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Open Banking and Real-Time Payments

The new rails competing with cards. Real-time settlement, open banking APIs, and the multi-rail future.

6 modules·Available now

Why the card rails are no longer the only game. Real-time payment rails (FedNow, FPS, UPI, Pix), open banking APIs, account-to-account checkout, cross-border, and what the multi-rail future means for payments architecture.

Who this is for

Payments product managers tracking the rails shift
Engineers integrating FedNow, FPS, UPI, Pix, or open banking APIs
Treasury and finance teams evaluating account-to-account checkout
Founders thinking through cross-border payment design

What you will learn

Compare card rails to real-time rails on cost, settlement, refund, and fraud
Map the major open banking standards and what each one actually enables
Design an account-to-account checkout flow that consumers will use
Make sense of cross-border payment options without picking the obvious wrong one
Plan a multi-rail strategy that hedges against vendor and regulatory shifts

Syllabus

01Why New Rails Exist
Why alternative payment rails are emerging alongside cards. The economic, regulatory, and technological forces driving real-time payment infrastructure globally.
02Real-Time Payment Networks
How real-time payment networks operate. FedNow, Faster Payments, PIX, UPI, and the architecture behind instant settlement systems around the world.
03Open Banking Infrastructure
The technical infrastructure of open banking. API standards, consent frameworks, TPP architecture, and how PSD2 and its successors enable account-based services.
04Account-to-Account Payments at Checkout
How account-to-account payments work at the point of sale. Pay-by-bank flows, checkout UX challenges, merchant economics, and the competitive threat to card networks.
05Cross-Border: Where Rails Collide
Cross-border payment complexity where different rails intersect. Correspondent banking, FX infrastructure, interoperability challenges, and emerging cross-border solutions.
06The Multi-Rail Future
How the multi-rail payments future is taking shape. Orchestration layers, smart routing, rail-agnostic platforms, and the strategic implications for payments businesses.