KUAWIT CITY, July 16: ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), an original innovator in global payments technology, and the Shared Electronic Banking Services Company “KNET”, the provider of electronic payment services in Kuwait, today announced that WAMD, Kuwait’s real-time payment system, recorded significant growth in the number of transactions executed since its launch in June of 2024, making WAMD one of the world’s most rapidly adopted real-time payment initiatives. KNET utilized ACI’s Digital Central Infrastructure solution to build the central payment infrastructure of WAMD, an interoperable, countrywide scheme that enables account-to-account (A2A) payment transfers via a bank’s mobile app or internet banking service by using a phone number.

WAMD was implemented in less than 15 months, redefining the pace for rapid digital transformation and innovation. Banks in Kuwait have lauded the scheme for delivering a seamless and user-friendly differentiated customer banking experience. With 100% of the country’s banks now on board with WAMD, this extraordinary growth in real-time payments is expected to continue. “As real-time payments become ubiquitous in Kuwait, consumers have gravitated toward secure, real-time payment methods, reshaping habits around convenience and efficiency while reducing reliance on cash. KNET’s primary strategic focus is to provide a safe and reliable payment environment by enhancing existing infrastructure, developing innovative payment systems, and improving service efficiency domestically and regionally,” said Esam Alkheshnam, KNET’s Chief Executive Officer. Alkheshnam added that “IPS in Kuwait was given the name ‘WAMD,’ which translates to lightning flash – an indication of the speed of the service. WAMD, which is available on the banking application of all local banks, has gained traction from the start, with one million registered users during the first quarter of its launch of WAMD. “As soon as we introduced the service to Kuwait, we began outlining the next phase of IPS in Kuwait, which will build on the success of phase one.

Together with ACI Worldwide, being one of our strategic partners, KNET is committed to adopting state-of-the-art technologies in digital payments, adhering to the highest global standards.” Aligned with KNET’s mission of supporting Kuwait’s national vision for digital transformation, longer-term strategic initiatives include the integration of Kuwait’s fintech players to WAMD and enabling A2A real-time payments in their Electronic Fund Transfer Point-of-Sale terminals using dynamic QR codes. KNET is also looking at implementing the “Request to Pay” service to streamline payment operations for web merchants and provide a safer, enhanced e-commerce shopping experience for Kuwaitis. Kuwait’s evolution into a real-time payment powerhouse is set to further propel the Middle East’s position as a leader in payments modernization.

According to ACI’s Prime Time for Real-Time 2024 report, which tracks global real-time payment volumes and growth forecasts, the Middle East has been recognized as the fastest-growing real-time payments market in the world for two consecutive years. Additionally, real-time payments are a powerful enabler for economic advancement and inclusion. ACI’s Real-Time Payments: Economic Impact and Financial Inclusion report indicates that by 2028, real-time payments are forecast to create more than 167 million new bank account holders and generate $285.8 billion of additional global GDP growth. “Kuwait’s rapid adoption of real-time payments has been impressive and stands out as one of the fastest adoption rates around the globe.

The rising demand for real-time payments drives innovation in payments, forges new use cases that stimulate economic growth, promotes financial inclusion, and meets customers’ evolving expectations,” commented Craig Ramsey, global head of account-to-account payments at ACI Worldwide.“Together, ACI and KNET have created one of the most secure and future-proof real-time payment systems in the world – one that puts Kuwait at the forefront of the global real-time payments revolution.” ACI Worldwide has a strong track record of powering real-time schemes around the world as well as helping banks, fintechs, and other payment service providers in the ecosystem to connect to the schemes and offer new, innovative financial services for consumers and businesses.ACI currently powers 26 domestic and pan-regional real-time schemes across six continents, including 11 central infrastructures. Globally, ACI serves all 10 of the world’s largest financial institutions by asset value and provides solutions that move trillions of dollars through more than one billion transactions daily.

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between US dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea on July 16. (AP)

BANGKOK, July 16, (AP): Shares in Asia traded mixed on Wednesday after an update on U.S. inflation pulled most Wall Street stocks lower, though gains for Nvidia pushed the Nasdaq to another record. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged less than 0.1% lower, to 39,663.40. Investors are focusing on the potential impact of an election for the Upper House of Parliament on Sunday that is expected to lead to tax cuts and higher spending as lawmakers try to restore the waning popularity of the ruling Liberal Democrats.

Worries over a deterioration in Japan’s fiscal health have pushed yields of long-term Japanese government bonds to their highest levels in years. “What’s at stake isn’t simply which party hands out the biggest bundle of goodies. It’s whether the walls holding up Japan’s house of debt can withstand another round of fiscal fireworks…” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.1% to 24,618.23 while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.1% to 3,503.78. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.9% to 3,186.38 and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8% to 8,561.80. Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 0.9% and India’s Sensex was flat. Thailand’s SET also was little changed. In Jakarta, shares rose 0.4% after President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he plans to tariff imports from Indonesia at 19%, while American goods sent to the Southeast Asian country will face no tariffs.

Trump also said Indonesia committed to buying U.S. energy, agricultural products and aircraft. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 6,243.76, but stayed near its all-time high set last week, as 90% of the stocks within the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% to 44,023.29. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to a record 20,677.80 thanks to Nvidia, the market’s most influential stock.

Nvidia said the U.S. government has assured it that licenses will be granted for its H20 chip, used for artificial intelligence, again and that deliveries will hopefully begin soon. Its 4% gain was by far the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500. Stocks of big U.S. banks were mixed following their latest profit reports. JPMorgan Chase slipped 0.7% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, as CEO Jamie Dimon warned of risks to the economy because of tariffs and other concerns.  

US President Donald Trump speaks to the media after arriving at Joint Base Andrews on July 15, in Joint Base Andrews, Md, as Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, (left), Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, (right), look on. (AP)

WASHINGTON, July 16, (AP): US President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that he plans to place tariffs of over 10% on smaller countries, including nations in Africa and the Caribbean. “We’ll probably set one tariff for all of them,” Trump said, adding that it could be “a little over 10% tariff” on goods from at least 100 nations.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick interjected that the nations with goods being taxed at these rates would be in Africa and the Caribbean, places that generally do relatively modest levels of trade with the U.S. and would be relatively insignificant for addressing Trump’s goals of reducing trade imbalances with the rest of the world.

The president had this month been posting letters to roughly two dozen countries and the European Union that simply levied a tariff rate to be charged starting Aug. 1. Those countries generally faced tax rates on the goods close to the April 2 rates announced by the U.S. president, whose rollout of historically high import taxes for the US.caused financial markets to panic and led to Trump setting a 90-day negotiating period that expired July 9.

Trump also said he would “probably” announce tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs at the “end of the month.” The president said he would start out at a lower tariff rate and give companies a year to build domestic factories before they faced higher import tax rates. Trump said computer chips would face a similar style of tariffs.