Craig Ramsey on Payments Choice at Open Banking Expo 2026

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Craig Ramsey emphasizes consumer choice in payments

  • Merchants and consumers—not banks—will increasingly dictate which payment experiences win at checkout.
  • Consumers’ appetite for “immediacy” is pushing banks to support more ways to move money.
  • AI-driven “intelligent routing” is emerging as the layer that decides how a transaction should travel across rails.
  • Account-to-account (A2A) is growing, but it is not expected to replace cards; the “card” may simply become a tokenized access method.

Instant Expectations, Hidden Costs
“Consumers will want everything immediately, they don’t care how much it costs, and the reason is because they are typically not exposed to the cost. It’s not actually free, they’ve had to pay for a network charge somewhere along the line.”
What this implies in practice:

  • “Choice” is experienced at checkout (service level and UX), not as a debate about rails.
  • Banks still move the money, but merchants + consumers increasingly set the expectations.
  • Intelligent routing becomes the behind-the-scenes mechanism that turns “I want it now” into a concrete payment path.

Context: This article summarizes and interprets Craig Ramsey’s comments in an interview with Open Banking Expo about payments “choice,” A2A, and AI-driven routing.

What is Craig Ramsey’s role at ACI Worldwide?

Craig Ramsey is ACI Worldwide’s global head of account-to-account payments, a remit that sits at the intersection of open banking, real-time payments, and the practical mechanics of moving money between bank accounts. In his conversations around Open Banking Expo, Ramsey’s focus is less on promoting a single “best” rail and more on how banks can support multiple rails while still delivering a coherent customer experience.

That framing matters because it shifts the competitive battleground. Ramsey argues that clearing and settlement networks are effectively “commodity” infrastructure—what he calls the “last-mile rail.” If the rail itself is not where banks can differentiate, then the differentiator becomes orchestration: the ability to manage many rails, choose between them, and present the outcome as a simple, reliable service to customers.

In that sense, his role is as much about strategy as it is about payments plumbing: helping financial institutions prepare for a world where customers ask for outcomes—speed, certainty, convenience—rather than naming the underlying network that makes it happen.

Connecting Remit to Key Themes
How his remit connects to the themes in this article:

  • Account-to-account payments: pay-by-bank and other direct-from-account flows (often enabled by open banking).
  • Orchestration: selecting and managing multiple rails so the customer sees one consistent experience.
  • Service levels over rail names: translating “instant,” “certain,” or “low-friction” into a routing decision the bank can execute.

Why do consumers prefer immediate payment options?

Ramsey’s view is blunt: consumers “want everything immediately.” The preference for immediacy is not just about convenience; it is also about how payment costs are perceived. As he puts it, consumers typically “don’t care how much it costs” because they are “not exposed to the cost.” The transaction may feel free at the point of use, even though “they’ve had to pay for a network charge somewhere along the line.”

That dynamic—instant gratification paired with hidden or indirect pricing—helps explain why faster payments and real-time experiences keep becoming the baseline expectation. When a customer can stream content instantly, receive messages, and get delivery updates in real time, waiting for a payment confirmation feels like an unnecessary regression.

Ramsey also links immediacy to emerging shopping behaviors, including agentic commerce, where software can help make purchasing decisions. In that environment, speed is not only a consumer preference; it becomes a parameter that automated journeys can optimize for, alongside other factors such as payment method availability and the overall checkout experience.

Drivers of Payment Immediacy
Four common “immediacy” drivers (and what they translate to in payments):

  • Certainty: “Tell me it’s done.” → instant confirmation, fewer ambiguous states.
  • Control: “Let me finish the task now.” → fewer steps, less waiting, fewer redirects.
  • Continuity: “Don’t break the checkout flow.” → embedded authorization and predictable UX.
  • Cost invisibility: “It feels free.” → users optimize for speed/experience because pricing is indirect.

Where this matters most: time-sensitive purchases, digital goods, and any journey where a delay causes abandonment.

How will merchants and consumers influence payment options provided by banks?

Ramsey’s central claim is that banks may control the mechanics of money movement, but they will not control the demand for how payments should work. “It’s going to be the consumer and the merchant that will rule the day,” he says, urging banks and financial institutions to ask two practical questions: how do merchants want to be paid, and how do consumers want to pay?

He illustrates the shift with an agentic commerce example: an app identifies three different ways to pay for the same item, and the consumer makes a choice “based on the way of payment.” That is a subtle but important point. In a world of embedded and automated commerce, payment method is no longer a back-office detail—it can become a front-of-mind decision variable, even when the product and price are identical.

In this model, banks still have “the last say” in how money moves, but their role becomes enabling and adaptive. The winning banks will be those that can expose the right options at the right moment—because merchants and consumers will increasingly reward the payment experience, not the institution’s internal preference for a particular rail.

From Demand to Checkout
A practical influence loop (what changes first, and what banks feel downstream):
1) Merchant demand: “I want to be paid this way” (speed, certainty, reconciliation, acceptance).
2) Consumer preference: “I want to pay this way” (friction, trust, immediacy, habit).
3) Service-level request: customers ask for outcomes (e.g., “instant,” “guaranteed,” “one-tap”).
4) Bank decisioning: policy + risk + cost rules decide what’s allowed for that customer/transaction.
5) Intelligent routing: the system selects the rail/path that best matches the requested service level.
6) Checkout experience: the user sees a simple choice (or no choice at all—just a smooth result).
Checkpoint: if step (5) can’t explain or reliably deliver the promised service level, “choice” feels like confusion.

What do banks need to ensure regarding payment rails?

Ramsey argues banks need to ensure they have access to “whatever rails their customer wants them to have access to,” but he adds a crucial nuance: customers will not ask for rails by name. Instead, they will ask for a service level or a use case—something like “make this instant,” “make this certain,” or “make this work in this context.”

That is where AI-based intelligent routing enters the picture. Ramsey describes routing as a decision layer that can determine not only “who to buy from,” but also “how to move money to the merchant.” In other words, the orchestration logic becomes part of the customer experience, even if it remains invisible to the customer.

He also suggests banks increasingly recognize that differentiation lies in experience, not in the clearing and settlement network itself. Since the network is “a commodity,” banks need “the right technology to manage all of those rails, however many there are.” The operational implication is straightforward: supporting multiple rails is not just a product decision; it is a technology and execution challenge, requiring systems that can handle complexity without pushing that complexity onto customers.

Operational Requirements for Payment Rails
What “access to whatever rails” usually requires (in bank-operating terms):

  • Coverage: the rails you support map to real customer use cases (not just “we integrated it”).
  • Service-level definitions: “instant,” “irrevocable,” “low-friction,” etc. are defined in measurable terms.
  • Routing rules: clear policy for when to use which rail (including fallbacks when a rail is unavailable).
  • Risk controls: fraud/AML checks fit the speed of the rail without breaking the experience.
  • Reconciliation: merchants can match payments to orders reliably (especially for high-volume commerce).
  • Monitoring: real-time visibility into success rates, latency, and failure modes by rail.
  • Customer support readiness: when something fails, teams can identify the rail/path and resolve quickly.

What is the significance of the UK Payments Initiative for account-to-account payments?

Ramsey points to the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI) as a timely example of how collaborative the payments industry can be. UKPI—a consortium of banks and fintechs—unveiled a payment scheme in June designed to enable widespread adoption of open banking-enabled account-to-account payments in the UK.

The significance is twofold. First, it signals an intent to move A2A from niche use cases into broader, everyday payment scenarios—precisely the kind of scale question that has historically separated “interesting” payment innovations from mainstream behavior. Second, it reinforces Ramsey’s broader argument that the industry’s direction is shaped by ecosystems, not single institutions: banks, fintechs, and schemes working together to make new payment experiences viable.

UKPI also lands in the middle of the card-versus-A2A debate, not as a declaration of victory for one side, but as an expansion of choice. The initiative’s purpose is adoption—making A2A easier to use and trust—so that it can compete on experience, not merely on theory.

UKPI Pushes A2A Adoption
UKPI in one snapshot:

  • What happened: in June, UKPI (a consortium of banks and fintechs) unveiled a scheme aimed at accelerating adoption of open banking-enabled A2A payments in the UK.
  • Why it matters: schemes can reduce fragmentation by standardizing how pay-by-bank works across participants—making “A2A at checkout” feel more consistent for merchants and consumers.
  • What to watch: whether it improves everyday usability (conversion, reliability, dispute handling) enough to move beyond early-adopter use cases.

Will account-to-account payments replace card payments?

Ramsey does not expect A2A payments to replace card payments, but he does argue that “our understanding of cards changes.” His explanation is practical: “Take the card away and the card account still exists,” meaning the essential element is the account relationship, not the piece of plastic. What you need is “a token to get to the card.”

That tokenization lens opens the door to a future where the familiar “tap to pay” experience remains, but the funding source changes. Ramsey sketches the scenario: if the token on a phone is not connected to a credit or debit card but instead triggers a direct account-to-account payment, the consumer can still pay with the same gesture—while the money moves differently in the background.

He points to Wero in Europe as an example of this kind of model: a phone-based payment experience that can be account-to-account. The takeaway is not that cards disappear, but that the interface and credentialing layer may become more abstract—tokens, wallets, and embedded credentials—while the underlying rails diversify.

Question you’re trying to answer Cards (traditional + tokenized) Account-to-account (A2A / pay-by-bank) Practical trade-off
“Will it work almost everywhere?” Typically strongest acceptance footprint Growing, but depends on scheme/merchant adoption Cards often win on ubiquity; A2A wins where adoption is concentrated.
“Can I keep the same tap/phone UX?” Yes—tokenization is mature Often yes via wallets/overlays (Ramsey points to Wero as a model) UX can converge even if rails differ.
“Who carries more of the commercial cost?” Costs often embedded in merchant pricing Costs can shift depending on model and rail Users may still feel it’s “free,” but economics show up somewhere.
“What about disputes/chargebacks?” Established consumer protections and processes Varies by implementation and scheme rules A2A needs clear, trusted resolution paths to feel mainstream.
“What’s the ‘future’ according to Ramsey?” The card may become “a token to get to the card” A2A becomes another selectable option behind the same interface Not replacement—more choice, more abstraction at the credential layer.

Why is choice in payment methods essential for a successful payments ecosystem?

For Ramsey, “it is all about choice.” He expects “there will always be card choices,” even if they “physically look different in the future,” and “there’ll always be account-to-account choices.” The reason is simple: different payment methods fit different use cases, and forcing a single rail into every scenario creates friction somewhere—cost, acceptance, speed, or customer preference.

Choice also acts as a resilience mechanism for the ecosystem. If customers and merchants can select among options—guided by service levels rather than rail names—then payments can adapt as commerce evolves, including the rise of agentic commerce and AI-assisted decision-making. Ramsey’s framing suggests that the “best” payment method is contextual: what matters is matching the method to the moment.

Banks win by making complexity disappear. They can’t differentiate on the commodity clearing layer, but they can differentiate on experience: presenting the right options, ensuring reliability, and using intelligent routing to deliver outcomes customers actually value. Ramsey’s conclusion is clear: “That’s the path to a very successful payments ecosystem, is to have choice to match use cases.”

Match Payment Methods to Use Cases
A simple “match method to use case” lens:

  • Start with the job-to-be-done: retail checkout, bill pay, subscription, marketplace payout, cross-border, etc.
  • Define the service level: speed, certainty, reversibility, data richness, and user friction.
  • Apply constraints: acceptance footprint, risk tolerance, operational support, and reconciliation needs.
  • Offer the smallest set of choices that still covers the use case (too many options can reduce conversion).

Rule of thumb: the best ecosystem isn’t the one with one perfect rail—it’s the one where the right rail is easy to access when it matters.

The Future of Payments: Embracing Choice and Innovation

Understanding the Role of Consumer Preferences

Ramsey’s comments at Open Banking Expo underline a consumer reality that banks can’t negotiate with: expectations are set by the fastest, simplest digital experiences people encounter elsewhere. When consumers want payments “immediately,” they are expressing a preference for certainty and speed, not for a particular scheme or network.

That pushes banks toward a service-level mindset—designing for outcomes—because that is what customers can see and judge.

The Impact of Open Banking on Payment Options

Open banking-enabled payments expand what “choice” can mean at checkout, particularly for account-to-account use cases. UKPI’s scheme is positioned explicitly around enabling adoption of open banking A2A payments, suggesting an industry push to make pay-by-bank experiences more common and standardized.

In Ramsey’s framing, open banking is not just an additional method; it is an enabler of orchestration. If customers can be offered multiple ways to pay for the same item, then the payment method becomes part of the product experience. Open banking increases the menu of feasible options—and raises the bar for banks to manage them cleanly.

Supporting “whatever rails” customers need is easy to say and hard to execute. Ramsey’s point that banks need the right technology to manage “all of those rails” acknowledges the operational burden: more rails mean more integration, more monitoring, and more complexity in how transactions are routed and reconciled.

At the same time, he argues modernization is unavoidable because the commodity layer won’t differentiate banks. If clearing and settlement are the same for everyone, then the bank’s competitive edge comes from how well it can package, route, and deliver payment experiences across that infrastructure—without exposing customers to the underlying mess.

The Importance of Real-Time Payments

Immediacy is not a niche feature; it is becoming the default expectation. Ramsey’s consumer-cost observation helps explain why: when customers don’t feel the marginal cost, they demand the maximum speed. That demand, in turn, pressures banks to ensure they can deliver real-time outcomes across different contexts—retail purchases, digital commerce, and emerging automated journeys.

Real-time capability also interacts with choice. If multiple rails can deliver different combinations of speed, certainty, and user experience, then real-time becomes one of the service levels intelligent routing can optimize for—selecting the best path for the specific transaction.

AI’s Role in Shaping Payment Experiences

Ramsey’s most forward-looking point is that AI-based intelligent routing will make decisions not only about purchasing but about “how to move money to the merchant.” In practice, that suggests a future where the customer expresses intent—buy this, pay now, make it seamless—and AI helps select the payment route that best matches the requested service level.

Crucially, this does not remove banks from the equation; it changes their job. Banks still need access to rails and the technology to manage them. But the customer-facing experience becomes less about rail branding and more about outcomes—delivered through orchestration that is increasingly automated, contextual, and invisible.

This perspective is informed by Martin Weidemann’s work building and scaling payments and fintech systems across the US and Latin America, where “choice” typically shows up as an orchestration problem: aligning rails, costs, risk controls, and user experience to the specific use case.

Roadmap to Reliable Choice
A practical roadmap for “choice + orchestration” (what tends to come first):

  • Near term: expand rail coverage for priority use cases; define service levels customers can understand.
  • Mid term: implement intelligent routing with clear rules, monitoring, and fallbacks; reduce checkout friction.
  • Long term: converge UX across rails (tokens/wallets) so funding source can change without changing the gesture.

Checkpoint: if reliability and support don’t improve alongside choice, customers experience it as inconsistency—not empowerment.

This piece reflects publicly available information at the time of writing and interprets remarks attributed to Craig Ramsey alongside common payments-orchestration realities. Payments schemes, product capabilities, and industry initiatives can change quickly, so specific implementations and timelines may shift. Any discussion of future directions (such as AI routing or tokenized experiences) should be read as directional themes rather than guaranteed outcomes.

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