ACI Worldwide Launches Card Payments on Cloud-Native ACI Connetic, Advancing Unified Payments Platform

WHY THIS MATTERS: The launch of ACI Connetic for Cards is not just an incremental product update; it represents a critical inflection point for unified payments architecture in the global financial sector. While much of the industry dialogue focuses on the exciting growth of Account-to-Account (A2A) and instant payments, the card business remains the undisputed engine of global commerce, projected to exceed one trillion annual transactions soon. The problem for many legacy financial institutions is that their core card payment processing systems are often decades old, inflexible, and costly to maintain. This new platform addresses that operational debt head-on. By merging robust card capabilities (issuing, acquiring, ATM) with A2A and embedded fraud management onto a single, API-first, cloud-native hub, ACI is setting a new standard for backend efficiency. For banks, this move is crucial: it offers a low-risk, modular pathway to future-proof their most critical revenue stream, enabling them to drive down operating costs while accelerating the launch of new customer experiences and products. The future of payments relies on this infrastructural convergence.
ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW), an original innovator in global payments technology, announced the launch of ACI Connetic for Cards, a next generation, fully integrated, modernised card payments suite within ACI Connetic, the industry’s first unified cloud-native payments hub, bringing together account-to-account (A2A), card payments and AI-driven fraud prevention on one platform.  

With ACI’s market‑leading Acquiring, Issuing and ATM and Self-Service Banking solutions processing more than 300 billion card transactions annually, ACI Connetic for Cards advances this proven capability – unifying ACI’s global strengths and capabilities onto one next-generation, unified, cloud-native platform.  The enterprise grade modular suite supports the full transaction lifecycle of every payment – capturing and authenticating data across all channels, intelligently routing transactions to the appropriate hosts or networks, and securely authorising and clearing to support settlement of payments between institutions.

By unifying these mission-critical functions, ACI Connetic for Cards provides the scale, resiliency and advanced functionality needed to modernise card payment processing operations, drive new customer experiences and business growth.  

Despite the rise of real-time payments, cards continue to dominate globally. Fuelled by contactless adoption, e-commerce growth and B2B digitisation, global card transactions totalled 776 billion in 2024 and are projected to reach 1.1 trillion annually in 2029, a 43 per cent increase over 2024.* 

As global card usage continues to rise, banks are reassessing how well their existing card platforms can support future demand. Having a clear modernisation plan, at a pace that makes sense for each institution, is critical. ACI Connetic for Cards provides the modern architecture to support that journey, whenever banks choose to take it.

“When we introduced ACI Connetic, we set a new benchmark for how banks operate in the digital economy,” said Thomas Warsop, CEO and President, ACI Worldwide. “With ACI Connetic for Cards, we’re bringing that standard to the heart of retail payments — modernising the issuing, acquiring and ATM capabilities banks depend on. It gives institutions a future-ready foundation that improves flexibility and agility by opening a low-risk path to new services, new payment types and continuous innovation.” 

Key Benefits of ACI Connetic for Cards:

Trusted card payment processing: ACI customers benefit from mature, globally compliant issuing, acquiring and ATM capabilities refined over more than a decade – now also delivered through ACI Connetic to provide a clear pathway to modernisation.

Unified payments operations through ACI Connetic: Cloud native, API-first platform with embedded fraud management and digital identity capabilities, fully integrated with account-to-account payments to deliver superior operational efficiency, greater resilience and continuous innovation across the entire payments ecosystem.

“Banks need payments infrastructure that can evolve without elevating risk,” said Bill Farris, head of issuing and acquiring at ACI Worldwide. “ACI Connetic for Cards brings card processing and account-to-account payments together on a single, cloud-native platform, enhanced with advanced fraud and identity intelligence to deliver stronger resilience and operational efficiency. This is modern payments infrastructure built to evolve at the pace our customers require without risking stability.”

Financial institutions are increasingly turning to unified, cloud-native architectures to streamline operations and drive faster, more agile innovation across all payment types.

“At Solaris, we value both the innovation and the depth of capability delivered through ACI Connetic,” said Peter Hüftlein, head of product accounts, Solaris SE. “The unified, cloud-native approach supports us to simplify operations, accelerate change and innovate across payment types with far greater control. ACI Connetic for our instant payments capabilities gives us a resilient, modern foundation that supports our growth and lets us deliver new customer experiences at speed.”

ACI Connetic was introduced in 2025 as the industry’s first unified, cloud-native platform combining account-to-account payments, card payments and AI-driven fraud prevention. Its momentum has continued through 2026 with new deployments and expanded capabilities. ACI Connetic for Cards builds on this progress by applying the same unified approach to modernising card payment processing operations. 

FF NEWS TAKE: This release definitively moves the needle, particularly for large, established institutions struggling with slow, siloed core systems. The true significance lies in the combination of mature card functionality with advanced fraud intelligence and A2A capabilities. This convergence provides a genuinely agile foundation for core banking. We should now watch for competing providers to fast-track similar cloud-native unification strategies. The next crucial phase will be observing how rapidly ACI’s clients adopt the platform and transition their remaining legacy payment flows to the new architecture

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