Payments Academy
Bank of America runs its payments PAYMENT OPERATIONS STARTED LIVE 01 Bank of America - through a central hub that connects to every ACTIVE 02 Wells Fargo - has a similar clearing footprint QUEUED 03 Early real-time adoption - Both banks were early adopters of real-time QUEUED 04 Payroll company - Sunday evening and the money arrives QUEUED 05 Services turn - These services turn the bank from a payment QUEUED 06 US bank payment engines - America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can QUEUED Bank of America runs its payments through a central hub that connects to every US clearing system Step 1 of 6 Bank of America runs its payments STARTED Bank of America through a central hub that connects to every ACTIVE Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint QUEUED Early real-time adoption Both banks were early adopters of real-time QUEUED Payroll company Sunday evening and the money arrives QUEUED Services turn These services turn the bank from a payment QUEUED US bank payment engines America and Wells Fargo show how a bank QUEUED Bank of America runs its payments through a central hub that connects to every US clearing system
Wells Fargo PAYMENT OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS LIVE 01 Bank of America - through a central hub that connects to every DONE 02 Wells Fargo - has a similar clearing footprint ACTIVE 03 Early real-time adoption - Both banks were early adopters of real-time QUEUED 04 Payroll company - Sunday evening and the money arrives QUEUED 05 Services turn - These services turn the bank from a payment QUEUED 06 US bank payment engines - America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can QUEUED Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint and a particular strength in corporate and commercial payments. Step 2 of 6 Wells Fargo IN PROGRESS Bank of America through a central hub that connects to every DONE Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint ACTIVE Early real-time adoption Both banks were early adopters of real-time QUEUED Payroll company Sunday evening and the money arrives QUEUED Services turn These services turn the bank from a payment QUEUED US bank payment engines America and Wells Fargo show how a bank QUEUED Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint and a particular strength in corporate and commercial payments.
Early real-time adoption PAYMENT OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS LIVE 01 Bank of America - through a central hub that connects to every DONE 02 Wells Fargo - has a similar clearing footprint DONE 03 Early real-time adoption - Both banks were early adopters of real-time ACTIVE 04 Payroll company - Sunday evening and the money arrives QUEUED 05 Services turn - These services turn the bank from a payment QUEUED 06 US bank payment engines - America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can QUEUED Both banks were early adopters of real-time payments in the United States. Step 3 of 6 Early real-time adoption IN PROGRESS Bank of America through a central hub that connects to every DONE Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint DONE Early real-time adoption Both banks were early adopters of real-time ACTIVE Payroll company Sunday evening and the money arrives QUEUED Services turn These services turn the bank from a payment QUEUED US bank payment engines America and Wells Fargo show how a bank QUEUED Both banks were early adopters of real-time payments in the United States.
Payroll company can now pay 10,000 workers PAYMENT OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS LIVE 01 Bank of America - through a central hub that connects to every DONE 02 Wells Fargo - has a similar clearing footprint DONE 03 Early real-time adoption - Both banks were early adopters of real-time DONE 04 Payroll company - Sunday evening and the money arrives ACTIVE 05 Services turn - These services turn the bank from a payment QUEUED 06 US bank payment engines - America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can QUEUED A payroll company can now pay 10,000 workers on a Sunday evening and the money arrives instantly. Step 4 of 6 Payroll company can now pay 10,000 workers IN PROGRESS Bank of America through a central hub that connects to every DONE Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint DONE Early real-time adoption Both banks were early adopters of real-time DONE Payroll company Sunday evening and the money arrives ACTIVE Services turn These services turn the bank from a payment QUEUED US bank payment engines America and Wells Fargo show how a bank QUEUED A payroll company can now pay 10,000 workers on a Sunday evening and the money arrives instantly.
Services turn PAYMENT OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS LIVE 01 Bank of America - through a central hub that connects to every DONE 02 Wells Fargo - has a similar clearing footprint DONE 03 Early real-time adoption - Both banks were early adopters of real-time DONE 04 Payroll company - Sunday evening and the money arrives DONE 05 Services turn - These services turn the bank from a payment ACTIVE 06 US bank payment engines - America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can QUEUED These services turn the bank from a payment processor into a working capital partner for its clients. Step 5 of 6 Services turn IN PROGRESS Bank of America through a central hub that connects to every DONE Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint DONE Early real-time adoption Both banks were early adopters of real-time DONE Payroll company Sunday evening and the money arrives DONE Services turn These services turn the bank from a payment ACTIVE US bank payment engines America and Wells Fargo show how a bank QUEUED These services turn the bank from a payment processor into a working capital partner for its clients.
US bank payment engines PAYMENT OPERATIONS COMPLETE LIVE 01 Bank of America - through a central hub that connects to every DONE 02 Wells Fargo - has a similar clearing footprint DONE 03 Early real-time adoption - Both banks were early adopters of real-time DONE 04 Payroll company - Sunday evening and the money arrives DONE 05 Services turn - These services turn the bank from a payment DONE 06 US bank payment engines - America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can ACTIVE Bank of America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can run a high-volume domestic engine and a complex international engine on the same platform Step 6 of 6 US bank payment engines COMPLETE Bank of America through a central hub that connects to every DONE Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint DONE Early real-time adoption Both banks were early adopters of real-time DONE Payroll company Sunday evening and the money arrives DONE Services turn These services turn the bank from a payment DONE US bank payment engines America and Wells Fargo show how a bank ACTIVE Bank of America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can run a high-volume domestic engine and a complex international engine on the same platform

Key points of this lesson, in order.

0:00 / 3:46 Step 1 of 6

Bank of America and Wells Fargo

How 10 Large Banks Do Payments, Lesson 3 of 7, Narration 3:46, D14 Business analysis and professional practice

Sanctions screeningDirect participantReconciliation

What you will learn

Your objective. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain bank of america and wells fargo. Bank of America runs its payments through a central hub that connects to every US clearing system, Fedwire for high value same-day payments, the Clearing House for ACH bulk payments, and the RTP network for real-time.

Why it matters. For a business analyst, the lesson from both banks is that domestic scale and global reach need different architectures.

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

  • Bank of America runs its payments
  • Wells Fargo
  • Early real-time adoption
  • Payroll company can now pay 10,000 workers
  • Services turn
  • US bank payment engines

Key terms

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

Direct participant: A bank or institution that holds an account in a payment system and sends and receives payments directly.

Reconciliation: The process of comparing records from two sources, such as a bank statement and an internal ledger, to confirm they agree.

Payment flow diagram showing Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

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 bank compares its payment hub with how large banks run payments and finds the large banks all separate payment initiation from payment processing. Why is that separation useful?

Takeaway and next step

What to remember

For a business analyst, the lesson from both banks is that domestic scale and global reach need different architectures.

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

Open the Mapping Workbench →

Builds on "HSBC and Standard Chartered".

Transcript and full text

Show transcript

Bank of America runs its payments through a central hub that connects to every US clearing system, Fedwire for high value same-day payments, the Clearing House for ACH bulk payments, and the RTP network for real-time payments. The bank is one of the largest participants in Fedwire, settling hundreds of billions of dollars a day, and it is a direct participant in CHIPS, the private US dollar clearing system used for international payments. A payment of 5 million dollars from a Bank of America corporate client in New York to a supplier in Tokyo will be routed through CHIPS if it is a cross-border dollar payment, or through Fedwire if it is a domestic payment, and the hub makes that routing decision automatically based on the destination and the currency. Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint and a particular strength in corporate and commercial payments. The bank processes payments for a large share of US middle-market companies, and its CEO Portal and Commercial Electronic Office platforms let corporate treasurers send payment files, approve payments, and view balances across all their accounts. Wells Fargo is also a major provider of lockbox services, where the bank receives and processes cheques and remittance advices on behalf of a company, and of treasury management services such as account reconciliation and fraud prevention. A company that receives 100,000 cheques a month from its customers may outsource the entire process to Wells Fargo, which opens the envelopes, scans the cheques, and posts the credits. Both banks were early adopters of real-time payments in the United States. Bank of America was one of the first banks to offer the Clearing House RTP network to its corporate clients, letting a company send money that arrives in the beneficiary account within seconds, 24 hours a day, including weekends. Wells Fargo followed with its own RTP offering and was also an early participant in FedNow, the real-time payment system launched by the Federal Reserve in July 2023. FedNow lets banks of any size offer instant payments, and both Bank of America and Wells Fargo offer FedNow alongside the Clearing House RTP network to their corporate clients. A payroll company can now pay 10,000 workers on a Sunday evening and the money arrives instantly. The corporate payment services at both banks go beyond simple money movement. Bank of America offers virtual accounts, where a company can create a separate account number for each of its customers or projects while keeping a single physical account, which makes reconciliation far easier. It also offers integrated payables, where a company sends one file and the bank decides whether each payment should go by ACH, by wire, or by virtual card, based on the supplier preference. Wells Fargo offers similar services, with a focus on commercial cards and on supply chain finance, where the bank pays a supplier early at a discount and the buyer pays the bank later. These services turn the bank from a payment processor into a working capital partner for its clients. For a business analyst, the lesson from both banks is that domestic scale and global reach need different architectures. The domestic side is about volume, automation, and cost per transaction, processing 50 million ACH payments a month at a cost of a few cents each. The international side is about corridors, correspondents, and compliance, sending 200,000 cross-border payments a day through SWIFT, with sanctions screening on every one. A bank that is excellent at one is not automatically excellent at the other, and the payment hub must serve both. Bank of America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can run a high-volume domestic engine and a complex international engine on the same platform, with shared reference data and shared screening, but with different routing and different cut-off times.

Bank of America runs its payments through a central hub that connects to every US clearing system, Fedwire for high value same-day payments, the Clearing House for ACH bulk payments, and the RTP network for real-time payments. The bank is one of the largest participants in Fedwire, settling hundreds of billions of dollars a day, and it is a direct participant in CHIPS, the private US dollar clearing system used for international payments. A payment of 5 million dollars from a Bank of America corporate client in New York to a supplier in Tokyo will be routed through CHIPS if it is a cross-border dollar payment, or through Fedwire if it is a domestic payment, and the hub makes that routing decision automatically based on the destination and the currency.

Wells Fargo has a similar clearing footprint and a particular strength in corporate and commercial payments. The bank processes payments for a large share of US middle-market companies, and its CEO Portal and Commercial Electronic Office platforms let corporate treasurers send payment files, approve payments, and view balances across all their accounts. Wells Fargo is also a major provider of lockbox services, where the bank receives and processes cheques and remittance advices on behalf of a company, and of treasury management services such as account reconciliation and fraud prevention. A company that receives 100,000 cheques a month from its customers may outsource the entire process to Wells Fargo, which opens the envelopes, scans the cheques, and posts the credits.

Both banks were early adopters of real-time payments in the United States. Bank of America was one of the first banks to offer the Clearing House RTP network to its corporate clients, letting a company send money that arrives in the beneficiary account within seconds, 24 hours a day, including weekends. Wells Fargo followed with its own RTP offering and was also an early participant in FedNow, the real-time payment system launched by the Federal Reserve in July 2023. FedNow lets banks of any size offer instant payments, and both Bank of America and Wells Fargo offer FedNow alongside the Clearing House RTP network to their corporate clients. A payroll company can now pay 10,000 workers on a Sunday evening and the money arrives instantly.

The corporate payment services at both banks go beyond simple money movement. Bank of America offers virtual accounts, where a company can create a separate account number for each of its customers or projects while keeping a single physical account, which makes reconciliation far easier. It also offers integrated payables, where a company sends one file and the bank decides whether each payment should go by ACH, by wire, or by virtual card, based on the supplier preference. Wells Fargo offers similar services, with a focus on commercial cards and on supply chain finance, where the bank pays a supplier early at a discount and the buyer pays the bank later. These services turn the bank from a payment processor into a working capital partner for its clients.

For a business analyst, the lesson from both banks is that domestic scale and global reach need different architectures. The domestic side is about volume, automation, and cost per transaction, processing 50 million ACH payments a month at a cost of a few cents each. The international side is about corridors, correspondents, and compliance, sending 200,000 cross-border payments a day through SWIFT, with sanctions screening on every one. A bank that is excellent at one is not automatically excellent at the other, and the payment hub must serve both. Bank of America and Wells Fargo show how a bank can run a high-volume domestic engine and a complex international engine on the same platform, with shared reference data and shared screening, but with different routing and different cut-off times.

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