Tag: ACI Worldwide

Philippines – In 2023, real-time payment transactions in the Philippines experienced a 24% year-on-year (YoY) growth, with transaction volumes reaching 777 million, according to a report by ACI Worldwide.

The report also projects that the volume will soar to 1.54 billion by 2028. The real-time payments’ share of all digital payments in the country is projected to grow to 58.7% by 2028, while its transaction value is expected to reach USD 209.6 billion in the same year. 

As of 2023, real-time payments accounted for 47.2% of all Philippine digital payments, with a transaction value of USD 89.5 billion.

The surge in digital payments, including real-time transactions, in the Philippines accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting a shift towards a cashless economy. The report highlights that this shift is driven by growing consumer demand for simpler, faster, and more secure transactions, with Filipino consumers citing these as the primary reasons for adopting digital payment tools.

ACI Worldwide’s report also identified a strong correlation between the growth of real-time payments and mobile wallet adoption. The Philippines ranks fifth globally in mobile wallet adoption, with 88% of Filipinos using a mobile wallet in the past year. The report further revealed that QR codes, mobile wallets, and bank accounts are the primary authorization methods used by Filipino consumers to initiate real-time payments.

Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) plans to join the Regional Payment Connectivity initiative, linking ASEAN countries under a single QR code system. This move, aimed at enabling real-time cross-border payments, is part of the central bank’s broader strategy to promote financial inclusivity and digital payments, potentially reducing remittance costs and boosting the economy.

Leslie Choo, senior vice president and managing director for APAC at ACI Worldwide, commented, “Real-time payments hold the potential to facilitate greater economic growth and financial inclusion in the Philippines by eliminating payment friction and injecting greater liquidity in the financial system. As Filipinos continue to embrace digitization, we encourage the local banks and financial institutions to harness technological innovations that will enable them to fully leverage the capabilities of real-time transactions.” 

“Real-time payments are now a real-world reality, and banks have the opportunity to innovate where real-time payments sit in the customer journey and the end-to-end payments landscape to provide a differentiated experience. At ACI Worldwide, we want to collaborate with banks, merchants, and billers in the Philippines and around the world to enable them to tap into emerging use cases of real-time payments through payment modernization and transformation,” Choo added. 

Manila, Philippines – Security Bank Corporation, a universal bank in the Philippines, has signed a contract with real-time payment software company ACI Worldwide in order to improve on the bank’s real-time payment hub. 

ACI will be providing their cloud-native ‘Enterprise Payments Platform’ solution for Security Bank to be able to unify its payments platform and facilitate the interactions between payment services and gateways for high and low-value payments such as InstaPay, Philippine Domestic Dollar Transfer Service System or PDDTS, PESONet, Swift, and PhilPaSSplus on ISO2022 standards.

This modernised payment hub allows Security Bank to roll out products and services to customers faster and add new payment types seamlessly and cost-effectively to its core infrastructure.

Leslie Choo, senior vice president and managing director of ACI Worldwide-APAC, says,”Security Bank is at the forefront of driving customer centricity and redefining the digital real-time payments landscape in the country, and ACI is proud to support the Bank with cutting-edge payment hub technologies in leading this transformation.” 

He added, “Our robust solutions go from powering country-wide real-time payment ecosystems to interconnecting cross-border real-time payment networks and enabling the integration of different types of payments, such as the convergence of high-value and low-value payments into a single, unified, intelligent, cloud-native payment hub. “

Meanwhile, Stephen John Bell, senior vice president and channels network group head at Security Bank, said “Digital real-time payments are becoming ubiquitous, with today’s customers looking for a hyper-connected, frictionless customer experience. ACI’s modern, scalable, and cloud-native architecture will power real-time payments to meet the dynamic demands of our customers in the digital era. This initiative and our investment in innovative payment technology are testament to our unwavering commitment to customer-centricity.” 

Lastly, John Cary L. Ong, external vice president and transaction banking, group head at Security Bank, also supports the enhancing transition into real time payment in the Philippines, saying,”A modernised real-time payment solution offers financial resiliency and agility for businesses in the Philippines through enhanced cash flow management and improved business liquidity. For Filipino consumers, they can look forward to a fast and seamless customer experience through secure digital channels. As Security Bank celebrates 72 years of enriching lives and empowering businesses, the partnership with ACI signifies our commitment to deliver a BetterBanking eXperience.”