20 January 2025
The EBA educational offering – a review and an outlook

By Daniel Szmukler
Daniel Szmukler has been in his current role with the Euro Banking Association since 2012. Responsible for innovation, bank relations and strategic engagements, Daniel runs the EBA’s thought leadership, events and education streams and manages the EBA’s innovation working groups, the EBA schools, as well as the annual payments conference EBAday.
In today’s fast-paced world, continuous learning and professional development are essential for staying ahead of the curve in any industry. Regarding payments, whether you are just starting out in your career or looking to refine your skills, the right educational training can make all the difference. This is where the EBA and its educational offerings come into play. We tailor all our events to the pan-European payments landscape and aim to foster a supportive learning environment with expert speakers and plenty of networking opportunities.
The EBA Academy: a new type of course offered by the EBA
The EBA has been successfully running its series of EBA Winter and Summer Schools and other topical seminars since 2008. The main objective of the 45 educational events offered so far has been to provide professionals with new insights into key business, technology and regulatory developments impacting the European payments industry. The topic of each event is different, and each Summer or Winter School is therefore aimed at payments practitioners with a certain focus or specialisation. Naturally, to reach that level of specialisation, most of our alumni have had several years of experience in banking and payments.
In recent years, EBA members have increasingly voiced an interest in a comprehensive training course that would cover the entire world of payments, from bread-and-butter payment rails to the newest trends and developments. Based on that demand, the EBA decided to fill this gap by devising a pan European payments training fit for newcomers to payments as well as subject-matter experts looking to understand the latest evolutions and industry insights. In short, the new offering should provide a wide, up-to-date and holistic view of the transaction banking landscape.
In early 2024, with the buy-in from the EBA Board, the EBA began devising a curriculum fit to the expectations, and in May, the first EBA Academy training took place in Paris.
Takeaways from our EBA Academy training courses in 2024
With only a very short time for marketing available, the first course and the following two in September 2024 were all sold out in just a few weeks, demonstrating the great appetite in the market for this type of payments training.
The four-day training curriculum of each EBA Academy consists of four modules: 1. European payments, 2. cross-border payments, 3. cards and alternative payment methods and 4. trends and new entrants in payments. The curriculum is continuously updated to reflect the changing market expectations, new regulations, shifting economic realities and emerging technologies.
Of the 52 individuals to successfully complete the EBA Academy in 2024, 39 worked for banks and 13 for service providers; most but not all were European, and their number of years of experience in payments differed greatly.
The feedback we collected after each Academy revealed that 70 percent were “extremely satisfied” with their course, and 30 percent were “very satisfied”, showing that we were on the right track regarding content, group size, speakers and timings. When we asked if delegates’ expectations were met, 100 percent replied “yes”.
Going forward: what’s to come in 2025?
Given this positive resonance, it will come as no surprise that the EBA Board decided to offer further EBA Academy trainings in 2025. The next training dates are available on our website and have been communicated to our membership; we are excited that we have already received a good number of registrations.
We will also continue to roll out our "Accredited Payments Expert" certification, which delegates can receive after successful completion of all EBA Academy modules and the accompanying multiple-choice test. Those eligible for the certification need at least three years of practical and relevant experience in payment products or on the operational side. We already certified the first experts in late 2024 and look forward to growing this number.
The EBA has also begun to offer the EBA Academy as an in-house training to banks, banking groups and other payment services providers. We have already successfully completed the first in-house training and contracted two more. Additional ones are to come, and we will offer such trainings also in French and German from 2025 onwards. If the demand arises, training offerings in Italian and Spanish may follow.
The long-term outlook
In a rapidly evolving professional landscape, continuous education is no longer optional, but essential. With the EBA Academy and the EBA Winter and Summer Schools, the EBA offers a unique combination of topical and 360° learning about payments.
We can envision offering follow-up courses for former EBA Academy participants, more specific certifications or flexible options for our EBA members and associate members. As a group of payment practitioners, it gives us at the EBA great pleasure in advancing the knowledge on European payments and being able to show our peers what an exciting part of transaction banking the world of payments really is.
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