CIMB Bank chooses ACI Worldwide for major payment overhaul

By Gloria Methri

CIMB Bank has selected ACI Worldwide to lead a comprehensive overhaul of its payments infrastructure as the Malaysian banking group aims to modernise and unify its domestic and cross-border payment systems.

The partnership will see all account-to-account payment types—including real-time payments, ACH, RTGS, and cross-border transactions—converge onto a single, ISO20022-native platform provided by ACI. This transition is designed to replace CIMB’s fragmented legacy systems with a unified architecture that supports richer data exchange, straight-through processing, improved compliance, and greater operational agility.

“CIMB’s payment transformation is a bold re-architecture of our core payments infrastructure to unify all payment flows,” said Ros Aziah, Group Chief Technology Officer, CIMB Bank. “This enterprise-wide initiative is a cornerstone of our Forward30 Strategy, built to future-proof operations, accelerate digital convergence, and deliver seamless, secure, and intelligent payment experiences for both consumers and businesses. Aligned with ISO 20022 and powered by our partnership with ACI Worldwide, CIMB is positioning itself at the forefront of next-generation banking.”

The new platform, which will initially roll out in Malaysia before being extended regionally, is expected to enable CIMB to respond more swiftly to evolving regulatory requirements while delivering enhanced security, scalability, and real-time insights across its operations.

Leslie Choo, Senior Vice President and Managing Director – APAC, ACI Worldwide, said, “ACI is proud to be the strategic partner behind CIMB’s full-scale payment transformation—a complex, end-to-end overhaul that unified CIMB’s payment operations across real-time, high-value, low-value, and cross-border transactions onto a modern, enterprise-wide ISO20022 platform. We are honoured that this partnership has been recognised with a prestigious industry award. It’s a testament to how forward-thinking banks like CIMB can lead in a digital-first economy in Malaysia and across ASEAN.”

ACI Worldwide brings decades of experience to the partnership, currently powering 26 real-time payment schemes globally, including 11 central infrastructures. In Malaysia, ACI supported the launch of the Real-time Retail Payments Platform (RPP) in collaboration with PayNet, the country’s central payments infrastructure provider. ACI’s global footprint includes serving all ten of the world’s largest financial institutions by asset value and facilitating over one billion transactions daily.