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ACI Worldwide ACIW recently partnered with comforte AG to use the latter’s data-based security solutions and help customers meet the Payment Cards Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) v4.0 standard.

PCI DSS is the technical and operational benchmark set for payment processing companies throughout the globe. The new partnership will help ACI Worldwide adhere to PCI DSS v4.0 standard to provide improved payment experiences, adopt emerging technologies and counter cyber threats.

The PCI DSS v4.0 standard sets rules that compel payment processing organizations to increase added levels of data security that go beyond desk-level encryption. ACIW will address these regulations by increasing its protection layer through comforte AG’s Data Security Platform.

The platform will increase security by encryption, tokenization and masking. Additionally, the Data Security Platform will also engage in granular audit and control for regulatory compliance while staying efficient.

ACIW Faces Competition in the Digital Payments Market

For ACI Worldwide, this new partnership will enhance its product portfolio. As the company operates in a low entry barrier market with immense competition, product enhancement plays a big role. The company faces tough competition from peers like VISA V, American Express AXP and Jack Henry and Associates JKHY in payment orchestration and bill payment markets.

In the payment orchestration market, ACIW competes mainly with Cybersource from VISA and Accertify from American Express. Both Cybersource and Accertify offer a range of services, including fraud prevention, digital identity and payment gateway solutions.

Jack Henry and Associates provides various services, such as consumer and business digital bill pay, person-to-person payment solutions, loan and credit card payments and business-to-customer disbursement.

The digital payments market is also susceptible to rapid changes, affecting the company’s solutions, products and product features to constantly innovate and deal with price competition.

Moreover, ACIW has a significant debt burden that leads to increased interest payments and lowered profitability. The company ended fiscal 2023 with $964 million in debt. The company’s current total debt to capital ratio is 0.44, which is higher than its Zacks Computer- Software industry’s ratio of 0.3.

Currently, ACI Worldwide has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) and VISA carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). AXP and JKHY carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each at present. Shares of ACIW, V, AXP and JKHY have returned 39.9%, 30.8%, 39.7%, 22.8%, respectively, in the past year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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