ACI Worldwide is adding intelligent routing for Swift ledger transactions to ACI Connetic, its cloud-native payments hub, allowing banks to process tokenized deposit payments alongside traditional payment methods through the same operational framework.
The integration is designed to reduce the need for banks to establish separate systems and teams for digital-asset payments. Instead, institutions will be able to use existing workflows, controls, infrastructure and monitoring processes to manage tokenized deposits alongside conventional payment flows.
ACI Connetic will enable banks to route, monitor, control and reconcile Swift ledger transactions within the same payments environment used for traditional payment processing, helping institutions avoid building parallel operations for tokenized deposits.
The development comes as banks move toward testing blockchain-based payment infrastructure and tokenized forms of money. Swift introduced its blockchain-based ledger last year and has since said the infrastructure is ready for initial use, with 17 banks across six continents participating in pilot use cases.
Moving tokenized deposits into mainstream operations
Swift’s ledger is designed to allow banks to transfer tokenized deposits across borders, including transactions involving institutions outside a single banking organization and activity that can extend beyond conventional operating hours.
While the infrastructure is progressing, integrating these transactions into everyday banking operations remains a challenge. Tokenized deposit payments can require dedicated teams, separate procedures, and manual intervention when transactions need to interact with established banking systems.
ACI said this model may be manageable during limited pilot programs but becomes more difficult as transaction volumes increase. The company is therefore focusing on the operational side of tokenized payments, particularly how banks can incorporate them into existing payment environments without creating an independent digital-asset operation.
Craig Ramsey, ACI Worldwide’s senior vice president and head of account-to-account payments, said banks should be able to expand their payment capabilities with digital assets without having to establish a second operational structure. He indicated that ACI Connetic is intended to allow tokenized deposit transactions to be managed using the personnel, controls and processes already used by financial institutions.
Automated routing across payment rails
ACI Connetic brings payment types, payment rails and operational controls together on a single cloud-native platform. Through one integration, banks can originate, route and manage tokenized deposit payments alongside conventional transactions.
The platform can use rules defined by banks and their customers to select an appropriate clearing and settlement path. The approach is intended to give institutions greater flexibility when balancing transaction speed, costs, payment availability and customer requirements.
The intelligent routing capability is designed to let banks select clearing and settlement paths automatically while maintaining consistent controls and visibility throughout the payment lifecycle.
The integration could become increasingly relevant as tokenized deposits move from experimental programs toward broader production use. Banks adopting new payment models need infrastructure capable of handling higher transaction volumes without adding disproportionate operational complexity.
ACI said the cloud-native architecture of Connetic is designed to support increased processing requirements while allowing institutions to retain existing operational frameworks. This could enable banks to introduce tokenized payment capabilities without duplicating their established payment infrastructure.
A focus on production-scale adoption
The announcement highlights a broader challenge facing financial institutions as blockchain-based payment infrastructure develops: moving beyond pilots and establishing reliable processes for routine transactions.
ACI executives are scheduled to demonstrate the integration at Swift’s Partner Connect Session during Sibos. The company said the demonstrations will show how ACI Connetic can use intelligent payment routing to manage cross-border transactions processed through Swift’s ledger.
ACI’s Jeremy McDougall, strategic solution consulting director, is also scheduled to lead live demonstrations at the company’s stand on Sept. 30. The sessions are expected to focus on the interaction between Swift’s ledger infrastructure and ACI Connetic’s payment orchestration capabilities.
By bringing tokenized deposits into the same operational environment as traditional payments, ACI is targeting a key barrier to institutional adoption: the need to scale digital-asset payment processing without creating a separate banking operation.
