Product of the Day
Kwik Payments sharpens African commerce push
A new integration with ACI Worldwide gives the South African payments provider access to orchestration tools for merchants.
Kwik Payments, a South Africa-based payments service provider (PSP), is now live on global fintech ACI Worldwide’s Payments Orchestration Platform. The system lets merchants manage payment channels, providers, and transaction routing from one place.
“By implementing ACI Payments Orchestration Platform, Kwik Payments empowers merchants to seamlessly manage and optimise payments across online, mobile and recurring channels, while intelligently routing transactions across multiple acquirers, payment methods and geographies,” say the companies. “Unlike traditional multi-provider implementations that can take months to deploy, merchants can now go live within one to two weeks, accelerating speed to market and reducing operational complexity.”
The integration aims to power the next phase of digital commerce growth across South Africa and the wider African market. ACI says the partnership represents a pivotal milestone in the company’s expansion across Africa, reinforcing a growing footprint supported by an expanding network of merchants, PSPs, and merchant acquirers. ACI’s payment orchestration platform can streamline payment processing by connecting POS, ATM, and e-commerce channels with leading global card networks, including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
Eddy Marais, Kwik Payments CEO, says: “Our ambition is to help shape the future of digital commerce in Africa by giving merchants access to reliable, high-performance and globally competitive payment capabilities. Partnering with ACI provides us with a proven orchestration foundation that supports our growth strategy, enabling us to scale from South Africa into broader African markets while delivering world-class eCommerce experiences.”
The platform’s AI-powered fraud detection evaluates more than 1,000 data points per transaction in real time, strengthening security without compromising customer experiences. AI-enabled reporting and reconciliation capabilities can reduce manual reconciliation effort by up to 80% while increasing accuracy and efficiency. The payment flows can help address one of the industry’s biggest revenue challenges, with overly complex checkouts contributing to cart abandonment rates of up to 70%.
Matt Rubin, ACI Worldwide head of merchant for Middle East and Africa, says: “Africa is one of the fastest-growing digital commerce regions in the world, and South Africa plays a critical role as a gateway for innovation and scale. With ACI’s Payments Orchestration Platform, Kwik Payments provides the flexibility and intelligence needed to help African merchants compete on a global stage, while navigating local payment preferences, complexity and growth demands.”
South African merchants are seeing demand for payment infrastructure that can support multiple payment methods, improve authorisation rates, and simplify operations. Payment orchestration helps merchants manage these functions in one place, while supporting options such as mobile wallets, account-to-account payments, and digital currencies.
The collaboration gives Kwik Payments access to ACI Worldwide’s payment infrastructure as the company expands services for merchants in South Africa and other African markets.
