Intellect Design Arena announced on January 27, 2026, the acceleration of its US market expansion with what it describes as the world's only AI-first payments platform. The global financial technology company is positioning itself to help banks capture growth in the instant payments market as demand accelerates across the United States.

Market Opportunity and Competitive Landscape

The revenue opportunity from US real-time payments is projected to reach $2 billion by 2030, growing at a 40% annual rate. Market research indicates that 86% of businesses demand instant payments, while 33% are willing to switch banks to gain access to these capabilities. Despite this demand, nearly two-thirds of banks have not joined instant payment networks, creating opportunities for institutions willing to modernize their payment systems.

AI-First Technology Platform

Intellect's AI-First Payments Platform applies intelligence directly across the payment lifecycle, powered by Purple Fabric, the company's Open Business Impact AI-First platform. Unlike traditional bolt-on AI approaches that rely on post-transaction analytics, AI models operate at critical pre- and in-flight decision points to support anomaly detection, exception prediction, and operational decisioning. This approach is designed to reduce latency, minimize reconciliation overhead, and improve operational predictability as payment volumes increase.

The platform provides unified orchestration across major US payment networks, including TCH RTP, the FedNow Service, ACH, Fedwire, and SWIFT. Built on Intellect's eMACH.ai principles and Pay9 architecture, the platform integrates with existing cores, channels, and operational systems, enabling incremental modernization rather than large-scale replacement.

Current Market Position and Infrastructure Investment

Intellect currently serves 18 banks and 176 credit unions across North America, including several of the world's largest financial institutions. The company reports being trusted by 8 of 10 top North American banks and 500+ institutions globally.

The company has made strategic acquisitions, including Central 1 Credit Union's digital banking operations covering 170+ institutions and 140+ employees in Canada. Intellect recently appointed Rakesh Srivastava, a financial services executive with two decades of experience including leading AWS's $1.6B+ Americas portfolio, as President and Chief Revenue Officer for the Americas.

Executive Commentary

Manish Maakan, Executive President & Group Chief Revenue Officer and CEO - Wholesale Banking at Intellect Design Arena, stated that banks face a choice between leading payment transformation or risking being outpaced by competitors. He emphasized that as real-time payments scale, incremental upgrades are no longer sufficient, and banks need AI-first payment platforms designed for regulated banking environments that combine speed, resilience, and operational intelligence without adding complexity.

Intellect Design Arena has announced a significant expansion of its AI partnership ecosystem, onboarding 14 Value Discovery Partners across six global regions to accelerate enterprise adoption of its Purple Fabric platform. The strategic move addresses the critical challenge facing financial institutions worldwide: transitioning Generative AI initiatives from experimental pilot programs to production-grade business impact solutions.

Global Partnership Expansion

The newly onboarded partners span across India, Africa, Europe, the UK, APAC, and Canada, creating a comprehensive global network focused on AI-First value discovery. These Value Discovery Partners will engage directly with customer leadership to identify high-impact use cases, prioritize measurable value pools, and co-design governed, production-ready AI solutions on Purple Fabric.

Purple Fabric Platform Architecture

Purple Fabric represents an enterprise-grade Business Impact AI platform built using First Principles Thinking and Design Thinking-led solution discovery. The platform integrates knowledge derived from over three decades of domain expertise and more than 20 million engineering hours, offering enterprise-ready Digital Experts already deployed by global financial institutions.

The platform operates through four foundational technology stacks:

• Enterprise Knowledge Garden (PF EKG): Provides a unified, continuously updated domain data fabric
• Enterprise Digital Experts (PF EDE): Multi-agent orchestration layer automating enterprise tasks across credit, risk, compliance, and customer experience
• Enterprise Governance (PF Govern): Embeds observability, auditability, and fairness controls for trust and regulatory compliance
• LLM Optimisation Hub (PF MOH): LLM-agnostic layer optimizing speed, accuracy, and cost through intelligent benchmarking

Collaborative Framework and Engagement Models

The Purple Fabric Value Discovery Partnership Program operates on a collaborative framework anchored on three core principles: Co-Build, Co-Exist, and Build. Partners function as co-creators within the ecosystem rather than traditional distributors, working closely with Intellect to jointly develop new AI agents, integrate seamlessly with existing architectures, and create bespoke IP solutions.

The Sell Through model specifically caters to partners with strong cloud capabilities, offering flexibility to either host Purple Fabric on partner infrastructure or resell via Intellect's managed Purple Fabric Cloud, aligned to customer compliance and data preferences.

Leadership Perspective

Arun Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of Intellect Design Arena Limited and Chief Architect of Purple Fabric, emphasized the strategic importance of moving beyond pilot programs. He stated that AI must deliver measurable business impact at enterprise scale, and the value discovery partner ecosystem reinforces the belief that Business Impact AI can only scale through trusted collaboration where industry context, governance, and execution converge.

Company Background

Intellect Design Arena Limited operates as a global leader in enterprise-grade financial technology, serving forward-looking financial institutions across 61 countries. The company leverages three decades of domain expertise, delivering solutions spanning Wholesale Banking, Consumer Banking, Central Banking, Wealth, Capital Markets, Treasury, Insurance, and Digital Technology for Commerce. The company's portfolio includes eMACH.ai, Purple Fabric, and iTurmeric platforms, supported by the 8012 FinTech Design Centre dedicated to Design Thinking Principles.