ACI Worldwide's Bridget Hall on Real-Time Payments and Banking Modernization

Financial institutions are placing a premium on comprehensive audit trails for payment transactions, according to Bridget Hall, Director of Account-to-Account Payments at ACI Worldwide. Speaking ahead of SIBOS Miami 2026, Hall outlined how banks are overhauling their payment infrastructure to deliver greater transaction visibility and accountability.

The shift reflects growing regulatory scrutiny and customer expectations for transparency in how their money moves through the financial system.

Hall emphasized the critical role of artificial intelligence in back-office operations, noting that AI systems depend heavily on clean, auditable data to function effectively. Without robust data trails, automation initiatives risk producing unreliable outputs.

This connection between data integrity and AI performance is driving banks to invest in payment platforms that capture granular transaction details at every stage of processing.

Consumer expectations are pushing banks toward round-the-clock payment capabilities, Hall noted. The days when payments could be batched and settled during business hours are giving way to demand for instant, 24/7 transaction processing.

This evolution is forcing legacy institutions to rethink their settlement windows and technology stacks to support real-time operations across weekends and holidays.

The interview touched on the evolution of account-to-account payments and the emerging integration of digital assets into mainstream payment flows. Hall highlighted how these new rails are being layered onto existing infrastructure rather than replacing it.

As stablecoins and tokenized deposits gain traction, payment processors are working to ensure these instruments can move through the same reconciliation and compliance frameworks as traditional transfers.

Hall underscored the operational challenge of managing multiple payment rails simultaneously — from wire transfers and ACH to instant payments and emerging digital asset networks. Banks need unified platforms that can orchestrate these diverse channels without multiplying back-office complexity.

Operational efficiency is no longer optional as institutions juggle an expanding menu of payment methods while maintaining compliance and customer service standards across all of them.