Digital Currencies and Cashless Economies Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Payments Managers, Treasury Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-FT-039

Before you join: Participants should have working familiarity with banking, finance, treasury, payment operations, risk, compliance or digital-product work.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Payments are moving from cash and batch bank transfers towards instant account-to-account transactions, digital wallets, tokenised money and new central-bank instruments. Finance, treasury, operations, risk and product teams must judge which payment methods fit their customers and operating model, while controlling fraud, liquidity, data, regulatory and third-party risks. Poor choices can increase payment costs, create reconciliation failures, weaken customer trust or expose the organisation to sanctions and financial-crime breaches.

This course examines payment rails, card schemes, wallets, instant payments, open banking, cross-border transfers, crypto-assets, stablecoins, tokenised deposits and central bank digital currencies. Participants assess payment economics, map transaction flows, interpret ISO 20022 messaging, compare digital-currency models and evaluate the controls needed for regulated payment services. They also examine the policy and commercial drivers behind cashless economies, including financial inclusion, merchant acceptance, privacy, consumer protection and operational resilience.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with payment-flow cases, group analysis, fraud and control scenarios, vendor assessments and implementation planning. Cases reflect the decisions faced by banks, public authorities, payment service providers, merchants, NGOs and multinational treasury teams. Participants receive a certificate of completion and leave with a payment and digital-currency assessment pack containing transaction-flow maps, a control matrix, a business-case model and a phased implementation roadmap. The course is delivered over five days in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online, with training days running from 08:30 to 16:30.

The course suits professionals who already work with payments, finance, technology, risk or policy and need structured methods for making informed decisions about digital money and cashless-payment initiatives.

What you will be able to do

  • Map payment transaction flows from customer initiation through settlement and reconciliation
  • Evaluate card, wallet, instant-payment and open-banking models using payment economics
  • Interpret ISO 20022 payment messages and identify operational reconciliation requirements
  • Compare stablecoins, tokenised deposits, crypto-assets and CBDC design models
  • Apply FATF risk-based controls to payment and virtual-asset transaction scenarios
  • Assess fraud, cyber-security and operational-resilience risks using control frameworks
  • Build a payment business case using adoption, cost, fraud and working-capital assumptions
  • Develop a phased implementation roadmap for a digital-payment or currency initiative

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Assess payment-provider proposals with clearer commercial and control criteria
  • Contribute credibly to CBDC, stablecoin and tokenised-money discussions
  • Identify reconciliation and settlement risks before implementation decisions
  • Apply recognised AML, fraud and cyber-control methods to payment initiatives
  • Produce a structured proposal for a digital-payment improvement project

For your organisation

  • Better payment-method selection based on cost, customer experience and risk
  • Reduced exposure to reconciliation failures, fraud losses and settlement delays
  • Stronger readiness for instant payments, ISO 20022 and open-banking initiatives
  • More consistent assessment of digital-currency opportunities and regulatory obligations
  • Clearer business cases and implementation governance for payment transformation

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can map how payment instructions move through participants, clearing and settlement processes.

  • Payment value chain mapping from payer initiation to beneficiary settlement
  • Four-party card model, interchange flows, acquirers, issuers and scheme responsibilities
  • Push, pull and request-to-pay transactions compared by authorisation mechanics
  • Settlement finality, clearing cycles and prefunding requirements quantified through transaction flows
  • CPMI-IOSCO PFMIs applied to payment-system safety and efficiency
  • Cross-border correspondent banking mapped through nostro, vostro and intermediary accounts

Participants can assess the commercial, operational and policy drivers of cashless-payment adoption.

  • Unit economics separates fixed costs, variable costs, fraud and chargebacks
  • Merchant acceptance costs calculated using merchant discount rate components
  • Two-sided market effects assessed with pricing, subsidies and participant incentives
  • Float, settlement timing and working-capital impacts modelled for merchants
  • Network effects and switching costs tested against payment adoption evidence
  • Cash displacement scenarios built from transaction volumes, values and channel mix

Participants can compare major retail payment methods by customer journey, risk and operating requirements.

  • Card payment authorisation traced through ISO 8583 messages and risk checks
  • EMV chip, contactless and tokenised credentials compared for fraud resistance
  • Digital wallet provisioning analysed through device binding, tokens and authentication
  • QR-code payment models distinguished between merchant-presented and consumer-presented flows
  • Instant payment schemes assessed for availability, limits and confirmation services
  • Open banking payment initiation compared with cards and account transfers

Participants can define data, API and reconciliation controls for modern payment services.

  • ISO 20022 message structure interpreted for pain, pacs and camt flows
  • API design assessed using consent, authentication, scopes and rate limits
  • OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect roles mapped within payment journeys
  • Data minimisation and purpose limitation applied to transaction-data sharing
  • Reconciliation controls link payment status, ledger entries and bank statements
  • Exception queues designed for rejects, returns, reversals and duplicate payments

Participants can distinguish digital-asset models and assess their commercial and control implications.

  • Bitcoin transaction validation explained through UTXOs, signatures and consensus
  • Public, private and permissioned ledgers compared by governance and access
  • Stablecoin reserve models examined for redemption, liquidity and issuer risk
  • Tokenised deposits distinguished from stablecoins, e-money and bank deposits
  • Smart-contract controls assessed for oracle, coding and administrator risks
  • Digital-asset custody models compare self-custody, qualified custodians and multisignature arrangements

Participants can evaluate CBDC design choices against policy objectives, user needs and banking-system effects.

  • CBDC design choices compared: retail, wholesale, account-based and token-based models
  • Intermediated and direct architectures assessed against operational roles and liabilities
  • Offline payment functionality evaluated for resilience, privacy and double-spend controls
  • Programmability boundaries defined through legal authority, user rights and governance
  • Central-bank balance-sheet effects analysed under deposit migration scenarios
  • CBDC interoperability considered with cash, cards, wallets and cross-border systems

Participants can apply risk-based compliance controls to payment and virtual-asset services.

  • FATF risk-based approach applied to virtual-asset and payment-service provider obligations
  • Travel Rule data requirements mapped for virtual-asset transfer workflows
  • Customer due diligence tiers designed using risk scoring and thresholds
  • Sanctions screening controls tested against names, wallets and transaction patterns
  • PCI DSS responsibilities allocated among merchants, acquirers and service providers
  • Operational resilience scenarios cover outages, fraud spikes and third-party failures

Participants can identify payment threats and specify proportionate preventive, detective and response controls.

  • Threat modelling identifies assets, adversaries, attack paths and mitigations
  • Account takeover controls combine phishing resistance, device signals and behavioural analytics
  • Fraud-loss metrics distinguish gross losses, recoveries, false positives and declines
  • Three lines model assigns ownership, challenge and independent assurance
  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 maps Govern, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover
  • Incident playbooks specify containment, customer communication, evidence and recovery decisions

Participants can develop a justified payment proposition and select appropriate delivery partners.

  • Payment use cases prioritised using value, feasibility, risk and customer criteria
  • Build-buy-partner decisions compare control, speed, cost and dependency
  • Vendor due diligence reviews licences, finances, security, service levels and exit
  • Target operating model defines products, operations, risk, technology and governance
  • KPIs connect approval rates, conversion, fraud, cost and settlement performance
  • Business cases model investment, adoption, unit economics and break-even timing

Participants can plan controlled implementation of a payment or digital-currency initiative.

  • Phased roadmaps sequence regulatory approval, integration, pilot and scaled rollout
  • Control matrices assign risks, controls, owners, evidence and testing frequency
  • Migration plans address customer communication, data conversion, fallback and reconciliation
  • Service-level agreements define uptime, response times, settlement and dispute obligations
  • Dashboard specifications track adoption, payment success, fraud and operational exceptions
  • Personal application plan identifies one payment or currency initiative and milestones

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Payment transaction-flow mapping template
  2. Digital-currency comparison model
  3. Payment economics business-case workbook
  4. Financial-crime and fraud control matrix
  5. Payment-provider due-diligence checklist
  6. Phased payment implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Payments Managers — need to assess rails, providers, economics and operating controls
  • Treasury Managers — need to understand settlement, liquidity and cross-border payment implications
  • Finance Managers — need reliable reconciliation, accounting and cost analysis for digital payments
  • Risk and Compliance Managers — need controls for fraud, AML, sanctions and operational resilience
  • Digital Product Managers — need to design viable wallet, account-to-account and currency propositions
  • Public-Sector Financial Policy Professionals — need to assess cashless-payment and CBDC policy choices

Skills and tools covered

Payment flow mappingDigital currency assessmentPayment risk controlsISO 20022 messagingFraud risk analysisPayment business cases

Tools and standards

ISO 20022, CPMI-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures, FATF Risk-Based Approach, NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish payment concepts, followed by cases drawn from banks, merchants, public agencies and multinational treasury operations. Participants map payment flows, compare rail economics, assess digital-currency models and work through fraud, sanctions, resilience and vendor-risk scenarios. Group work applies ISO 20022, FATF, CPMI-IOSCO and NIST guidance to realistic decisions. Simulations focus on payment incidents, settlement exceptions and product choices. Each participant develops an application plan for a relevant payment or digital-currency initiative.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working familiarity with banking, finance, treasury, payment operations, risk, compliance or digital-product work. They should understand basic payment terms such as bank transfer, card payment, merchant, customer and settlement, and be comfortable discussing costs, controls and operational processes. Prior exposure to payment systems, financial services regulation or technology projects is useful. No coding, cryptography, blockchain development, advanced economics or prior digital-asset trading experience is required. The course explains technical concepts through business, control and implementation decisions.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic banking, finance, payment or operational terms and have some professional exposure to financial services or payment processes. No coding, blockchain engineering or prior crypto-asset trading knowledge is required.

Bring a laptop for reviewing course materials and developing your payment assessment pack. If permitted by your employer, bring a current payment, treasury, digital-wallet or reconciliation challenge to use in application planning.

It is designed for payments, treasury, finance, risk, compliance, technology, product and public-policy professionals. It is especially relevant for people involved in payment transformation, cashless-payment programmes or digital-currency assessment.

This course treats crypto-assets as one part of a wider payments and digital-money market. It gives equal attention to cards, instant payments, wallets, open banking, CBDCs, settlement, regulation, fraud controls and implementation decisions.

You can use the transaction-flow map, control matrix, vendor checklist and business-case model to assess a live payment initiative. The methods also support conversations with banks, payment service providers, technology vendors, regulators and internal control teams.

The programme provides approximately 32.5 contact hours across five training days, from 08:30 to 16:30. Time is divided among ten teaching modules, instructor briefings, cases, group analysis, simulations and individual application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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