ACI And Absa Bank Celebrate 10 Year Partnership; Absa Renews Five Year Licence for ACI's Flagship BASE24 Payments Software

Business Wire, August 24, 2005

WATFORD, England -- ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq:TSAI), a leading international provider of enterprise payment solutions, today celebrates a ten year business partnership with Absa, the leading South African bank with the largest retail acquiring business in South Africa. Since 1995, Absa has used ACI's flagship BASE24(R) software to run a secure payments system over the bank's entire ATM and POS networks. The bank has also signed a new five year BASE24 extension with plans to migrate to BASE24-es(TM), ACI's next generation platform for payments processing, to increase the functionality and flexibility of its payments network.

Absa first contracted ACI to help reduce its operational costs and create efficiencies in its payments infrastructure while complying with new industry requirements such as Europay, MasterCard and Visa. ACI's BASE24 ATM and POS solutions have provided Absa with a scalable, modern payments architecture, which has secured additional revenues on both the ATM and POS channels for the bank. The platform has evolved with Absa and has grown from supporting Absa's network of 1,600 ATMs in 1996 to over 5,233 ATMs today. ACI's ATM device handler was developed specifically to support Absa's extensive list of ATM services and transactions. The device handler ensured Absa was less dependent on a single ATM supplier, increasing flexibility and bringing new services and functionality.

Since then, ATM traffic has more than doubled and now stands at a peak rate of 37 million transactions per month. POS volumes have grown from less than half a million transactions per month in 1996 to around 11.7 million per month today.

Absa's migration to BASE24-es will enable Absa to achieve enhanced functionality and platform independence, with a unique enterprise services architecture that will allow it to improve profitability, enhance customer service and improve time to market for new products. Absa will benefit from added fraud management and dynamic transaction authorisation capabilities.

"The technology expertise and world class e-payments solutions provided by ACI Worldwide have helped Absa Bank achieve success in the South African market," said Leon Viviers, business systems manager of Absa. "We always strive to ensure the best possible customer experience when using our e-payments networks. BASE24 fulfils a fundamental role in ensuring the Absa ATM and POS delivery systems are available and efficient 24/7. We look forward to the continued success of our relationship with ACI."

"South Africa continues to be an important market for ACI and we are extremely pleased to have played a key role in the development of one of the leading banks in the region," said Richard Launder, managing director of ACI Worldwide EMEA. "ACI will continue to deliver the very best service levels backed by its dedicated client service operations in Johannesburg. We are delighted to celebrate this decade of success and look forward to sharing further achievements with Absa."

Earlier this year, Barclays, one of the world's top ten banks, acquired a majority stake in Absa as part of its drive to expand its global product and international retail and commercial banking businesses in attractive markets outside the UK, reinforcing Absa's leading position in the South African retail banking industry.

About Absa

Absa Group Limited is one of South Africa's largest financial services organisations, serving personal, commercial and corporate customers in South Africa. The Group also provides products and services to selected markets in the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore and Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe in Africa. The Group interacts with its customers through a combination of physical and electronic channels, offering a comprehensive range of banking services, (from basic products and services for the low-income personal market to customised solutions for the commercial and corporate markets), bancassurance and wealth management products and services. Visit www.Absa.co.za

About ACI Worldwide

Every second of every day, consumers are initiating electronic payment transactions--getting cash at ATMs, using debit and credit cards to make purchases in stores and on the Internet, banking by phone and PC, and paying bills online. Over 50 billion times a year, ACI software is used to process these transactions, powering the world's online payment systems. ACI was founded in 1975 and pioneered the development of applications and networking software for online transaction processing. Today more than 500 customers in 78 countries use ACI supplied software to route and authorize electronic payment transactions; detect fraud and money laundering; issue and manage magnetic stripe and smart cards; deliver secure electronic correspondence; and automate payment settlement and claims processing. Visit ACI Worldwide on the Internet at www.aciworldwide.com

Any statements in this press release regarding projected results are preliminary and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition, this press release may contain other forward-looking statements including statements regarding Transaction Systems Architects, Inc.'s ("TSA"), its subsidiaries or third parties' expectations, predictions, views, opportunities, plans, strategies, beliefs, and statements of similar effect. The forward-looking statements in this press release are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially.