NAPLES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

In increasingly competitive markets, the payment experience has emerged as a critical factor to grow market share. Yet a new Global Payments Insight Study of consumer finance, higher education, insurance and other billing organization executives—conducted by ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW) and leading market research and advisory firm Ovum—found that most organizations lack the payments innovation necessary to win consumers.

Principle findings of this study include:
Executives not prepared to innovate

• 65 percent of organizations recognize they face growing competition when it comes to payments, including:
  • 76 percent of consumer finance companies
  • 60 percent of higher education institutions
  • 59 percent of insurance companies
• 59 percent of organizations are not confident they are flexible enough to drive innovation in payments, including:
  • 75 percent of consumer finance companies
  • 60 percent of higher education institutions
  • 47 percent of insurance companies

Seismic shift from cash to electronic payments

• 25 percent of organizations stopped accepting cash last year
• 30 percent increase in the number of organizations accepting electronic payments over the last year
• 80 percent accept electronic payments, while only 65 percent accept paper payments

Increasing investment in payment services as competition increases

• 55 percent of organizations increasing investment in payments
• 37 percent holding investment constant
• 8 percent decreasing investment in payments
• Organizations want to increase investment in real-time payments (50 percent), mobile payments (48 percent) and biometric authentication (38 percent)

ACI and Ovum will be hosting a webinar Thursday, June 9, at 2:00pm ET on the findings. Attendees will learn about the new payment options organizations are planning to win market share. To register and receive a copy of the report, please click here or visit http://www.aciworldwide.com/billpayinsights.

Survey Methodology: The five-part Global Payments Insight study, conducted by ACI Worldwide and Ovum, asked more than 1,600 executives representing leading banks, retailers and billing organizations across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA about their experiences, perceptions and expectations of payments and how payments are shaping their behaviors today.

About ACI Worldwide
ACI Worldwide, the Universal Payments (UP) company, powers electronic payments for more than 5,100 organizations around the world. More than 1,000 of the largest financial institutions and intermediaries as well as thousands of global merchants rely on ACI to execute $14 trillion each day in payments. In addition, myriad organizations utilize our electronic bill presentment and payment services. Through our comprehensive suite of software and SaaS-based solutions, we deliver real-time, any-to-any payments capabilities and enable the industry's most complete omni-channel payments experience. To learn more about ACI, please visit www.aciworldwide.com. You can also find us on Twitter @ACI_Worldwide.

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