As the new year begins, the global demand for faster, streamlined transactions continues to fuel the expansion of real-time payments worldwide. Countries are employing diverse approaches to developing, deploying and refining their instant payment systems to meet consumer needs. Some nations, led by central banks and government regulators, have established government-driven instant transaction protocols. Others assign the task of developing payment infrastructures to independent firms. Mexico, for instance, is letting the free market take the lead. ACI Worldwide recently partnered with FinTech Mexipay to deploy ISO 20022-compliant real-time payments and other payment services in Mexico. The entities expect the real-time payments system to go live later this year. Fabian Uribe, co-founder and CEO of Mexipay, noted that the collaboration focuses on small and medium banks and merchants, a historically underserved segment regarding real-time transactions.