19 Resources to Learn More About Payments

Uncovering the top resources to build your payment knowledge

The payments industry and ecosystem can be daunting in its breadth and depth. Understanding not only the mechanics of how to transact a payment, but also the range of service providers who collaborate to connect and enable dealing between strangers across the globe, let alone the latest shifts in laws and regulations that periodically upend whatever stability has been reached - well, it can be positively dizzying.

In today’s high-paced information environment, finding those payment resources can be a challenge: you need to be well-versed in the basics, but also in tune with the latest changes. Here we share what we believe to be the top resources for understanding the payments industry.

Getting the basics down

If you’re going to operate in the payments space, you have to get the fundamentals locked in before worrying about quirks or the latest shifts. Start with:

• PCI-DSS, the home of the most important data management standards for the payments industry. Here you’ll learn what it takes to properly handle customer personally identifiable information (PII), manage data in-motion and at-rest, and assess your current level of compliance based on your transaction volume
• Relatedly, this post provides a well-presented, easily-digested overview of what the admittedly long PCI-DSS standard probably means to your organization
• We find this article from DirectPayNet to be a super primer for the ecosystem - what other companies are out there that you need to do business with to close sales and manage customer information

News and payments newsletters and organizations can be powerful resources

According to Statista, global e-commerce will be responsible for over $3.5T in transaction in 2023 alone, with a rapid acceleration rate over the next few years, so there is plenty of interest in the industry that powers those sales. There are some key outlets you’ll want to bookmark to ensure you don’t miss anything new that is coming down the pike, including the following:

• American Banker’s Payments section, which not only provides factual information about everything from payment networks to data breaches, but also gives you access to the opinions of some of the world’s most interesting experts
• PYMNTS, which is an outlet fully dedicated to the payments industry. In addition to running an excellent website, conducting meaningful research, and tracking the markets, they also hold live events, where you can start to share notes with your industry peers.
• PaymentEye similarly tracks the news of the day, as well as offering a twice weekly newsletter, which can make it easier to remember to keep your eyes open for industry news.
• Payment Cards and Mobile will help you to remember that today’s world is mobile first! They not only provide excellent commentary, as well as video, podcast, and webinar resources, they also keep you abreast of the developments you need to compete effectively for your fair share of the mobile wallet.
• Finextra delivers a decidedly international flavor, which is vital if your business is going to be interacting with worldwide customers. They also maintain a flourishing community of industry experts who blog regularly themselves, and may end up being crucial members of your own online circle of advisors.
• Glenbrook’s blog which is less of a news feed, and more of a window into the thinking of the leading strategists and thinkers at any given time. The great thing about this resource is you only have to stop by from time to time to get the latest - its strength is quality over quantity!
• Noyes Payments Blog is less news and more geek-out! For the members of the team who are doing the actual building of payments systems and automation, this is the gold standard for understanding the nuts and bolts.

Using payment provider blogs as a resource

Unsurprisingly, there are some very large providers in the payments space, and many of them provide outstanding blogs that help you to keep up with the latest developments. In fairness, you’ll need to keep a small pinch of salt handy when reading the opinion of vendors who are seeking to demonstrate the value of their own services - but these are, let’s face it, the folks who are deepest in the trenches.

• The Dwolla blog, while understandably heavy on articles explaining how and why to use their system, is also pleasingly littered with valuable commentary on the broader industry and regulatory developments.
• The BlueSnap blog makes plenty of space for discussions of the news of the day, from payment orchestration to gender inclusivity.
• Stripe can have valuable posts, like this one explaining the whole process of collecting online payments. The blog, overall, though, is more product- than industry-focused
• Rapyd provides a fascinating variety of articles that are well-categorized and engaging. It may have the most comprehensive store of writing about payments in Iceland
• The Tipalti blog brings a slightly different perspective, as the company is more focused on business to business payments than on retail - and does a fine job of exposing content particularly interesting to Finance professionals

Learn from online training resources

As with most things these days, there is no shortage of online outlets lining up to train you and provide you with certifications of varied value!

• Sign up for an advanced course on the future of payments from Coursera, one of the largest, oldest, and most well-trusted online training platforms
• Alternatively you could join a free online payments course with CFTE. 
• And let’s not forget the old chestnut: LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda), where you can find a functionally limitless amount of classes and training seminars
• The Khan Academy, possibly best-known for helping kids with their math homework during the COVID-19 pandemic, offers a surprisingly broad spectrum of free classes on the payments world.

There is no shortage of payments information resources

We hope you’ll enjoy the list we’ve provided, but remember - there are more resources for learning about payments than any list could possibly provide. Create a Google alert to watch out for breaking news today - and let us know if you find an irresistible resource!