A new global study from ACI Worldwide and Globant indicates a growing disparity between confidence in payments innovation and the practical readiness of organizations to implement it, potentially defining future industry leadership.
The report, titled “Payments in Transition: Leadership in an era of transformation,” surveyed 500 industry leaders across North America, Europe, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific. It found that while 69% of executives identify their organizations as payments leaders, only 44% prioritize payments innovation at the C-suite level.
Key barriers contributing to this gap include the underutilization of existing technology by 55% of executives and legacy platforms cited as the biggest obstacle by 44%. Internal cultural hurdles also impede transformation, pointed out by 53% of respondents.
This creates a modernization gap where ambition often surpasses execution, risking organizations falling behind as technological and regulatory demands intensify. By 2026, secure, instant, and seamless transactions are expected to be the industry baseline, with 79% of respondents citing customer demand as the primary catalyst for change.
Further findings reveal that only 36% of payments executives have a clear long-term roadmap for payments and investment modernization. Just 25% of organizations are actively phasing out outdated payments platforms. Fraud and cybersecurity risks are significant, cited by 77% of executives as top barriers to innovation, alongside regulatory complexity (63%). Cost pressures and talent shortages are each noted by 14% of respondents, with only 25% believing their organization effectively attracts and retains top payments talent.
Looking ahead to 2026, the report predicts that AI-driven automation will move beyond fraud detection to power dynamic routing, real-time anomaly detection, and self-improving models, with agentic commerce and AI-driven payment orchestration becoming dominant.
Philip Bruno, chief strategy and growth officer at ACI Worldwide, stated, “It’s time for payments leaders to turn confidence into action. Modernisation is no longer a long-term goal. It’s an immediate need. Those who retire legacy systems and embed intelligence and agility into their platforms now will set the standard for 2026 and beyond.”
The research underscores the urgent need for payments leaders to align their strategic ambitions with actionable modernization efforts, including infrastructure upgrades, intelligence embedding, and preparation for regulatory shifts such as ISO 20022 migration and open banking compliance. Scalable, real-time platform solutions are suggested to assist organizations in modernizing legacy systems, improving agility, and accelerating innovation while maintaining security and compliance.
ACI Worldwide is a global payments technology provider that delivers software solutions for intelligent payments orchestration in real time, serving banks, billers, and retailers.
