Global orchestration for a real‑time, APM‑driven payments era

Nick Craig, Head of Europe and Middle East, ACI Worldwide, dives deep into how the rapid growth of real-time payments, account-to-account (A2A) transfers, and alternative payment methods (APMs) is reshaping the global payments landscape.

 

Real-time payments, APM growth, and increasing fragmentation are driving merchants towards global payment orchestration as the unifying force of the next decade.

As real-time payment rails reshape consumer expectations across every market, the story of 2026 will not be the displacement of one payment method by another. Rather, it is the simultaneous rise of account-to-account (A2A) transfers, digital wallets, mobile payment platforms, stablecoins, and alternative payment methods (APMs), alongside cards, which remain resilient and deeply embedded in consumer habits across many markets.

This fragmentation creates a paradox. Consumers expect seamless and instant payment experiences, regardless of method or geography. However, the infrastructure supporting these transactions remains siloed with limited interoperability, inconsistent fraud controls, and operational and regulatory complexity that many organisations find challenging to manage as they attempt to support multiple methods.

Alternative payment methods are redefining regional dominance

Across APAC, LATAM, and parts of Africa, APMs have leapfrogged traditional card networks in several markets. Digital wallets dominate ecommerce transactions in countries such as China and India.

Meanwhile, Open Banking frameworks are enabling direct bank-to-merchant connections that bypass intermediaries entirely. This is accelerating the adoption of real-time A2A payments and creating new opportunities for instant, lower-cost payment options at scale. Even in Europe, instant A2A payment systems such as iDEAL in the Netherlands and Swish in Sweden account for most domestic transactions.

Stablecoins are also emerging as a viable means of settling cross-border transactions. As consumer adoption increases, so does merchant acceptance, creating a virtuous cycle of familiarity and adoption. Recent industry developments, such as ACI’s partnership with BitPay to expand stablecoin acceptance for global merchants and PSPs, signal that established payment providers are beginning to integrate new and traditional rails within unified orchestration frameworks.

Orchestration layers, not new rails, will determine winners

This is where much of the industry conversation still goes wrong. Building another payment rail does not solve the interoperability problem.

What the market needs is intelligent orchestration that can:

• Route transactions across multiple methods; 
• Optimise for cost and speed; 
• Apply consistent fraud and compliance controls; 
• Deliver a unified experience to consumers regardless of the underlying infrastructure.

True payments orchestration requires several foundational capabilities: real-time decision-making, unified data visibility, and embedded governance and compliance. Institutions that treat orchestration as core infrastructure rather than a bolt-on capability will succeed in this environment. To meet rising merchant expectations, any orchestration platform must simplify processes for end users while retaining the flexibility to adapt to new payment methods as they emerge.

Providers such as ACI demonstrate how payments orchestration can be deployed across acquirers, PSPs, APMs, digital wallets, network tokens, issuer preferences, and fraud controls. This creates an adaptive optimisation layer that improves acceptance and reduces operational friction without adding system complexity. In an ecosystem where no single payment method dominates, this approach is becoming a competitive necessity.

The appetite for streamlining processes is clear: 62% of large retailers already use an orchestration platform and a further 30% are actively evaluating one, according to recent research by ACI, as detailed in Unlocking Opportunity: How payments are powering merchant growth.

The operational cost of fragmentation is underestimated

Each additional payment method introduces operational overheads, such as different settlement cycles, reconciliation workflows, chargeback procedures, exception handling, and risk attributes. Fraud teams must maintain multiple detection models. Compliance functions must also navigate regulatory variations across markets, particularly since real-time payments are subject to different rules than card transactions and stablecoin transfers.

This complexity quickly becomes overwhelming. A global merchant that supports 15 payment methods across 30 markets does not manage 15 integrations. They are managing hundreds of permutations, each with its own requirements. Without orchestration, the cost of maintaining this infrastructure can erode the very margins that APMs are intended to improve.

Those that consolidate this complexity into unified platforms gain both cost efficiency and a competitive advantage. In fact, retailers using a payments orchestration platform are eight times more likely to report revenue growth of more than 5%, demonstrating that orchestration materially improves performance.

Trust and governance cannot be afterthoughts

Speed and convenience drive adoption, but trust is what sustains it. As real-time payments and APMs become more widespread, effective governance becomes essential. This includes real-time fraud screening that adapts to the risk profile of each payment method, AML controls that can trace flows across payment types, and dispute resolution mechanisms that work consistently, regardless of method.

Institutions that incorporate trust into their orchestration layers will be the ones relied upon by regulators, merchants, and consumers as the ecosystem continues to evolve.

Collaboration will define the next phase

No single institution can solve the orchestration challenge by itself. Banks hold customer relationships and regulatory licences. Fintechs, on the other hand, bring speed, specialised capabilities, and user-centric innovation. Payment schemes provide the rails and standards that enable interoperability. Regulators set the framework that ensures stability and consumer protection.

The 2026 payments landscape is set to be more complex, fragmented, and dynamic than ever before. However, complexity does not equate to chaos. With the right regulatory guidance and advanced technological infrastructure, the industry can convert fragmentation into flexibility and complexity into advantage, building a payments ecosystem that delivers stability, efficiency, and innovation. Institutions that treat ecosystem participation as a strategic advantage and build platforms designed for interoperability will thrive, enabling merchants to succeed in an increasingly competitive landscape.

 

This article is part of the The Paypers` Money Movement in 2026: Trends in AI, Payments & Regulation Newsletter, a source of expert insights on the forces reshaping fintech, payments, and banking, covering fraud and financial crime, AI in fraud prevention and risk intelligence, real-time and cross-border payments, European payments sovereignty and the future of instant rails, stablecoins, agentic commerce, compliance and the evolving regulatory landscape, payments fragmentation driven by geopolitics and regulation, infrastructure bottlenecks in banking modernisation, the shift from generic scale to verticalised, value-added payment models, and digital wallets changing consumer payment behaviour – delivering a clear, data-backed view of what will shape strategy and innovation in 2026 and beyond.

Explore the other contributions in this Money Movement in 2026: Trends in AI, Payments & Regulation Newsletter series for more expert insights:

• Bizum - European instant payments: sovereignty and cross-border interoperability
• McKinsey - Payments in transition: the forces shaping the future of global money movement
• Oliver Wyman - Navigating the future: how agentic commerce is redefining payments
• Triple-A - Stablecoins, the once-in-a-lifetime shift in payments
• UniCredit - Navigating regulatory change: compliance and the future of digital payments
• Unlimit - Why the future of digital wallets depends on interoperability at scale
• The Paypers - 2026 fraud forecast: AI, deepfakes, and rising cybercrime risks

About the author

Nick Craig is a global technology and payments executive with two decades of sales and leadership experience. He joined ACI in 2020 and currently leads the Europe and Middle East region across ACI’s banking, intermediaries, and merchant business, driving growth through stronger sales execution and customer focus. Before ACI, Nick held regional and global sales leadership roles at CA Technologies and IBM, where he transformed sales performance and delivered sustained double-digit growth. He also helped scale payment security solutions at Arcot Systems.

 

About the company

ACI Worldwide, an original innovator in global payments technology, delivers transformative software solutions that power intelligent payments orchestration in real-time so banks, billers, and merchants can drive growth, while continuously modernising their payment infrastructures, simply and securely. With 50 years of trusted payments expertise, we combine our global footprint with a local presence to offer enhanced payment experiences to stay ahead of constantly changing payment challenges and opportunities.