Migrating your card issuing, your card acquiring or payment processing systems to support EMV is a major undertaking.

We actively participated in several such projects, and we understand the knowledge gap that needs to be filled. In general, all the staff needs to be trained to the new technology, and there is a need to hire more people to support the new workload.



That’s where our courses can help you leap forward. They were specifically designed to help organizations tackle such issues as staff turnover and growth absorption when it comes to EMV and payment.

Our courses have been tried and trusted by many big name organizations, and we’re confident that they provide the deepest and broadest coverage of those technical topics.

We've got you covered

  • Non-technical people

    A course designed for everyone to get their bearings in the card industry. It's easier when everyone speaks the same language.

  • Card specialists

    A deeply technical course on EMV transactions, with lots of practical exercises.

  • Switch specialists

    A deeply technical course on ISO 8583 and Transaction Processing, with a chapter focused on EMV and its end-to-end implications, also with lots of practical exercises.

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Do you want to get on the right track to becoming an expert?


Our introductory course to card and EMV payment

This high-level course is for everyone: technical staff, their managers and executives. Learn about the added complexity of using EMV.

  • All Courses

    Fundamentals of Card Payment

    (33)

    Learn the basics about the card payment industry, including the technology at play and how to transact on a global scale. For everyone.

    19 Lessons €100,00
    Fundamentals of Card Payment

  • Useful general background course

    Tim Littlefair

    [Senior Software Engineer at Vix Technology] Relevant to my needs as a peripheral member of a team working on EMV L1 and L2 certifications working with highl...

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    [Senior Software Engineer at Vix Technology] Relevant to my needs as a peripheral member of a team working on EMV L1 and L2 certifications working with highly knowledgable subject matter specialists in the area.

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  • Very Informative

    Gbenga Olufemi Olonisakin

    [Test Analyst at FNB] I found this course to be very informative as it gives you the information required to start digging deep into the payments world. The...

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    [Test Analyst at FNB] I found this course to be very informative as it gives you the information required to start digging deep into the payments world. The videos are also very insightful and the quizzes at the end of each chapter ensures that you grasp the knowledge associated with each chapter. Definitely a course that anyone novice in payment should consider.

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  • Impressive

    Abdul Adejoh

    [Head, EMV card Issuance at EPayPlus Limited] I was impressed with the organisation and presentation of the course. I certainly look forward to more courses ...

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    [Head, EMV card Issuance at EPayPlus Limited] I was impressed with the organisation and presentation of the course. I certainly look forward to more courses from you. Cheers.

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  • Excellent Course

    Islam Menshawy

    A highly recommend course for beginners with a very useful information.

    A highly recommend course for beginners with a very useful information.

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  • Great introduction to Card Payments

    Rory Moore

    [Mainframe Developer at Standard Bank South Africa] The course gave an exceptional introduction to Card Payments. The material is relevant and well presente...

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    [Mainframe Developer at Standard Bank South Africa] The course gave an exceptional introduction to Card Payments. The material is relevant and well presented, I was able to gain a lot of insight in a short amount of time.

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  • Splendid Course

    Eniitan Akinola

    [Project Manager at ARCA Payments] I think that, for someone who is new to the payments industry, this course is an excellent crash course for all there is ...

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    [Project Manager at ARCA Payments] I think that, for someone who is new to the payments industry, this course is an excellent crash course for all there is to know. The videos were bite sized for easy assimilation and the course content stayed on course. All key elements of the payment chain were mentioned and explained in more than superficial detail. The instructors deserve many accolades.

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Our technical course for people working with EMV cards

This 2-day, deeply technical course bridges the knowledge gap between IT and EMV

  • Great Course

    Paul Conroy

    [Payments Specialist at Fexco OpenConnect] The PayTech Academy ‘Fast Track to EMV’ online training course is very high quality. I would recommend it to anyo...

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    [Payments Specialist at Fexco OpenConnect] The PayTech Academy ‘Fast Track to EMV’ online training course is very high quality. I would recommend it to anyone who is starting to implement EMV or anyone who has an operational touchpoint with EMV in their day to day activity regardless of where you sit in the EMV transaction flow, Merchant/POS, Acquirer host or Issuer and all in between. The course content is delivered in a method which is very easy to understand and is broken out into logical chapters, so regardless of your previous experience within the Payments or EMV sphere you will learn a lot from this course. Most of the training videos are 5-10 minutes long which are ideal as you can dip in and out of the course as time permits and work through it at your own pace. Taking this course will arm you with sufficient knowledge to take a proactive role in EMV certifications and troubleshooting issues that may arise in both the test and live environments.

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  • This was an amazing course

    Balamurugan Subramanian

    [Test lead in Standard Bank South Africa] The course was very professional, thorough, informative and ultimately very, very useful. Its simple and easy to f...

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    [Test lead in Standard Bank South Africa] The course was very professional, thorough, informative and ultimately very, very useful. Its simple and easy to follow. It is very clear and explains everything in detail.The material in this course set a good foundation that can be applied practically. The approach is very relaxed and highly knowledgeable. Everyone needs to go on this course. The course content was easily understandable and informative. The quality of the course was great. Brilliant course – will recommend it to anyone. Paytech -Thank you – your course was very beneficial!

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  • Fantastic Course

    Hammilton Monareng

    [Test Analyst at Diners Club] I found the training to be extremely helpful, how the training is setup It allows you to complete the course in your own time a...

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    [Test Analyst at Diners Club] I found the training to be extremely helpful, how the training is setup It allows you to complete the course in your own time and get a better understanding of the EMV end to end process. The course can help any one who is starting up in EMV and have a clear understanding of what is required and what the outcome is for every requirement.

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  • Really Good

    Victor Ikoro

    [Software Engineer - Tokens & EFT, Interswitch Group ] The training was very professional, well detailed and focuses on the key points needed to understa...

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    [Software Engineer - Tokens & EFT, Interswitch Group ] The training was very professional, well detailed and focuses on the key points needed to understand EMV transactions and its practical applications. I would highly recommend this training to anyone with zero EMV knowledge, as a good place to start and have a solid EMV foundation. Overall the quality of the course was great.

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  • A great way to learn about very complex EMV authorisations

    Samra Hadzikadunic

    [Consultant Project Manager] In today's dynamic payment industry where constant change is considered as a norm and challenge finding a course that can explai...

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    [Consultant Project Manager] In today's dynamic payment industry where constant change is considered as a norm and challenge finding a course that can explain very complex EMV topics in a simple way to audience not familiar with payment terminology and infrastructure seems like almost impossible mission, this course has successfully addressed training needs that is long overdue on the market. You will be able to learn it in a very natural way without being overwhelmed with its complex EMV subject. The course also gives a great overview about manuals and the way how they should be interpreted which sometimes present a huge challenge even for professionals with many years of experience in this industry. The logs help you to understand and outline how the problems should be resolved in a more efficient way without spending hours, days and weeks to troubleshoot it. A great course that will give you a very solid foundation and can be used as a knowledge base whenever you need it.

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  • Excellent course

    Walter Senekal

    [Senior Developer at Altech Card Solutions] Before the course, I did not know much about EMV transactions, but this course was so well put together that it w...

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    [Senior Developer at Altech Card Solutions] Before the course, I did not know much about EMV transactions, but this course was so well put together that it was able to provide me with the essential information to work with confidence in EMV transactions. It really fast tracked my EMV knowledge and I would highly recommend it to anybody starting with EMV or would like to get a better understanding of EMV transactions.

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Our technical course for people working with your switch or host

This 3- to 4-day, deeply technical course bridges the knowledge gap between IT and Transaction processing, with a strong focus on ISO 8583 protocols

  • Transaction processing

    Mphikeleli Zwane

    [Software Developer at Altech Card Solutions] Before taking this course, i had a little knowledge about transactions flow and processing from the merchants ...

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    [Software Developer at Altech Card Solutions] Before taking this course, i had a little knowledge about transactions flow and processing from the merchants terminal to the card issuer and the parties involved. This course made it easy for me to understand the processing of transaction within our company. with the help of this course, now i know the different message types, ISO 8583 message layout , fields and their meaning, different ISO 8583 message protocols. Without this course it would take me a year or so to understand the general flow of transactions from the Terminal to the issuer. i would recommend this course to anyone who works in Payment industry, it is easy to follow and understand.

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  • Excellent Course

    Innocent Oketayot

    [Innocent Oketayot, Systems Administrator-Finance Trust Bank, Uganda] This is a great course. For such a highly complex topic as transaction processing, th...

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    [Innocent Oketayot, Systems Administrator-Finance Trust Bank, Uganda] This is a great course. For such a highly complex topic as transaction processing, the course was presented in such a simplified manner making it very easy to understand. The content is also quite comprehensive, covering all the bases I needed to advance in the world of transaction processing.

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  • Paytech Online Iso 8583:

    Justine Naidoo

    [Junior EMV Specialist in Standard Bank South Africa] It has been an incredible opportunity having to do the ISO 8583 ONLINE TRAINING, It was user friendl...

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    [Junior EMV Specialist in Standard Bank South Africa] It has been an incredible opportunity having to do the ISO 8583 ONLINE TRAINING, It was user friendly and straight to the point,easy to understand and it included very relevant information needed when working with ISO .I highly recommend that this course becomes a basis for all users of ISO, purely because of the content that touches on each and every ‘element ‘(no pun intended ) of the system.I enjoyed the interactive voice over that made it easier for me to understand as I am more of a listener than a reader 😊 .

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Testimonials by team leaders

Team lead, EMV Acquirer Certifications, Standard Bank South Africa

Magan Pillay

Team lead, EMV Acquirer Certifications, Standard Bank South Africa

“The training course is absolutely brilliant. The way it is structured allows the trainee to complete the course at his own pace, which means that you can take the necessary time to adjust to EMV concepts that are fairly complex. My team member, Bala, was put on the course, having started working in my team recently with no previous EMV experience. My team performs technically complex EMV Certifications with the various Associations. Experience has shown that the average time it takes for a person to be self-sufficient at doing EMV Certifications is approximately 8 to 12 months. Bala was able to run his own EMV Certification projects with minimum supervision within 3 months and the expectation is that he will be fully independent within the next 6-8 weeks. This turnaround time towards EMV competence is really remarkable and definitely as a result of the training program offered by PayTech Academy. I will readily recommend it, and will insist that all new people joining my team going forward undertake the training as a mandatory requirement. Keep up the good work.”
EMV Subject Matter Expert at Standard Bank Group

Bilal Norath

EMV Subject Matter Expert at Standard Bank Group

“I was seriously impressed with the both the course content and delivery model. It perfectly addresses the challenge we have in getting our people upskilled and proficient in EMV as rapidly as possible. Definitely the Gold Standard of EMV training. Really well done PayTech Academy!”
Software Development Manager, Altech Card Solutions (ACS)

Freddy Rademeyer

Software Development Manager, Altech Card Solutions (ACS)

“I was seriously impressed with the both the course content and delivery model. It perfectly addresses the challenge we have in getting our people upskilled and proficient in EMV as rapidly as possible. Definitely the Gold Standard of EMV training. Really well done PayTech Academy!”

They already learned with us

  • Standard Bank
  • NPCI
  • Arca
  • FNB
  • Interswitch
  • ACS
  • Fexco
  • Unionbank

Instructor

Hervé Zenner

Card payment expert


I have a passion for helping people reach their full potential. As a strong believer of the concept of sustainable leadership, I can feel the pain of employees who cannot perform at their best because of the difficulty of knowledge transfer. In my previous role in product marketing for a very complex payment simulator, I was faced with bridging this knowledge gap on a regular basis. The payment industry is one where the barrier to entry is high, and it should not be this way because it hinders growth for everyone.

My most prized accomplishment in my career is the development of a formalized payment education program for South Africa, which has seen over a hundred students with IT backgrounds turned into payment experts able to proficiently operate our payment simulator. This was made possible thanks to many other education experiences, technical or process-oriented.

Because I am an INTJ in the Myers-Briggs model, you can be sure that the content of my courses is fully thought-out and takes into consideration all aspects needed to reach the targets. I am really good at putting myself in my students’ shoes, to find the path that will take them from where they are to where they want to be.


Want to know more about my credentials?

During my 10 years of strong, technical experience in the card payment industry, I worked in development and QA for the two leading chip card manufacturers, Gemalto and Oberthur. I also held a position of security analyst for EMV products in a lab, which provided a deep understanding of the internal working of payment cards.

My longest position was with Acquirer Systems, a small company which created the best, and most complete, payment simulator on the market (it now belongs to UL). During that time, I held just about every position that there is to fill in a small company, doing software development, QA, customer support, then moving to consulting, pre-sales and education. I built a complete library of deep, technical knowledge in all aspects of card payment transactions, from the card in your pocket to the authorization by the banks.

I am also fully qualified for the positions I have held until now, and fully prepared for the challenges of the future. I hold an MSc in engineering from a French college, and an Executive MBA from Trinity College Dublin.

Got a question for us?

We're here to help, so don't hesitate to contact us with any questions that you might have

Contact the team!

FAQ

  • What will I get at the end of the course?

    On top of acquiring new skills and experience, each student receives a certificate when completing a course.

  • Are the courses mobile-friendly?

    Yes. Our e-learning platform is powered by Thinkific, which provides you with the look and feel, and student experience, of other e-learning sites that you may have used. This includes the support of tablets and smartphones, and the ability to continue where you left off on a different device.

  • Do you offer group discounts?

    We are happy to have a discussion with you about a discounted price for a group of 3 or more. Please use the Contact page to give us all the details.

Benefits of e-learning

E-learning has become the most common way to acquire knowledge

  • More effective

    Studies show that e-learning is what learners want. It provides mobile and relevant content that students can use at their own pace. They generally have a better attitude toward the e-learning format than toward the typical classroom format. E-learning was proven to provide learners with a greater ability to apply the new knowledge on the job, and with better long-term retention of information.

  • Faster delivery

    E-learning has quicker delivery cycle times than traditional classroom training. It can reduce learning time by 25% to 60% because it does not take as long to start and wrap up a learning session, because learners set their own pace, rather than the pace of the group and because no travel time is needed to get to and from training events. Learner can also join a program faster, and not depend on external factors such as classroom availability or scheduled sessions.

  • Lower costs

    The costs of learning and development for an organisation are drastically reduced when using e-learning. This is caused by the gains in terms of reduced training and travel time, as well as not having to cover the instructor’s travel and accommodation. The more effective learning process and retention also increases the return on investment on education, and as your staff satisfaction increases, the costs induced by staff turnover decrease. The costs to the environment are also lower, with less paper being used and the reduction of carbon footprint from the lack of traveling requirements.

EMV® is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries and an unregistered trademark elsewhere.

The EMV trademark is owned by EMVCo, LLC.