The Integrated Course
Flagship
The flagship. Everything in the academy, all 15 domains.
The complete PaymentForge academy in one course: all 85 chapters and all 635 narrated lessons, from what a payment is to payment hub architecture, ISO 20022 and SWIFT messaging, clearing and settlement, cards, compliance, APIs, exceptions, reconciliation and the BA and PO professional practice. Buy this and every chapter unlocks.
Who this course is for
Anyone who wants the complete payments education: business analysts, product owners, engineers, operations leads and career changers moving into payments.
Prerequisites
None. The course starts from first principles and builds up. The Beginner pathway is the recommended route through it.
What you will learn
- Explain what a payment is and trace it from instruction to beneficiary credit.
- Read and write ISO 20022 and SWIFT messages field by field.
- Design payment APIs and integration requirements.
- Investigate exceptions, returns and recalls.
- Run reconciliation and operational controls.
- Compare settlement models and recommend one for a bank.
- Design a payment hub architecture.
Practical exercises
Every lesson includes a practical exercise in the lesson player, with the problem, the information available, the action expected, what counts as a correct result, and why the answer is correct. This course has 635 exercises, one per lesson, plus the hands-on labs and simulators listed below.
What you will produce
- The capstone project (ch29) with a full business analysis deliverable.
- An integration specification (OpenAPI contract, message mapping, test pack).
- A settlement model comparison and recommendation.
- A payment hub architecture document.
- A product requirement document for a new payment feature.
Completion criteria
- Finish all 635 lessons.
- Pass all 12 domain tests with 70% or more.
- Complete the required simulator and lab exercises.
- Submit the capstone project.
Included chapters
- What is a Payment
- Payment Instruments and Types
- The Payment Ecosystem
- Payment Lifecycle End to End
- SWIFT MT Messages
- ISO 20022 Fundamentals
- pacs.008 Deep Dive
- MT to MX Migration and CBPR+
- India: UPI, IMPS, NEFT, RTGS
- US: Fedwire, FedNow, ACH, CHIPS
- Europe: SEPA and T2
- UK: Faster Payments, CHAPS, BACS
- Correspondent Banking and Nostro Vostro
- Serial vs Cover Payments
- Charges, FX and gpi Tracking
- Cross-Border Exceptions
- Clearing Concepts and Netting
- Settlement Models
- Liquidity Management
- Settlement Risk
- Card Authorization, Clearing and Settlement
- 3D Secure, Tokenization and Chargebacks
- Sanctions Screening
- AML, KYC and Fraud Prevention
- Payment Hub Architecture
- API Banking and Open Banking
- CBDCs, Stablecoins and AI in Payments
- BA Practical Workshop
- Capstone Project
- Payment Gateway Architecture
- Card Networks: Visa and Mastercard
- Digital Wallets and POS Systems
- Indian Payments Deep Dive: NACH, BBPS, FEMA
- Recurring Payments and 3RI
- Payment Platform Architecture and Your Career
- System Design Deep Dive
- How 10 Large Banks Do Payments
- Payment Data Model and Mapping
- Complete ISO 20022 Catalogue
- Payment Reconciliation
- Payment Exceptions and Investigations
- Payment Testing and Certification
- Payment Security
- Payment Operations
- Payment Product Management
- Real-Time Payments Architecture
- Banking Integration Patterns
- Payment Hub: Enterprise Architecture
- Standby Letter of Credit
- MT101 in Depth
- Documentary Collections and SWIFT Category 4
- SWIFT Reporting Messages Deep Dive
- MT103 Optional Fields Deep Dive
- SWIFT Fundamentals
- Payments in 2025 and Beyond
- TARGET Services: T2, T2S and TIPS
- Addressing Payments in T2
- Reject and Return in CBPR+
- TIPS in Depth: Instant Payments and Liquidity Transfers
- pain.001 and pain.002 in Depth
- SEPA Credit Transfer Deep Dive
- SEPA Direct Debit Deep Dive
- Card Payments Deep Dive
- Cheques and Paper Instruments
- Open Banking, PSD2 and PSD3
- Trade Finance Deep Dive
- ISO 20022 Technical Implementation
- Payment Operations Architecture: State, Resilience and Control
- What money is
- Accounts and balances
- Ledger, posting and reconciliation
- Lifecycle timelines and failure modes
- Claims, enquiries and case management
- Global instant systems
- Cross-border investigations
- Cash management
- Settlement design and failure
- Cards compliance and acquiring
- Payment engine internals and observability
- API design standards and integration patterns
- GDPR, BSA/AML and operational resilience
- Product strategy and business models
- Scheme onboarding, market expansion, build versus buy
- BA practice depth
- Embedded finance and ISO 20022 data analytics
Practice tests included
Timed multiple-choice tests for this material, with the correct answer and an explanation for every question.
- Foundations Test
- Messaging Test
- Rails Test
- Cross-Border Test
- Clearing and Settlement Test
- Cards Test
- Compliance and Risk Test
- Architecture Test
- APIs and Integration Test
- Operations Test
- Emerging Technologies Test
- Professional Practice Test
- Mock Test 1: Foundations, Messaging and Rails
- Mock Test 2: Cross-Border, Clearing, Cards and Compliance
- Mock Test 3: Full Academy Mock
Simulators and playgrounds included
Run a payment yourself instead of just reading about it. These interactive simulators cover the same material as the chapters above.
- Lifecycle Simulator
- Cross-Border Configurator
- Hub Architecture Simulator
- Message Explorer
- T2/TIPS Simulator
- Accounting and Reconciliation Lab
- Exception Investigation Simulator
- State Machine Simulator
- API Playground
- Scenario Simulator
Hands-on labs included
Real work products: write the document, build the artefact, and compare it with the worked example.
- Write Requirements for Same-Day Cross-Border Payments for SMEs
- Redesign the Payment Exception Repair Process
- Map MT103 to pacs.008 for a Migration
- Specify a Payment Initiation API for a Corporate Channel
- Deliver an Instant Payments Feature in Three Sprints
- Write a UAT Plan for a Payment Hub Go-Live
Practice features included
- Mission Control
- Payment Failure Investigation Lab
- ISO 20022 Mapping Workbench
- Reconciliation War Room
- BA Studio
Includes everything
This is the whole academy: all 85 chapters across all 15 domains, all 15 practice tests, all 10 simulators and playgrounds, all 6 hands-on labs and all 5 practice features. There is nothing else to buy.