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Thomas Warsop. President and CEO of ACI Worldwide. Picture: SUPPLIED.
Thomas Warsop. President and CEO of ACI Worldwide. Picture: SUPPLIED.

The growth of digital payments software and systems is the focus of this edition of Business Day Spotlight. 

Host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Thomas Warsop, president and CEO of ACI Worldwide. 

Founded in 1975, ACI is credited with being one of the first major software providers to the payments industry. Listed on the Nasdaq, the company is worth $5.4bn (about R94bn). 

According to Warsop, the African content is far ahead of many developed economies in terms of its payments technology. He says SA’s financial services industry is quite mature in this respect.

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While SA’s financial services sector has been on a mission to reduce the use of cash, Warsop highlighted that countries like the US are also having similar challenges. 

ACI counts some of the SA’s largest banks, financial institutions and fintech businesses as clients. 

Warsop makes the point that as a software company, ACI Worldwide is positioned to succeed whatever method of digital payments — mobile, card, EFT and others — is used. 

He says a recent visit to SA showed him that local industry players were quite concerned with the future of payments and technology pushing the digital aspect.

According to ACI’s 2024 Prime Time for Real-Time report, South Africa’s digital payments market is set to grow to 755-million transactions by 2028. Warsop says the launch the PayShap payments system in SA had given the market a significant boost due to its cost-effectiveness. He compares this with efforts in countries such as India.

Through the discussion, Warsop unpacks the state of digital payments in different parts of the world; ACI Worldwide’s business model; payments advancements on the Africa continent versus other areas; and ideas on how the landscape will develop over time. 

Business Day Spotlight is a MultimediaLIVE Production. 

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