Payments Academy
HSBC global payments network PAYMENT OPERATIONS STARTED LIVE 01 HSBC global payments network - runs one of the largest trade and payments ACTIVE 02 Standard Chartered - has a similar focus QUEUED 03 High-volume flow handling - Both banks handle high-volume cross-border QUEUED 04 Clearing system business case - decision to join a local clearing system QUEUED 05 Banks face the same challenge - Both banks face the same challenge QUEUED 06 Business analyst joining either bank - learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED HSBC runs one of the largest trade and payments networks in the world, with a presence in more than 60 countries and a particular strength in Asia. Step 1 of 6 HSBC global payments network STARTED HSBC global payments network runs one of the largest trade and payments ACTIVE Standard Chartered has a similar focus QUEUED High-volume flow handling Both banks handle high-volume cross-border QUEUED Clearing system business case decision to join a local clearing system QUEUED Banks face the same challenge Both banks face the same challenge QUEUED Business analyst joining either bank learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED HSBC runs one of the largest trade and payments networks in the world, with a presence in more than 60 countries and a particular strength in Asia.
Standard Chartered PAYMENT OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS LIVE 01 HSBC global payments network - runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE 02 Standard Chartered - has a similar focus ACTIVE 03 High-volume flow handling - Both banks handle high-volume cross-border QUEUED 04 Clearing system business case - decision to join a local clearing system QUEUED 05 Banks face the same challenge - Both banks face the same challenge QUEUED 06 Business analyst joining either bank - learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED Standard Chartered has a similar focus, with its strongest markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Step 2 of 6 Standard Chartered IN PROGRESS HSBC global payments network runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE Standard Chartered has a similar focus ACTIVE High-volume flow handling Both banks handle high-volume cross-border QUEUED Clearing system business case decision to join a local clearing system QUEUED Banks face the same challenge Both banks face the same challenge QUEUED Business analyst joining either bank learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED Standard Chartered has a similar focus, with its strongest markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
High-volume flow handling PAYMENT OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS LIVE 01 HSBC global payments network - runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE 02 Standard Chartered - has a similar focus DONE 03 High-volume flow handling - Both banks handle high-volume cross-border ACTIVE 04 Clearing system business case - decision to join a local clearing system QUEUED 05 Banks face the same challenge - Both banks face the same challenge QUEUED 06 Business analyst joining either bank - learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED Both banks handle high-volume cross-border flows by investing in straight-through processing and in local clearing memberships. Step 3 of 6 High-volume flow handling IN PROGRESS HSBC global payments network runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE Standard Chartered has a similar focus DONE High-volume flow handling Both banks handle high-volume cross-border ACTIVE Clearing system business case decision to join a local clearing system QUEUED Banks face the same challenge Both banks face the same challenge QUEUED Business analyst joining either bank learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED Both banks handle high-volume cross-border flows by investing in straight-through processing and in local clearing memberships.
Clearing system business case PAYMENT OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS LIVE 01 HSBC global payments network - runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE 02 Standard Chartered - has a similar focus DONE 03 High-volume flow handling - Both banks handle high-volume cross-border DONE 04 Clearing system business case - decision to join a local clearing system ACTIVE 05 Banks face the same challenge - Both banks face the same challenge QUEUED 06 Business analyst joining either bank - learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED The decision to join a local clearing system is a business case. Step 4 of 6 Clearing system business case IN PROGRESS HSBC global payments network runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE Standard Chartered has a similar focus DONE High-volume flow handling Both banks handle high-volume cross-border DONE Clearing system business case decision to join a local clearing system ACTIVE Banks face the same challenge Both banks face the same challenge QUEUED Business analyst joining either bank learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED The decision to join a local clearing system is a business case.
Banks face the same challenge PAYMENT OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS LIVE 01 HSBC global payments network - runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE 02 Standard Chartered - has a similar focus DONE 03 High-volume flow handling - Both banks handle high-volume cross-border DONE 04 Clearing system business case - decision to join a local clearing system DONE 05 Banks face the same challenge - Both banks face the same challenge ACTIVE 06 Business analyst joining either bank - learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED Both banks face the same challenge, sanctions screening on a very large scale. Step 5 of 6 Banks face the same challenge IN PROGRESS HSBC global payments network runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE Standard Chartered has a similar focus DONE High-volume flow handling Both banks handle high-volume cross-border DONE Clearing system business case decision to join a local clearing system DONE Banks face the same challenge Both banks face the same challenge ACTIVE Business analyst joining either bank learn that sanctions compliance is not QUEUED Both banks face the same challenge, sanctions screening on a very large scale.
Business analyst joining either bank will quickly PAYMENT OPERATIONS COMPLETE LIVE 01 HSBC global payments network - runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE 02 Standard Chartered - has a similar focus DONE 03 High-volume flow handling - Both banks handle high-volume cross-border DONE 04 Clearing system business case - decision to join a local clearing system DONE 05 Banks face the same challenge - Both banks face the same challenge DONE 06 Business analyst joining either bank - learn that sanctions compliance is not ACTIVE A business analyst joining either bank will quickly learn that sanctions compliance is not a separate function; it is built into every step of the payment flow. Step 6 of 6 Business analyst joining either bank will quickly COMPLETE HSBC global payments network runs one of the largest trade and payments DONE Standard Chartered has a similar focus DONE High-volume flow handling Both banks handle high-volume cross-border DONE Clearing system business case decision to join a local clearing system DONE Banks face the same challenge Both banks face the same challenge DONE Business analyst joining either bank learn that sanctions compliance is not ACTIVE A business analyst joining either bank will quickly learn that sanctions compliance is not a separate function; it is built into every step of the payment flow.

Key points of this lesson, in order.

0:00 / 3:23 Step 1 of 6

HSBC and Standard Chartered

How 10 Large Banks Do Payments, Lesson 2 of 7, Narration 3:23, D14 Business analysis and professional practice

Correspondent bankingSanctions screeningPayment hub

What you will learn

Your objective. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain hsbc and standard chartered. HSBC runs one of the largest trade and payments networks in the world, with a presence in more than 60 countries and a particular strength in Asia.

Why it matters. A business analyst joining either bank will quickly learn that sanctions compliance is not a separate function; it is built into every step of the payment flow.

Chapter objective: Learner compares how ten large banks organise payments, including hub models, vendor choices, and operating models, and extracts lessons a smaller bank can apply. Learner applies this skill in realistic banking scenarios, with clear examples and correct terminology throughout.

Key learning points

  • HSBC global payments network
  • Standard Chartered
  • High-volume flow handling
  • Clearing system business case
  • Banks face the same challenge
  • Business analyst joining either bank will quickly

Key terms

Correspondent banking: A service where one bank holds accounts for another bank so the second bank can make payments in currencies or countries where it has no branch.

Sanctions screening: Checking payment parties, countries and references against sanctions lists published by governments and international bodies.

Payment hub: A central system in a bank that receives payment instructions from all channels, validates them, applies screening and routing rules, and sends them to the correct clearing system or correspondent.

Payment flow diagram showing HSBC and Standard Chartered.

Practise this lesson

Exercise

Apply the concept in this lesson to a real banking scenario.

Use the definition, the example and the key points in this lesson.

  1. What to do. Explain the concept in your own words, give a banking example with an amount, and state what goes wrong if it is misunderstood.

Correct result. A correct answer names the concept accurately, uses a realistic banking example with a concrete amount, and identifies the consequence of getting it wrong.

Why. Understanding is not memorising a definition. It is being able to explain it, apply it, and spot the failure it prevents.

Check your understanding

Practice question

A large bank processes payments through a central hub, while a smaller bank routes each rail through its own system. A BA is asked which approach scales better as volumes grow. What is the honest answer?

Takeaway and next step

What to remember

A business analyst joining either bank will quickly learn that sanctions compliance is not a separate function; it is built into every step of the payment flow.

Map the message fields from this lesson in the mapping workbench.

Open the Mapping Workbench →

Builds on "JPMorgan Chase and Citibank".

Transcript and full text

Show transcript

HSBC runs one of the largest trade and payments networks in the world, with a presence in more than 60 countries and a particular strength in Asia. Its payment hub in Hong Kong processes millions of cross-border payments a day, connecting corporate clients in China, India, Singapore, and the Middle East to clearing systems in Europe and the United States. A manufacturer in Shenzhen that exports goods to Germany can receive euros into its HSBC account in Hong Kong, convert them to Chinese yuan, and pay its suppliers in the same day, all through HSBC systems. The bank strength is that it can handle both sides of a trade flow, the exporter in Asia and the importer in Europe, without involving a third bank. Standard Chartered has a similar focus, with its strongest markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The bank is headquartered in London but earns most of its income in Asia and Africa, and its payment network is built for corridors that other banks find difficult, such as payments between Kenya and India, or between the United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh. Standard Chartered operates payment hubs in Singapore, Dubai, and London, and it holds nostro accounts in more than 50 currencies. A bank in Ghana that needs to pay a supplier in India in rupees will often route the payment through Standard Chartered, because the bank has the local knowledge and the correspondent relationships to complete a corridor that a US or European bank would struggle with. Both banks handle high-volume cross-border flows by investing in straight-through processing and in local clearing memberships. HSBC is a direct member of the clearing systems in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which means it can settle payments locally instead of relying on a correspondent. Standard Chartered is a direct member of clearing systems in more than 30 markets, including the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, and Pakistan. Direct membership is faster and cheaper than correspondent banking, but it requires the bank to hold settlement accounts with each central bank and to comply with each local regulator. The decision to join a local clearing system is a business case. The bank joins when the volume in that corridor justifies the cost. The payment hubs at both banks are designed for multi-currency, multi-country processing from a single platform. A single instruction from a corporate client in Singapore can be split by the hub into a payment in Singapore dollars through the local FAST real-time system, a payment in US dollars through SWIFT to New York, and a payment in euros through T2 to Frankfurt. The hub applies the correct cut-off time, the correct charges, and the correct sanctions screening for each leg. This central design is what lets a relationship manager promise a client in Dubai that a payment to Mumbai will arrive the same day, and lets operations deliver on that promise without manual work on each payment. Both banks face the same challenge, sanctions screening on a very large scale. Because they operate in many high-risk corridors, their payment hubs screen every payment against the sanctions lists of the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations, as well as local lists in each country where they operate. A payment of 200,000 dollars from Dubai to Nairobi may be screened against five different lists before it is released. This screening creates a large exception queue, and both banks employ thousands of operations and compliance staff to review the payments that the automated screening cannot clear. A business analyst joining either bank will quickly learn that sanctions compliance is not a separate function; it is built into every step of the payment flow.

HSBC runs one of the largest trade and payments networks in the world, with a presence in more than 60 countries and a particular strength in Asia. Its payment hub in Hong Kong processes millions of cross-border payments a day, connecting corporate clients in China, India, Singapore, and the Middle East to clearing systems in Europe and the United States. A manufacturer in Shenzhen that exports goods to Germany can receive euros into its HSBC account in Hong Kong, convert them to Chinese yuan, and pay its suppliers in the same day, all through HSBC systems. The bank strength is that it can handle both sides of a trade flow, the exporter in Asia and the importer in Europe, without involving a third bank.

Standard Chartered has a similar focus, with its strongest markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The bank is headquartered in London but earns most of its income in Asia and Africa, and its payment network is built for corridors that other banks find difficult, such as payments between Kenya and India, or between the United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh. Standard Chartered operates payment hubs in Singapore, Dubai, and London, and it holds nostro accounts in more than 50 currencies. A bank in Ghana that needs to pay a supplier in India in rupees will often route the payment through Standard Chartered, because the bank has the local knowledge and the correspondent relationships to complete a corridor that a US or European bank would struggle with.

Both banks handle high-volume cross-border flows by investing in straight-through processing and in local clearing memberships. HSBC is a direct member of the clearing systems in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which means it can settle payments locally instead of relying on a correspondent. Standard Chartered is a direct member of clearing systems in more than 30 markets, including the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, and Pakistan. Direct membership is faster and cheaper than correspondent banking, but it requires the bank to hold settlement accounts with each central bank and to comply with each local regulator. The decision to join a local clearing system is a business case. The bank joins when the volume in that corridor justifies the cost.

The payment hubs at both banks are designed for multi-currency, multi-country processing from a single platform. A single instruction from a corporate client in Singapore can be split by the hub into a payment in Singapore dollars through the local FAST real-time system, a payment in US dollars through SWIFT to New York, and a payment in euros through T2 to Frankfurt. The hub applies the correct cut-off time, the correct charges, and the correct sanctions screening for each leg. This central design is what lets a relationship manager promise a client in Dubai that a payment to Mumbai will arrive the same day, and lets operations deliver on that promise without manual work on each payment.

Both banks face the same challenge, sanctions screening on a very large scale. Because they operate in many high-risk corridors, their payment hubs screen every payment against the sanctions lists of the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations, as well as local lists in each country where they operate. A payment of 200,000 dollars from Dubai to Nairobi may be screened against five different lists before it is released. This screening creates a large exception queue, and both banks employ thousands of operations and compliance staff to review the payments that the automated screening cannot clear. A business analyst joining either bank will quickly learn that sanctions compliance is not a separate function; it is built into every step of the payment flow.

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