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Archytas Academy

We are not a training company that reads about payments. We are a payments company that trains.

Applied fintech and digital payments programmes for banks, fintechs and organisations on the path to becoming a licensed payment service provider. Every lab and worked example comes from infrastructure our engineers run in production.

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Who it is for
Banks and microfinance institutions building or modernising payment capability
Fintechs, e-commerce businesses and gateways planning to become payment service providers
Regulators, switches and development programmes building payments capacity
Who should attend

Developers, architects, product managers, business analysts, operations, finance and reconciliation staff, risk and compliance, cybersecurity, customer support, merchant sales, project managers, and at least one senior manager.

WHY THE MIX MATTERS

Payment companies fail at the seams between disciplines. A programme attended only by developers produces a well-built system that cannot be licensed, reconciled or sold.

How we teach

Participants should not spend the programme watching slides

Built around your business

A diagnostic before the programme tunes every worked example to your own platform and plan.

15 participants at most

Small cohorts keep the labs hands-on and the discussion cross-functional.

Virtual, onsite or hybrid

Virtual sessions are recorded and available to the cohort for 90 days.

A capstone that matters

Teams present "Our PSP 1.0", scored against a published rubric.

Programmes

Three depths, one faculty

5 DAYS · MODULES 1–12

Fintech & Payments Foundation

The ecosystem, payments fundamentals, cards, acquiring, gateways, ISO 8583, ISO 20022 and APIs.

BEST FORTeams new to payments
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8 DAYS · MODULES 1–20 + CAPSTONE

Fintech & PSP Practitioner

Adds mobile money, PCI DSS, cryptography, tokenisation, 3-D Secure, AML, fraud and disputes.

BEST FORTeams building a gateway or payments product
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10 DAYS + 60-DAY ADVISORY · ALL 24 MODULES

PSP Launch Academy + Advisory

Everything, plus a regulatory readiness clinic, the capstone, and up to 20 advisory hours as you turn the design into an application.

BEST FOROrganisations applying for a PSP licence
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Curriculum

Ten days, twenty-four modules

Every module includes a practical lab, and every day closes with a knowledge check.

DAY 01
The fintech and payments ecosystemFintech fundamentals; the national payments ecosystem and regulatory perimeter
DAY 06
ISO 20022 and APIsISO 20022; APIs in payments
DAY 02
How payments workFollowing the money; card schemes and scheme economics
DAY 07
Mobile money and PCI DSSMobile money and account-to-account rails; PCI DSS
DAY 03
Issuing and acquiringCard issuing; merchant acquiring and merchant management
DAY 08
SecurityCryptography, HSMs and key management; tokenisation; EMV 3-D Secure
DAY 04
Gateways and e-commerceGateway architecture; e-commerce payment integration
DAY 09
Financial crimeAML/CFT, KYC and KYB; fraud management; disputes and chargebacks
DAY 05
ISO 8583 and switchingISO 8583 masterclass; payment switching
DAY 10
Money movement and operationsReconciliation; settlement and treasury; PSP economics; reliability and payment operations
Outcomes

What participants leave able to do

Explain how money moves through a payment ecosystem, and where margin is made and lost
Tell a gateway, PSP, processor, switch, acquirer, aggregator and e-money issuer apart, and know the regulatory consequence of each
Read ISO 8583 messages and explain how ISO 20022 relates to them
Specify a production-grade payment API, including idempotency and webhook security
Scope and reduce a PCI DSS obligation
Run a dispute to resolution and diagnose a settlement break
Model PSP unit economics and set out a credible route to licensing
Advisory services

Available on their own or after a programme.

PSP licensing application support: concept paper, business plan, policy set, application assembly
Payment gateway technical requirements and architecture pack
PCI DSS scoping and readiness assessment
Ongoing PSP implementation advisory retainer

Build the team before you build the platform

Tell us where your organisation is on the path to payments. We will recommend the right programme and send a tailored outline within three business days.

Request a programme outline