FedNow Customer Deal Demonstrates Benefits of Cloud Modernization Strategy
Among the first in the payments sector to complete testing and certification for the FedNowSM Service, the Federal Reserve’s new instant payments service launching this July, is ACI Worldwide, a global pioneer in mission-critical, real-time payment solutions. ACI chose Corporate One Federal Credit Union as its launch partner to integrate instant payment services on FedNow via ACI’s Real-Time Payments Cloud in order to reach credit unions all over the country. This was done in close collaboration with the U.S. Federal Reserve and partners across the payments industry.
ACI Worldwide underwent a rigorous testing process to become FedNow certified, which included checking off a list of requirements to demonstrate the ability to send, receive, and process ISO 20022 messages as well as to successfully operate in a 24x7x365 instant payments environment.
Our early certification is a reflection of the years of global real-time payment solutions investment we have made in our platform. According to Craig Ramsey, ACI Worldwide’s global head of real-time payments, “We look forward to working closely with Corporate One and future partners to process real-time payments through FedNow and the ACI Real-Time Payments Cloud solution. Since the service’s inception, we have worked closely with the U.S. Federal Reserve on the development of FedNow. We are grateful that the Federal Reserve has named ACI Worldwide a FedNow Instant Payment Pioneer.”
Corporate One, one of the biggest corporate credit unions in the US and a pioneer in real-time payments within the credit union sector, will be able to expand its immediate payments solutions to the FedNow Service through a partnership with ACI Worldwide, providing secure, protected instant payments integration to its sizable community of credit union members and partners. Corporate One has more than 700 members spread over 45 states, reaching more than 28.5 million individuals, and services 14 of the top 50 credit unions in terms of asset size.
“Corporate One sees our partnership with ACI Worldwide as instrumental in expanding our immediate payments expertise and capabilities to include the FedNow Service,” said Melissa Ashley, president and chief executive officer of Corporate One. We have collaborated on solutions for the RTP® network as well as as FedNow pilot participants, and we are convinced that ACI will contribute unrivaled knowledge to ensure that Corporate One and our credit union members will benefit from FedNow as soon as possible. And that’s really what this is all about: giving credit unions the chance to compete, live up to member expectations, and profit from new business models as payments become instantaneous.
ACI Worldwide and Microsoft will work together to operate the FedNow Service on ACI Real-Time Payments Cloud, a multi-tenant SaaS platform in Microsoft Azure that supports access to both FedNow and The Clearing House Real-Time Payments network. This new, entirely cloud-native service is part of ACI Worldwide’s effort to operate FedNow on the cloud. Given the complexity of payment systems, moving to a cloud-based architecture demands careful planning. Customers of ACI Worldwide who have been using their mission-critical system for decades can take advantage of a tested path to new designs.
Contact Craig Ramsey, ACI’s global head of real-time payments (craig.ramsey@aciworldwide.com), to find out more about how ACI Worldwide can assist financial institutions in adopting real-time payment services.
