The 2026 Payments and Banking Education Survey provides a fact-based assessment of how professionals working across the payments and banking ecosystem acquire knowledge, develop expertise, and navigate an increasingly complex industry. Based on responses from 53 professionals working across payments, banking, fintech, compliance, technology, finance, operations, and risk, the survey reveals a consistent pattern: despite years of experience, most professionals continue to rely on informal learning rather than structured education.

Respondents represented organisations operating internationally across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. The survey was conducted over a four-week period to understand how professionals enter the industry, where they obtain their knowledge, how confident they feel in their understanding of payments and banking, and whether the sector provides sufficient educational support.

The findings reveal that practical experience alone is not enough. Most professionals learn through colleagues, managers, Google searches, and self-study rather than recognised education programmes. Confidence levels remain moderate, knowledge gaps persist, and structured professional education is largely absent across the industry.

Unlike professions such as accounting, auditing, compliance, and risk management, which benefit from established certification pathways, payments and banking continues to depend heavily on learning through experience. As regulation, technology, financial innovation, and risk management evolve rapidly, the survey strongly supports the need for recognised qualifications, structured professional education, and continuous professional development.

The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire designed to understand how professionals acquire payments and banking knowledge and where educational gaps continue to exist.

The questionnaire covered:

Data collection lasted four weeks and targeted professionals actively involved in payments, banking, compliance, operations, finance, technology, and risk.

All percentages presented in the survey are based on 53 respondents and are accompanied by both the percentage and the corresponding number of respondents.

One of the most striking findings is that experience alone does not necessarily create confidence or comprehensive industry knowledge.

24 professionals (45%) have more than six years of experience.

11 professionals (21%) have more than ten years of experience.

Despite this level of experience, confidence remained surprisingly low.

Only 4 respondents (8%) reported confidence levels between 76% and 100% regarding their understanding of the complete payments and banking ecosystem.

Meanwhile, 30 respondents (57%) rated their understanding at 50% or below.

These results suggest that years spent working in the industry do not automatically translate into a complete understanding of payments and banking, particularly as payment methods, regulations, technologies, and business models continue evolving at a rapid pace.

The survey shows that informal learning remains the dominant way professionals acquire knowledge.

Out of 53 respondents:

44 respondents (83%) learned payments and banking primarily through colleagues, managers, Google searches, and self-study.

Only 9 respondents (17%) identified internal company training as their primary source of education.

No respondents identified formal education or professional certification as their primary source of payments and banking knowledge.

These findings demonstrate that the industry continues to rely heavily on informal knowledge transfer rather than structured educational pathways.

Although practical experience remains valuable, this approach creates inconsistent knowledge standards across organisations and leaves significant knowledge gaps between professionals.

When asked which areas they felt least confident about, respondents identified several major knowledge gaps.

The most common responses were:

New FinTech Innovations and Alternative Payment Methods – 19 respondents

Technology – 14 respondents

Compliance and Regulation – 11 respondents

Fraud and Risk Management – 9 respondents

These findings indicate that professionals struggle most with understanding rapidly evolving areas rather than traditional banking concepts.

The pace of change across payments and banking has become one of the industry's greatest educational challenges.

Only 5 respondents (9%) reported high confidence in their ability to stay up to date with industry developments.

Meanwhile:

28 respondents (53%) rated their confidence at 50% or below.

This finding is particularly significant given the rapid evolution of:

Without structured education and continuous learning, professionals struggle to maintain an up-to-date understanding of the market.

The survey indicates that financial technology is evolving faster than internal training programmes, leaving many professionals responsible for making critical decisions without sufficient understanding of available technologies, providers, risks, or opportunities.

One of the strongest findings from the survey concerns the lack of structured professional education.

Only 3 respondents (6%) reported receiving structured payments and banking training regularly during their careers.

Meanwhile:

39 respondents (74%) either received only internal onboarding or had never received structured training.

Considering that payments and banking directly influence:

the lack of formal education represents a significant industry-wide issue.

The survey concludes that professional education remains largely unavailable despite the critical importance of payments and banking to business performance.

Continuous professional development also appears to be limited.

Only 14 respondents (26%) actively learn about payments and banking every week.

The remaining respondents reported learning:

-Monthly

-A few times each year

-Only when a specific issue requires attention

This reactive approach increases the likelihood that knowledge gaps will develop over time and reduces organisations' ability to identify new opportunities before competitors.

The survey demonstrates that educational gaps have measurable business consequences.

A total of 46 respondents (87%) admitted they had made payments or banking decisions that later caused problems for their organisations, whether occasionally, frequently, or rarely.

Poor decisions were linked to areas including:

These mistakes directly affect revenue, profitability, compliance, operational stability, and overall business performance.

There is overwhelming agreement among respondents that the industry lacks sufficient professional education.

According to the survey:

47 respondents (89%) either agreed or strongly agreed that the payments and banking industry lacks professional education.

Only 6 respondents (11%) disagreed.

The results show remarkable consistency regardless of experience level.

While payments and banking are recognised as strategically important business functions, the industry still operates without educational standards comparable to accounting, auditing, law, compliance, or risk management.

The survey assessed educational readiness by evaluating:

44 respondents (83%) rely primarily on informal education methods, including colleagues, Google searches, self-study, and ad hoc learning.

Only a very small proportion of professionals demonstrated the combination of:

-Structured education

-Continuous professional development

-High confidence levels

required to maintain a comprehensive understanding of modern payments and banking.

Overall, the findings reveal a structural education gap affecting the vast majority of professionals working in the sector.

The survey concludes that structured education offers significant benefits for both individuals and organisations.

Professional education can:

Although the industry has invested heavily in technology, compliance, and innovation, it continues to underinvest in the education required to use these tools effectively.

Payments and banking remain one of the few critical business functions where professionals primarily learn through trial and error rather than recognised professional development.

The findings confirm that industry knowledge continues to be acquired mainly through experience, self-study, and informal mentoring rather than structured education.

As payments and banking become increasingly specialised, the absence of recognised professional education creates risks for both professionals and organisations.

Investing in structured training, recognised qualifications, and continuous professional development represents the clearest path to building stronger teams, reducing costly mistakes, improving decision-making, and strengthening the future of the payments and banking industry.

To monitor progress over time, the survey will be repeated annually to measure changes in education standards and assess whether the industry's knowledge gap begins to close.