ACI Worldwide, and which banks use it?
ACI Worldwide is a Nasdaq-listed (ACIW) payments software company founded in Omaha in 1975, with $1.76 billion of 2025 revenue. Banks buy its card and real-time payment processing (BASE24, ACI Connetic) and ACI Fraud Management. Among our 100 banks, ACI's releases and case studies name BMO (real-time payments hub), First Hawaiian (wires) and Webster (online banking, 2014); City National lists ACI Money Transfer System for sanctions screening. Pricing is not published; its 10-K says fees depend on solutions and transaction volumes, usually under five-year minimum contracts.
Category
Founded
1975
Headquarters
Elkhorn, Nebraska, US (Omaha area)
Ownership
Publicly traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (ACIW); a Delaware corporation incorporated in 1993 as ACI Holding, Inc., which renamed itself from Transaction Systems Architects to ACI Worldwide in July 2007.[1]
Deployment
SaaS or PaaS (ACI private cloud or public cloud) or on-premises licence; ACI Fraud Management also runs multi-tenant, in the public cloud or on-premises
Pricing
Software licence plus maintenance, or SaaS/PaaS subscription; priced by the solutions taken and transaction volumes, generally with multi-year minimum terms · not published
Banks among the 120
4
- ACI was incorporated in Omaha, Nebraska on October 7, 1975 with five employees, listed on Nasdaq in 1983 and launched its BASE24 card and ATM product family in 1982; its principal executive offices are now in Elkhorn, Nebraska.
- 2025 revenue was $1.76 billion (up 10%), split between the Payment Software segment ($942 million), which sells to banks, intermediaries and merchants, and the Biller segment ($818 million, Speedpay bill payment).
- ACI's 10-K says it serves nearly all of the top 10 banks worldwide by assets and 80,000+ merchants in about 90 countries, and that no single customer accounted for more than 10% of revenue in 2023-2025.
- ACI Fraud Management for financial institutions is sold within its Payments Intelligence line; Payments Intelligence revenue fell 3% in constant currency in Q1 2026 and rose 3% in Q2 2026, while the 10-K names FICO, Featurespace, Feedzai, NICE, SAS and Visa's Cybersource among its fraud competitors.
- ACI Connetic, launched May 2025, is ACI's cloud-native payments hub; ACI signed a major UK bank in Q4 2025, two US customers in Q2 2026 and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta in August 2026, and agreed in September 2026 to buy card-switching developer Cranium Ventures.
- In July 2026 Reuters, as reported by Finextra, said ACI was exploring a sale of its billing division at about a $1.5 billion valuation.
- Outside our 100 US banks, ACI case studies name HSBC UK (BASE24 for its UK ATMs and debit cards) and ING Nederland (BASE24-eps card processing, migrating to Linux in 2017), and ACI's March 2026 Connetic for Cards release quotes German bank Solaris on running its instant payments on ACI Connetic.
- Pricing is not published; ACI's 10-K says pricing and payment terms depend on the solutions and transaction volumes a customer needs, with minimum contracts generally of five years (three for certain SaaS and PaaS contracts).
What does ACI Worldwide sell to banks?
| Product | What it does | Status |
|---|---|---|
| ACI Fraud Management for financial institutions (Payments Intelligence)[1][4] | Real-time fraud and financial-crime scoring for banks, intermediaries and private-label card portfolios using machine-learning models, consortium data and customizable strategies, with AML/KYC transaction monitoring; deployable multi-tenant, in the public cloud or on-premises. | Generally available |
| Payee verification via Kinexys Liink Confirm[15] | Integration of J.P. Morgan's Kinexys Liink Confirm application into ACI's fraud management platform to check before a payment is sent that the receiving account exists, is open and matches the intended payee. | Announced |
| ACI Connetic[12][19][18] | Cloud-native payments hub combining account-to-account payments, card payments and AI-driven fraud prevention; delivered as a service in some deals (FHLBank Atlanta), with ACI operating the platform. | Generally available |
| ACI Connetic for Cards[14][20] | Issuing, acquiring and ATM processing on the Connetic platform with embedded fraud and digital-identity capabilities, launched March 2026; ACI plans to add Cranium Ventures' SYNAP microservices card-switching framework. | Generally available |
| Account-to-account and real-time payments[1][5] | Real-time payments, ACH, RTGS and cross-border processing with connectivity to instant payment schemes including FedNow and The Clearing House RTP, offered as software or SaaS. | Generally available |
| Issuing and acquiring (BASE24, ACI Issuing, ACI Acquiring)[1][6] | Card and ATM authorization, routing and switching software; the 10-K says a significant portion of ACI's revenue comes from licensing these solutions, including the BASE24 product line. | Generally available |
How much does ACI Worldwide cost?
How it is charged: Software licence plus maintenance, or SaaS/PaaS subscription; priced by the solutions taken and transaction volumes, generally with multi-year minimum terms.
ACI Worldwide does not publish a price list.
- ACI's FY2025 Form 10-K says pricing and payment terms depend on which solutions the customer requires and their transaction volumes, and that customers are generally required to commit to a minimum contract of five years, or three years for certain SaaS and PaaS contracts (company filing; no prices stated). (Dec 31, 2025)[1]
Pricing is not published; aciworldwide.com has no pricing page, and the only public description of terms is the 10-K's statement that fees depend on solutions and transaction volumes under multi-year minimum contracts.
Which banks use ACI Worldwide?
| Bank | What | Status |
|---|---|---|
| BMO (U.S.) | BMO Financial Group's Payment Hub, serving customers across North America, runs on ACI's UP Real-Time Payments solution (announced January 2018); ACI said in 2019 that BMO used it to bring Zelle business-to-consumer payments, a US network, to market.[8][9] | In production |
| First Hawaiian, Inc. | SaaS domestic RTGS (wires) and cross-border payments run and supported by ACI, adopted during First Hawaiian's divestiture, per an ACI case study.[5] | In production |
| City National Bank (RBC) | City National's September 2026 Wolfsberg correspondent-banking questionnaire names ACI Money Transfer System, alongside LexisNexis Bridger Insight, as the vendor-sourced tools it uses for automated sanctions screening.[10] | In production |
| Webster Bank | Hosted Universal Online Banker platform for business and government clients, selected in 2014 to replace an in-house system; no later confirmation found.[11] | Selected |
Among the 120 largest US banks on this site, from sources that name the bank: the bank, ACI Worldwide or the press. Status is the furthest stage a source confirms.
What is ACI Connetic?
A cloud-native payments hub launched in May 2025 that ACI says combines account-to-account payments, card payments and AI-driven fraud prevention on one platform; card processing (ACI Connetic for Cards) was added in March 2026 and ACI says it was enabled across eight major US payment networks by mid-2026.[12][14][18]
What has ACI Worldwide done, and when?
- Sep 1, 2026
Agrees to acquire Cranium Ventures[20]
ACI agreed to acquire UK-founded Cranium Ventures, developer of the SYNAP microservices card-switching framework, for undisclosed terms; the deal was expected to close in Q3 2026.
- Aug 26, 2026
FHLBank Atlanta selects ACI Connetic[19]
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, which already processed its wires with ACI, selected ACI Connetic delivered as a service to modernize member payment operations.
- Aug 6, 2026
Two US banks sign for Connetic[18]
ACI reported Q2 2026 revenue of $430 million (up 7%), said it had enabled Connetic across eight major US payment networks and signed two unnamed US customers, and raised full-year guidance to $1.895-$1.925 billion.
- Jul 20, 2026
Reported to be exploring a sale of its billing division[17]
Finextra, citing Reuters, reported that ACI was working with investment bankers on a possible sale of its billing division at about a $1.5 billion valuation; the division had about $818 million of 2025 revenue.
- Apr 24, 2026
Adds Kinexys payee verification to its fraud platform[15]
ACI and Kinexys by J.P. Morgan announced the integration of Kinexys Liink's Confirm account-validation application into ACI's fraud management platform for real-time payments.
- Mar 4, 2026
Launches ACI Connetic for Cards[14]
ACI brought issuing, acquiring and ATM processing onto Connetic, with embedded fraud and digital-identity capabilities.
- Feb 26, 2026
2025 revenue of $1.76 billion; UK bank signs for Connetic[13]
ACI reported 2025 revenue of $1.76 billion (up 10%) and net income of $227 million, and said it signed a major UK bank for ACI Connetic in Q4 2025 without naming it.
- May 27, 2025
Launches ACI Connetic[12]
ACI launched ACI Connetic at EBAday, a cloud-native platform it says unifies account-to-account payments, card payments and AI-driven fraud prevention.
- Jun 1, 2023
Thomas Warsop becomes CEO[1]
Thomas Warsop, a board member since 2015 and non-executive chairman since June 2022, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer.
- Jan 1, 2019
Acquires Speedpay[3]
ACI made its largest acquisition to date, Speedpay, building out its bill payment business (today's Biller segment).
- Jan 24, 2018
BMO adopts UP Real-Time Payments[8]
ACI said BMO Financial Group was using its UP Real-Time Payments solution as part of real-time payments capabilities for customers across North America.
- Jul 24, 2007
Renamed ACI Worldwide[1]
The company changed its corporate name from Transaction Systems Architects to ACI Worldwide; the listed entity is a Delaware corporation incorporated in 1993 as ACI Holding, Inc.
- Jan 1, 1983
Lists on Nasdaq[3]
ACI listed its initial public offering on Nasdaq in 1983.
- Oct 7, 1975
ACI incorporated in Omaha[3]
ACI was incorporated in Omaha, Nebraska, with five employees; it completed its first ATM project in 1979 and released BASE24-atm in 1982.
What do banks use ACI Worldwide for?
| Use | What it does | Status | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time payments and card fraud scoring[1][4][15] | Machine-learning fraud scoring, scam detection across card, digital and real-time payments, plus pre-payment payee verification through the Kinexys integration. | In production | Fraud detection |
| AML transaction monitoring[4] | ACI markets its banking fraud platform for AML/KYC transaction monitoring and suspicious-activity reporting alongside fraud. | In production | AML / KYC |
| Outsourced payments processing[5][19] | Banks run wires, cross-border, real-time and card payments on ACI-hosted SaaS, with ACI operating the platform day to day. | In production | Third-party & vendor AI |
| Card and ATM authorization[6][7][14] | BASE24 and ACI Connetic for Cards authorize, route and settle ATM, debit and card transactions, with embedded fraud and digital-identity checks on Connetic. | In production | Cybersecurity |
What has ACI Worldwide disclosed in numbers?
| Metric | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue (2025) | $1.76 billion, up 10%; recurring revenue $1.21 billion[13] | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Segment revenue (2025) | Payment Software $942.1 million; Biller $817.7 million[1] | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Customers (company-reported) | Nearly all of the top 10 banks worldwide by assets and 80,000+ merchants, in about 90 countries[1] | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Employees | 2,930 worldwide (1,335 Americas, 819 EMEA, 776 Asia Pacific)[1] | Dec 31, 2025 |
| 2026 revenue guidance | $1.895 billion to $1.925 billion (raised August 2026); Q2 2026 revenue $430 million[18] | Aug 6, 2026 |
| Payments Intelligence revenue growth (constant currency) | Down 3% in Q1 2026; up 3% in Q2 2026[16][18] | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Fraud results for banks (vendor-reported) | Detection rates above 85%, 1.5x cash-out scam detection and a 3:1 false-positive rate, per ACI's banking fraud product page[4] | Nov 2, 2026 |
“ACI Connetic is not just a new product, it is a new standard for how banks must operate in the digital economy and approach payments transformation”[12]
Thomas Warsop · President and CEO, ACI Worldwide · May 27, 2025
“Instant payments change the economics and the timing of fraud”[15]
Marc Trepanier · Director of analytics and optimization for fraud and financial crime, ACI Worldwide · Apr 24, 2026
“Our focus is to create services that better support our customers and make payments faster and easier”[9]
Sharon Haward-Laird · Head, North American Treasury & Payment Solutions, BMO Financial Group · May 13, 2019
Who runs ACI Worldwide?
Thomas W. Warsop III
President and Chief Executive Officer (since June 1, 2023)[1]
Erich J. Litch
General Manager, Payment Software[1]
Ronald C. Shultz
General Manager, ACI Speedpay[1]
JP Krishnamoorthy
Chief Innovation and Technology Officer (took over the CTO's responsibilities in January 2026)[2]
Bill Farris
Head of Issuing and Acquiring[14]
Craig Ramsey
Head of Account-to-Account Payments[19]
Which rules apply to a bank using ACI Worldwide?
| Authority | Why it matters here | Documents |
|---|---|---|
| OCC | ACI hosts and operates payment processing and fraud scoring for banks under multi-year SaaS contracts, a critical third-party relationship OCC Bulletin 2023-17 expects a bank to manage across its life; OCC Bulletin 2026-13 sets model-risk expectations for vendor machine-learning fraud models such as ACI's. | OCC Bulletin 2023-17 OCC Bulletin 2026-13 |
| Federal Reserve | ACI Fraud Management's machine-learning scores decide whether a bank holds or releases card and real-time payments, making them models a bank must inventory, validate and monitor under SR 26-2. | SR 26-2 |
| FinCEN | Banks use ACI's platform for AML transaction monitoring and suspicious-activity reporting and for scam detection on irrevocable instant payments; BSA/AML obligations stay with the bank, and FinCEN's 2018 innovation statement covers piloting such tools. | 2018 Joint Statement on BSA/AML Innovation FIN-2024-Alert004 (Deepfake Media) |
| EU AI Act | European banks such as ING and HSBC UK run ACI software; the EU AI Act treats AI used to detect payment fraud differently from high-risk credit-scoring AI, which shapes the obligations a bank deploying ACI's fraud models in the EU carries. | Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 |
Linked authorities have a page in the Regulation tracker; the others are named for completeness.
What should a bank note before buying ACI Worldwide?
Analysis by BankingNewsAI from the sources cited on this page. Observations, not advice or a recommendation.
01
Pricing is not published
ACI has no price list; its 10-K says fees depend on the solutions and transaction volumes a bank takes, with minimum terms generally of five years (three for some SaaS/PaaS), so exit and renewal terms matter as much as price.
02
Named bank customers are mostly for payments processing, not fraud
The banks from our list that ACI names (BMO, First Hawaiian, Webster) use its payments hubs or online banking, and City National discloses ACI Money Transfer System for sanctions screening; ACI's fraud product pages cite results without naming a bank among our 100.
03
Several bank references are old
The BMO and Webster references date from 2014-2019; ACI has not published a later confirmation for Webster, and its 2025-2026 Connetic bank signings (a UK bank, two US banks) are unnamed.
04
Fraud performance figures are vendor-reported
The 85% detection rate, 1.5x scam detection and 3:1 false-positive figures come from ACI's own product page without a named customer or baseline.
05
Fraud is a small, slow-growing line inside ACI
Payments Intelligence revenue fell 3% in Q1 2026 and rose 3% in Q2 2026 in constant currency, while ACI's investment focus is the Connetic platform and its billing division was reported to be up for sale.
06
Headcount figures differ
ACI's About page says 4,000+ employees; its FY2025 10-K reports 2,930 employees at December 31, 2025.
What are the alternatives to ACI Worldwide?
Featurespace
Real-time behavioral fraud and AML scoring for banks and processors (The Featurespace Platform, formerly ARIC Risk Hub); a Visa unit.
Feedzai
RiskOps platform for bank fraud, scam and AML prevention: transaction scoring, behavioral biometrics and network intelligence.
NICE Actimize
Fraud, AML, sanctions screening, KYC, case management and trade surveillance software for banks, on X-Sight and Xceed platforms.
FICO
FICO Platform decisioning and analytics software for origination, account management and fraud (Falcon), plus the FICO Score.
FIS
Core, digital and card-processing provider adding AI agents (an Anthropic-built AML agent), AI card-fraud tools and AI lending tools.
Fiserv
Core, card and payments provider adding AI to its platforms: agentOS agents for bank workflows, AI card-fraud decisioning.
Finastra
Bank software for lending (Loan IQ, LaserPro, Mortgagebot) and payments (Global PAYplus), with AI add-ons for payment repair.
Temenos
Swiss core, digital, payments and wealth banking software with embedded AI copilots, a sanctions-screening AI agent and explainable AI.
How much does ACI Worldwide cost?
ACI Worldwide does not publish pricing. Its FY2025 10-K says pricing and payment terms depend on which solutions a customer requires and its transaction volumes, and that customers generally commit to a minimum contract of five years, or three years for certain SaaS and PaaS contracts. Banks buy either a software licence with maintenance or a hosted SaaS/PaaS subscription, so costs come from individual quotes.
Which banks use ACI Worldwide?
Among the 100 US banks we track, ACI's releases and case studies name BMO (its North American payment hub runs on ACI's UP Real-Time Payments, used to launch Zelle business payments), First Hawaiian Bank (SaaS wires and cross-border payments) and Webster Bank (hosted online banking, selected in 2014). City National Bank's own September 2026 Wolfsberg questionnaire names ACI Money Transfer System, with LexisNexis Bridger Insight, as its vendor sanctions-screening tools. Outside that list, ACI case studies name HSBC UK and ING for card processing on BASE24. ACI says it serves nearly all of the top 10 banks worldwide but does not name them.
Who owns ACI Worldwide?
ACI Worldwide is a public company listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker ACIW. It was incorporated in Omaha in 1975, and the listed Delaware corporation took the ACI Worldwide name in July 2007 after operating as Transaction Systems Architects. Its principal executive offices are in Elkhorn, Nebraska, and Thomas Warsop has been CEO since June 2023.
Is ACI Worldwide a bank?
No. ACI Worldwide is a software company that sells payments processing, fraud management and bill payment software to banks, intermediaries, merchants and billers. It is not a chartered bank. Banks that use ACI's hosted services oversee it as a third-party vendor and keep their own fraud, BSA/AML and payments obligations.
What is ACI Connetic?
ACI Connetic is ACI's cloud-native payments hub, launched in May 2025, which ACI says combines account-to-account payments, card payments and AI-driven fraud prevention on one platform. Card processing was added in March 2026 as ACI Connetic for Cards. ACI signed a UK bank in Q4 2025, two US customers in Q2 2026 and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta in August 2026.
How does ACI Fraud Management compare with Feedzai or Featurespace?
ACI's 10-K lists Feedzai, Featurespace, FICO, NICE, SAS and Visa's Cybersource among the competitors for ACI Fraud Management. ACI also sells the payment switches and real-time payment hubs its fraud scoring is embedded in (ACI Connetic includes AI-driven fraud prevention), so banks can buy fraud management as part of a processing platform. ACI's own fraud performance figures are vendor-reported and name no bank.
- ACI Worldwide, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- ACI Worldwide, Inc. Form 8-K (Item 5.02, Chief Technology Officer departure)
- About ACI
- ACI Fraud Management for Banking
- First Hawaiian bank manages payments modernization with a SaaS-based solution
- HSBC bank UK creates a highly customized system
- ING Transforming Payments and Banking at Web Scale
- ACI Provides Real-Time Payments Capability for BMO Financial Group
- ACI Worldwide and BMO Drive Business-to-Consumer Payments with Zelle
- Wolfsberg Group Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire (CBDDQ) V1.4 2026 — City National Bank
- Webster Bank Selects ACI to Host New Online Banking Platform to Serve Business and Government Clients
- ACI Worldwide Redefines Payments with ACI Connetic
- ACI Worldwide, Inc. Reports Double-Digit Revenue Growth for Full Year Ended December 31, 2025
- ACI Worldwide Launches Card Payments on Cloud-Native ACI Connetic, Advancing Unified Payments Platform
- ACI Worldwide and Kinexys by J.P. Morgan Collaborate to Mitigate Global Real-Time Payments Fraud
- ACI Worldwide Reports Strong First Quarter 2026 Results and Raises Full-Year Guidance
- ACI Worldwide explores sale of billing division
- ACI Worldwide Reports Strong Second Quarter 2026 Results and Raises Full-Year Guidance
- Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta Selects ACI Connetic to Modernize Its Member Payment Operations
- ACI Worldwide to Add Microservices Card Switching to ACI Connetic for Cards via Acquisition of Cranium Ventures
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