ACI Worldwide brings ACI Connetic platform to UK banks

By Vriti Gothi

ACI Worldwide has launched the first UK deployment of its cloud-native payments platform, ACI Connetic, marking a significant step in the country’s ongoing payments modernisation efforts.

The deployment by a leading UK retail bank enables the consolidation of SWIFT, CHAPS and Faster Payments onto a single cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. The development comes as UK authorities and regulators continue to press for greater resilience, interoperability and efficiency across payment infrastructures.

Historically, UK banks have operated these schemes on separate systems, contributing to operational complexity, higher costs and increased compliance burdens. By bringing them together within one cloud-native environment, ACI Connetic aims to streamline processing, enhance resilience across schemes and accelerate the adoption of evolving regulatory requirements.

The platform, powered by Microsoft Azure, is positioned as a unified infrastructure for account-to-account payments, card transactions and AI-driven fraud prevention. Its modular architecture and open APIs are designed to support phased modernisation, enabling institutions to integrate legacy environments while reducing implementation timelines.

Richard Albery, head of banking, UK and Ireland at ACI Worldwide, said the UK go-live reflects growing international demand for consolidated, cloud-based payments infrastructure. “Banks are facing unprecedented pressure to modernise quickly as payments grow more complex,” he said. “ACI Connetic is more than a new payments product it’s an operating model built for the digital economy, giving institutions the agility and scale they need to grow.”

Christian Sarafidis, chief executive for EMEA financial services at Microsoft, said cloud infrastructure is increasingly central to payments transformation strategies. “Our collaboration with ACI Worldwide helps banks access a cloud-native approach that supports security, compliance, resilience and scalability, while enabling continuous innovation,” he said. “As payments continue to evolve, cloud technology is playing an important role in helping institutions respond to digital commerce, regulatory change and rising customer expectations.”

Beyond the UK, ACI said financial institutions across Europe and the United States are adopting the platform as they reassess technology strategies amid regulatory reform and intensifying competition. Industry analysts note that the convergence of real-time payments, cross-border harmonisation and stricter oversight is driving banks to reconsider fragmented system architectures in favour of consolidated, cloud-based models.

The UK deployment signals a broader shift in the sector from incremental upgrades to platform-level transformation, as banks seek scalable infrastructure capable of supporting future real-time and cross-border payments innovation.