The Payments Association Payments 101 – Online Training Course May 2026

This two-day course covers the fundamentals of the card payments ecosystems.

The first day covers the mechanics of card payments, introducing ecosystem actors and mechanisms (e.g. authorisation, clearing and settlement), as well as the structure of cards and transactions. It will also give a worldwide overview of the markets and trends in different sectors and geographies, with a good sprinkling of PSD to put regulations in context.

The second day will cover the fundamentals of card payment economics, the various channels and introduces concepts such as MSC and interchange, as well as explaining the value distribution across all ecosystem actors.

Course Content:

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CARD PAYMENTS – Part 1

• Card Payments Overview
• Who are the Actors?
• Authorisation, Clearing & Settlement
• Exception Processing: Retrieval, Refund & Chargeback
• What’s in a card transaction?
• Card Structure
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CARD PAYMENTS – Part 2

• Ecosystem costs
• Payment Cards Value Chain
• Merchant Models & Contract Types
• The Payment Card Channels
• Market trends
• Charges & fees

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE NON-CARD PAYMENTS ECOSYSTEM

• ACH Payments Overview
• Open Banking
• Alternative Payments
• Fintech, Consumer Behaviours & New Technology

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE REGULATIONS IN THE PAYMENTS ECOSYSTEM

• Financial Services Regulations
• Security & Privacy Regulations

This course is CPD accredited. In order to receive full accreditation for the course, you must attend the full two day course.

Please contact Aisha Waris at [email protected] for any queries on receiving your certificate.