What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2025-02-27 compared with 2024-02-29 · 78 added, 79 removed, 189 unchanged (45% of the section changed)

ACI develops, markets, installs, and supports a broad line of software products and solutions primarily focused on facilitating real-time digital payments.

ACI’s enterprise payments capabilities target any channel, any network, and any payment type and our solutions empower customers to regain control, choice, and flexibility in today’s complex payments environment, get to market more quickly, and reduce operational costs.

ACI's solutions and services are used globally by banks, intermediaries, merchants, and billers, such as third-party digital payment processors, payment associations, switch interchanges, and a wide range of transaction-generating endpoints, including automated teller machines (“ATM”), merchant point-of-sale (“POS”) terminals, bank branches, mobile phones, tablets, corporations, and internet commerce sites.

ACI develops, markets, installs, and supports a broad line of software solutions that deliver intelligent payments o rchestration to banks, merchants, and billers .

ACI powers the payments ecosystem by supporting any channel, any network, and any payment type.

Our solutions support the new payment experiences that help power customers' growth and drive innovation.

Our intelligent payments orchestration solutions empower customers to modernize their payments infrastructure to support the transactions their businesses need to stay ahead - at scale and without downtime.

At ACI, we build software solutions that make complex payments simple and secure for the world’s leading financial institutions and large enterprises.

Our solutions and services are used globally by banks of all sizes, central banks, intermediaries, merchants, and billers, as well as third-party digital payment processors, payment associations, switch interchanges, and a wide range of transaction-generating endpoints, including automated teller machines (“ATM”), merchant point-of-sale (“POS”) terminals, bank branches, mobile phones, tablets, corporations, and internet commerce sites.

The authentication, authorization, switching, settlement, fraud-checking, and reconciliation of digital payments is a complex activity due to the large number of locations and variety of sources from which transactions can be generated, the large number of participants in the market, high transaction volumes, geographically dispersed networks, differing types of authorization, and varied reporting requirements.

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On July 24, 2007, we changed our corporate name from “Transaction Systems Architects, Inc.” to “ACI Worldwide, Inc.” We have been marketing our products and services under the ACI Worldwide brand since 1993 and have gained significant market recognition under this brand name.

Fiscal 2022 Divestiture

Corporate Online Banking Solutions

On September 1, 2022, we sold our corporate online banking solutions related assets and liabilities to One Equity Partners for $100.0 million, and a net working capital adjustment.

The sale included employees and customer contracts as well as technology assets and intellectual property.

Target Markets

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Our solutions transform banks’ complex payment environments to speed time to market, reduce costs, and deliver a consistent experience to customers across channels while enabling them to prevent and rapidly react to fraudulent activity.

In addition, we enable banks to meet the requirements of different real-time payment schemes and to quickly create differentiated products to meet consumer, business, and merchant demands.

In addition, we enable banks to meet the requirements of different real-time payment schemes and quickly create differentiated products to meet consumer, business, and merchant demands.

ACI’s payment solutions support intermediaries, such as processors, networks, payment service providers (“PSPs”), and new financial technology ("fintech") entrants.

We offer these customers scalable solutions that strategically position them to innovate and achieve growth and cost efficiency, while protecting them against fraud.

We offer these customers scalable solutions that strategically position them to innovate and achieve growth and cost efficiency, while protecting them against fraud with our artificial intelligence or AI, human, and data expertise.

Our solutions also allow new entrants in the digital marketplace to access innovative payment schemes, such as the U.S.

FedNow and RTP from The Clearing House, the U.K.

Faster Payments New Access Model, Singapore FAST, India Unified Payments Interface ("UPI"), the Payments Network Malaysia ("PayNet"), Real-time Retail Payments Platform ("RPP"), and others.

ACI’s support of merchants globally includes Tier 1 and Tier 2 merchants, online-only merchants and the PSPs, independent selling organizations (“ISOs”), value-added resellers (“VARs”), and acquirers who service them.

These customers operate in a variety of verticals, including general merchandise, grocery, hospitality, dining, transportation, and others.

Our solutions provide merchants with a secure, omni-channel payments platform that gives them independence from third-party payment providers.

FedNow ® Services and RTP ® from The Clearing House, the U.K.

Faster Payments, European TIPS, Australia NPP, South Africa RPP, the Payments Network Malaysia ("PayNet"), Real-time Retail Payments Platform ("RPP"), and others.

ACI’s support of merchants globally includes Tier 1 and Tier 2 merchants (in-store and online), PSPs, independent selling organizations (“ISOs”), value-added resellers (“VARs”), and acquirers who service them.

These customers operate in a variety of verticals, including general retail, grocery, hospitality, dining, travel and ticketing, fuel, telecommunications, and others.

Our solutions provide merchants with a secure, omnichannel payments platform that gives them flexibility and independence.

Leveraging the vast choice of integrations through a single application programming interface ("API") and ACI’s proven artificial intelligence ("AI"), human, and data capabilities, merchant customers can orchestrate and protect payments and maximize convergence while reducing risk and operational costs.

ACI ® Payments Orchestration Platform ™ serves more than 80,000 merchants worldwide and is powering payments for five of the top 10 retailers globally.

We also offer secure solutions to online-only merchants that provide consumers with a convenient and seamless way to shop.

Within the biller segment, ACI provides electronic bill presentment and payment (“EBPP”) services to companies operating in the consumer finance, insurance, healthcare, higher education, utility, government, mortgage, subscription providers, and telecommunications categories.

Our solutions enable these customers to support a wide range of payment options and provide a convenient consumer payments experience that drives consumer loyalty and increases revenue.

ACI is a global software company that provides mission-critical, real-time payment solutions to corporations.

Our solution and products enable these customers to support a wide range of payment options and provide a convenient consumer payments experience that drives consumer loyalty and increases revenue.

We also provide fraud abuse protection to our biller customers leveraging our proven AI, human, and data capabilities.

ACI is a global software company that provides mission-critical, real-time payment solutions that deliver intelligent payments orchestration to banks, merchants, and billers.

Customers use our proven, scalable, and secure solutions to process and manage digital payments, enable omni-commerce payments, present and process bill payments, and manage fraud and risk.

We combine our global footprint with local presence to drive the real-time digital transformation of payments and commerce.

Our strategic solution areas include the following:

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ACI offers comprehensive consumer payment solutions ranging from core payment engines to back-office support that enable banks and intermediaries to compete effectively in today’s real-time, open payments ecosystem.

ACI ® Acquiring ™ is a solution that helps merchant acquirers and ATM acquirers process credit, debit, and prepaid card transactions, deliver digital innovation, improve fraud prevention, and reduce interchange fees.

ACI ® Acquiring ™ is a solution that helps merchant and ATM acquirers process credit, debit, and prepaid card transactions, deliver digital innovation, improve fraud prevention, and reduce interchange fees.

ACI Issuing ™ is a digital payments issuing solution that helps issuers process card transactions, accelerate innovation, give customers new payment offerings, and deliver innovative security, with flexible cloud-based or on-premises deployment.

ACI Enterprise Payments Platform ™ is a market-leading technology that provides payment players global payment processing and orchestration capabilities for all digital payments, including high- and low-value payments, real-time and alternative payments, and cards.

Real-Time Payments

ACI supports both low- and high-value real-time payment processing for banks and intermediaries globally, ensuring multi-bank, multi-currency, and 24x7 payment processing capabilities, as well as complete and ongoing regulatory compliance.

ACI Low Value Real-Time Payments™ is a platform with a complete range of capabilities for processing real-time payments, including origination, processing, orchestration, clearing and settlement, fraud detection, and connectivity.

ACI High Value Real-Time Payments™ is a global payments engine that offers multi-bank, multi-currency, and 24x7 payment processing capabilities, as well as SWIFT messaging with seamless integrations to multiple clearing and settlement mechanisms.

Merchant Payments (ACI Payments Orchestration Platform TM )

Account-to-Account Payments

ACI supports account-to-account payment processing for banks and intermediaries globally, ensuring multi-bank, multi-currency, and 24x7x365 payment processing capabilities, as well as complete and ongoing regulatory compliance.

Offered to the market in several forms, the ACI account-to-account payments capability enables banks to process all types of digital payments with a specific focus on two key growth areas for digital payments:

Support for domestic low-value real-time payments with a complete range of capabilities for 24x7x365 processing of real-time payments, including origination, orchestration, clearing and settlement, fraud detection, and connectivity.

Support for high-value and cross-border payments offering multi-bank, multi-currency, and wire and Real-Time Gross Settlement ("RTGS") payment processing capabilities, as well as cross-border and domestic SWIFT messaging with seamless integrations to multiple clearing and settlement mechanisms.

Merchant Payments

ACI offers merchants a secure and scalable payments platform with the flexibility to support in-store, online, and mobile payments.

ACI Payments Orchestration Platform is a holistic, intelligent payments platform that orchestrates and optimizes payments by combining a powerful payments gateway with multilayered fraud management, advanced business intelligence tools, and access to an extensive global network of acquirers, third-party providers, and alternative payment methods.

ACI Fraud Management ™ for Merchants, ACI’s multi-layered fraud management solution, supports merchants with a comprehensive, real-time approach to fraud management that uses a combination of patented incremental machine learning, fraud and payments data, predictive and behavioral analytics, positive profiling, customized fraud strategies, expert support, and consortium data to help prevent fraud and reduce the burden of compliance, delivered as a multi-tenant platform, as a service, or deployed in the public cloud or on premises.

It enables customers to protect their payments end to end from the customer check-in to payment and post authorization, enhancing the customer experience.

Payments Intelligence and Risk Management

ACI’s data engine uses powerful analytics to deliver robust and precise real-time decisioning, prevention, and detection capabilities to banks and intermediary customers.

ACI Fraud Management for financial institutions offers banks and intermediaries a comprehensive, real-time approach to fraud management that uses a combination of machine learning, fraud and payments data, and advanced analytics to help prevent fraud and reduce the burden of compliance, delivered as a service, or deployed in the public cloud or on premises.

ACI Payments Orchestration Platform is a holistic, omnichannel payments platform that orchestrates and optimizes payments by combining a powerful payments gateway with multilayered, AI-based fraud management, advanced business intelligence tools, and access to an extensive global network of acquirers, third-party providers, and alternative payment methods.

Payments Intelligence

ACI’s payments intelligence framework supports banks, merchants, and billers by leveraging generative AI.

It effectively combines artificial and human insights with data intelligence to achieve precision, mitigate sophisticated threats, and deliver value-added services for hyper-personalized consumer experiences.

ACI Fraud Management ™ for merchants and billers provides a combination of patented AI technology, referred to as incremental machine learning models, fraud and payments data, predictive and behavioral analytics, positive profiling, customizable fraud strategies, expert support, and consortium data to mitigate risks and reduce the burden of compliance, delivered as a multi-tenant platform as a service, deployed in the public cloud, or on premises.

It enables customers to protect their payments end to end from customer check-in to payment and post authorization, enhancing the customer experience.

The solution also supports merchants and billers in managing abuses with returns, coupons, payment aggregators, and other first-party behaviors, reducing operational costs and enabling enriched services and offers to good consumers.

ACI Fraud Management ™ for financial institutions offers banks, intermediaries, and merchants with private-label portfolios a robust, sophisticated, and easy-to-integrate solution that is able to deliver precise and actionable intelligence in real time by using a combination of sophisticated AI powered algorithms, data orchestration capabilities, network intelligence, and advanced predictive analytics to help prevent fraud and reduce the burden of compliance, delivered as a service, or deployed in the public cloud, or on premises.

Business users are empowered with a full set of AI and expert rules capabilities they can operate on their own, streamlining business strategy deployment and immediate impact against emerging threats.

ACI Fraud Scoring Services ™ , part of ACI Fraud Management for financial institutions, is an AI-first approach powered by our patented incremental learning technology, delivered via API calls to enhance fraud strategies and complement existing fraud prevention solutions.

Available as a service from our platform, ACI provides customers with a risk assessment that combines the most advanced AI, human, and data capabilities, delivering the precise fraud scores for any type of financial transaction, accompanied by explanation for the assessment.

ACI maintains a large set of signals, features, and machine learning models, and orchestrates each transaction through the path that delivers best results.

When necessary, ACI monitors, maintains, and refreshes all the machine learning models and strategies used, reducing the burden a customer would have to deploy and maintain the most advanced AI solutions.

ACI meets the bill payment needs of corporate customers across myriad industries through a range of electronic bill payment offerings that help companies raise consumer satisfaction while reducing costs.

ACI Speedpay ® is an integrated suite of digital billing, payment, disbursement, and communication services that lowers the cost of presenting and accepting bill payments while delivering industry-leading security.

ACI Speedpay is a true omni-channel solution, allowing customers to pay their bills through their preferred channels, whether online, via mobile, or in person.

This flexibility is crucial in today’s digital age, where consumers expect seamless and convenient payment experiences.

On-Premises, On-Demand, or Hybrid Software Delivery Options

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Pricing and payment terms depend on which solutions the customer requires and their transaction volumes.

Generally, customers are required to commit to a minimum contract of five years, or three years in the case of certain acquired SaaS and PaaS contracts.

Generally, customers are required to commit to a minimum contract of five years, or three years in the case of certain SaaS and PaaS contracts.

Partnerships and Industry Participation

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The agreements are generally worldwide in scope and have a term of several years.

We have alliances with our technology partners Microsoft Corporation, Amazon, Google, HPE, IBM, and Oracle USA, Inc.

(“Oracle”), whose industry-leading hardware, software, and cloud-based infrastructure services are utilized by and in delivery of ACI’s products.

We have alliances with our technology partners Microsoft Corporation, Amazon, Red Hat, Google, HPE, IBM, and Oracle, whose industry-leading hardware, software, and cloud-based infrastructure services are utilized by and in delivery of ACI’s products.

These partnerships allow us to understand developments in the partners’ technology and to utilize their expertise in topics like sizing, scalability, and performance testing.

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ACI also provides further, more in-depth technical courses that allow students to use practical labs to enhance what they have learned in the classroom.

The ACI trainers' ability to understand customers' systems means ACI may also provide tailored course materials for individual customers.

The ACI trainer's ability to understand customers' systems means ACI may also provide tailored course materials for individual customers.

Depending on the products purchased, training may be conducted at a dedicated education facility at one of ACI’s offices, online, on demand, or at the customer site.

Customer Support

ACI provides our customers with product support that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

ACI provides our customers with product support that is available 24/7.

We offer our customers two support options:

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• New product releases (major, minor and patches) for active products

• 24-hour hotline for priority one (“P1”) problem resolutions

• 24-hour hotline for priority one (“P1”) problem resolution

• Access to our online support portal (eSupport)

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Premium Customer Support.

Under the premium customer support option, referred to as the Premium Customer Support Program and available at additional cost, customers are provided support beyond the standard offering.

Under the premium customer support option, referred to as the Premium Customer Support Program, which is available at additional cost, customers are provided support beyond the standard offering.

The services available may differ by product and are defined in the customer contract.

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Key competitors by solution area include the following:

Issuing, Acquiring, and Real-Time Payments

The third-party software competitors for ACI’s Issuing, Acquiring, and Real-Time Payments solutions include Fidelity National Information Service, Inc.

Issuing, Acquiring, and Account-to-Account Payments

The software competitors for ACI’s Issuing, Acquiring, and Account-to-Account Payments solutions include Atos Orgin S.A., Fidelity National Information Service, Inc.

("FIS"), Finastra, Fiserv, Inc.

("Fiserv"), NCR, OpenWay Group, Total System Services, Inc.

(Global Payments), and Volante, as well as small, regionally-focused companies such as BPC Banking Technologies, CR2, Financial Software and Systems, Form3, HPS, Icon Solution, Lusis Payments Ltd., Opus Software Solutions Private Limited, PayEx Solutions AS, Renovite, and RS2.

Primary digital payment processing competitors in this area include global entities such as Atos Origin S.A., Fiserv, Mastercard, SiNSYS, and VISA, as well as regional or country-specific processors.

Payments Orchestration

("Fiserv"), Mastercard, NCR, OpenWay Group, SiNSYS, Total System Services, Inc.

(Global Payments), Visa, and Volante, as well as small, locally-focused companies such as BPC Banking Technologies, CR2, Financial Software and Systems, Form3, HPS, Icon Solution, Lusis Payments Ltd., Opus Software Solutions Private Limited, PayEx Solutions AS, Renovite, and RS2.

Merchant Payments

Competitors for merchant payments (ACI Payments Orchestration Platform) come from both third-party software and service providers, as well as service organizations run by major banks.

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We are also competing in some areas with the traditional orchestration layer providers such as IXOpay, Payoneer, Nuvei, and Spreedly.

Fraud Management

Principal competitors for our ACI Fraud Management solution are Accertify (American Express), BAE Systems, Cybersource (VISA), Fair Isaac Corporation, Featurespace, Feedzai, FIS, Fiserv, Forter, Kount, NCR, NICE LTD, and SAS Institute, Inc., as well as dozens of smaller companies focused on niches of this segment such as device identification and anti-money laundering.

Bill Payments

The principal competitors for our ACI Speedpay bill payment solution are Aliaswire Inc., CSG Systems International, Inc., FIS, Fiserv, Invoice Cloud, Inc., Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., Kubra Customer Interaction Management, Nelnet, Inc.

and Affiliates, NIC, Paymentus Corp., PayNearMe, Repay, TouchNet Information Systems, Inc., Transact, and Worldpay Inc.

(FIS), as well as smaller vertical-specific providers.

Payments Intelligence

Principal competitors for our ACI Fraud Management solution are Accertify (American Express), BAE Systems, Cybersource (Visa), Fair Isaac Corporation, Featurespace (Visa), Feedzai, FIS, Fiserv, Forter, Kount, NCR, NICE LTD, and SAS Institute, Inc., as well as dozens of smaller companies focused on niches of this segment such as device identification and anti-money laundering.

The principal competitors for our ACI Speedpay bill payments solution are FIS, Fiserv, Invoice Cloud, Inc., Kubra Customer Interaction Management, Nelnet, Inc.

and Affiliates, Paymentus Corp., PayNearMe, One Inc., Repay, TouchNet Information Systems, Inc., Transact, as well as smaller vertical-specific providers.

Research and Development

Our product development efforts focus on new products while continuing to increase the functionality of existing products.

To ensure we are building for the market, we facilitate user group meetings to help us determine our product and solution strategy, development plans, and aspects of customer support.

The user groups are generally organized geographically or by product lines.

We believe that the timely development of new applications and enhancements is essential to maintaining our competitive position in the market.

During the development of new products and solutions, we work closely with our customers and industry leaders to determine requirements.

We work with device manufacturers, such as Diebold, NCR, and Wincor-Nixdorf, to ensure compatibility with the latest ATM technology.

We work with network vendors, such as Mastercard, SWIFT, and VISA, to ensure compliance with new regulations or processing mandates.

We work with computer hardware and software manufacturers, such as HPE, IBM, Microsoft Corporation, and Oracle, to ensure compatibility with new operating system releases and generations of hardware.

Customers often provide additional information on requirements and serve as beta-test partners.

We have a continuous process to encourage and capture innovative product ideas.

Such ideas include features, as well as entirely new products or service offerings.

A proof of concept (“POC”) may be conducted to validate the idea.

If determined to be viable, the innovation is scheduled into a product roadmap for development and release.

We provide software products and solutions to our banks, intermediary, and merchants customers worldwide.

Our product development efforts are dedicated to both creating new products and enhancing the functionality of our existing offerings.

To ensure we are aligned with market needs, we facilitate user group meetings that help us shape our product and solution strategy, development plans, and customer support aspects.

These user groups are typically organized by geography and product lines.

We believe that timely development of new applications and enhancements is essential to maintaining our competitive position in the market.

In developing new products and solutions, we collaborate closely with our customers and industry leaders to understand their requirements.

We partner with device manufacturers, such as Diebold, NCR, and Wincor-Nixdorf, to ensure compatibility with the latest ATM technology.

We also work with network vendors, such as Mastercard, SWIFT, and Visa, to comply with new regulations or processing mandates.

We engage with computer hardware and software manufacturers, such as HPE, IBM, Microsoft Corporation, and Oracle, to ensure are products are compatible with new operating system releases and hardware generations.

Customers often provide additional insights and serve as beta-test partners, further refining our solutions.

We maintain a continuous process to encourage and capture innovative product ideas, which may include new features or entirely new products or services.

A proof of concept is conducted to validate these ideas.

If viable, the innovation is scheduled into our product roadmap for development and release.

To ensure high software quality, we implement rigorous testing and quality assurance processes throughout the development lifecycle.

This includes automated testing, code reviews, and continuous integration practices to identify and resolve issues early.

Our commitment to software quality ensures that our products are reliable, secure, and meet the highest standards of performance.

We provide software products and solutions to our bank, intermediary, and merchant customers worldwide.

Our biller products and solutions are sold in the United States.

As of December 31, 2023, we serve more than 6,000 organizations, including all 10 of the top 10 banks worldwide, as measured by asset size, and 80,000+ merchants directly and through payment service providers, and we have customers in 95+ countries on six continents.

As of December 31, 2024, we serve thousands of organizations, including all 10 of the top 10 banks worldwide, as measured by asset size, and 80,000+ merchants, and we have customers in 90+ countries on six continents.

No single customer accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated revenues for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022.

No customer accounted for more than 10% of the Company’s consolidated receivables balance as of December 31, 2023.

One customer accounted for 10.1% of the Company's consolidated receivables balance as of December 31, 2022.

No customer accounted for more than 10% of the Company’s consolidated receivables balance as of December 31, 2024 and 2023.

Selling and Implementation

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Human Capital

As of December 31, 2023, we had 3,212 employees worldwide, with 1,427 employees in the Americas, 890 employees in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa ("EMEA"), and 895 employees in Asia Pacific.

ACI emphasizes a diverse and inclusive workplace, with approximately 30 sites in over 40 countries.

As of December 31, 2024, we had 3,103 employees worldwide, with 1,397 employees in the Americas, 819 employees in EMEA, and 887 employees in Asia Pacific.

ACI emphasizes a diverse and inclusive workplace, with employees in over 40 countries.

Globally, 35% of our employees are women.

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Alessandro Silva 48 Chief Revenue Officer

Debbie Guerra 60 Chief Product Officer

Abe Kuruvilla 53 Chief Technology and Operations Officer

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He served in various capacities at Electronic Data Systems for 17 years, including President of its Business Process Outsourcing unit in Asia Pacific, Vice President in the United Kingdom, and Vice President of Global Financial Services.

Warsop holds a bachelor's degree in finance from Southern Methodist University

Behrens serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

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Behrens was with Deloitte & Touche, LLP, including two years as a Senior Audit Manager.

Behrens holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.

Behrens holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.

Silva serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer.

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Silva held various sales and general manager roles in the U.S, Canada, Latin America and Europe, while working for Western Union, GE Capital, The Carlyle Group and Credicard.

Silva is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Universidade Mackenzie in São Paulo and a Master of Business Administration from USP-Universidade de São Paulo.

He extended his education at INSEAD, the Harvard Business School and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Guerra serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer.

Guerra joined ACI in 2019 and is a seasoned payments industry executive with over three decades of experience spanning payments, fintech, consulting and IT services.

Prior to joining ACI, Ms.

Guerra led First Data’s small and midsize direct business and merchant portfolios in Brazil and the U.S.

while also managing financial institution referral relationships.

She also held senior leadership roles at Unisys and spent time as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Guerra is fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

She was one of the early female graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering.

Kuruvilla was appointed as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer on October 30, 2023.

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business