The Payment Ecosystem
Learner maps the payment ecosystem, naming the roles of payer, payee, issuing bank, acquiring bank, clearing house, central bank, and network, and traces how value moves between them. Learner practises this skill on realistic banking cases, explaining the reasoning clearly and using correct terminology throughout the work.
Meet the parties, the infrastructure and the rules of the payment ecosystem, and see how a single payment moves through all of them.
What You Can Do After This Chapter
Learning objective. Learner maps the payment ecosystem, naming the roles of payer, payee, issuing bank, acquiring bank, clearing house, central bank, and network, and traces how value moves between them. Learner practises this skill on realistic banking cases, explaining the reasoning clearly and using correct terminology throughout the work.
Practical assessment. Learner traces a 500 euro card purchase and a 10,000 dollar cross-border transfer through every party involved, drawing the flow and naming each party, message, and settlement step. Learner then identifies which party bears the risk at each stage and explains what happens when one party fails to settle on time. Learner presents the work with calculations and assumptions stated clearly, then reviews it against the chapter checklist and corrects any gaps before submission.
Expected deliverables.
- Ecosystem role map with definitions
- End-to-end flow diagram for a card purchase
- End-to-end flow diagram for a cross-border transfer
- Risk ownership table by stage
Completion criterion. Learner names every party correctly in both traces, shows the settlement step, and identifies risk ownership at each stage without omitting a party. Judgement covers accuracy, completeness, and clear written explanation in the submitted work.
- Debtor and creditor, the two ends of every payment
- Debtor agent and creditor agent, the banks that act
- Intermediary banks and correspondent banking
- Clearing houses and central banks
- Payment schemes and payment service providers
- Regulators, compliance and oversight
- How the players interact, a single payment story
Start Lesson 1: Debtor and creditor, the two ends of every payment →