nexustandards.com/finance · 2 taught
Finance, Insurance and the Economy
NRS-M8 Financial risk; NRS-T15 Distributed ledgers and digital assets risk
2standards1discipline
Illustrative: a chain of blocks each linked by hash to the one before, with a Merkle tree under the newest
Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Finance and Economics · Department of Financial Markets and Investment
Payment systems, clearing, central counterparties, settlement, digital assets and regtech
Payments, market infrastructure and fintech
Payments, market infrastructure and fintech covers the systems that move money and securities, such as payment systems, clearing houses, central counterparties and settlement systems, and the fintech services built on them, including digital assets, open finance and regtech, with their operational, liquidity, cyber and concentration risk.
- Courses
- In preparation
- Levels
- In development
- Labs
- In development
- Retail and wholesale payments
- Clearing and settlement
- Central counterparties
- Cross-border payments
- Digital assets and tokenisation
- Open finance
- Fintech operational risk
- Regtech and supervision
Courses in development extend the scope to further subjects: Payments and market infrastructure risk; Digital assets and fintech risk; Distributed ledgers and tokenisation.
02Maps
Build a twin of any place
Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow payments, market infrastructure and fintech on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.
Finance and EconomicsAny placeTwin builder
- Terrain 0 to 66 m
- 30 power plants, 11,875 MW
- 7 refineries and chemical works
- 2 port land
- 29 named works
- 154 named industrial sites
- Surface water extent, OPERA DSWx (HLS): read live when the 3D twin opens
- Built-up and settlement extent, HBASE 2010: read live when the 3D twin opens
Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.
2 live layers, checked 17 Oct 2026Date: newest
Places4
Layers5
iCredits
- Terrain Surface height in whole metres on a grid of about 320 by 370 metres, read from one overview of the 30 m product at build time; the plain lies between sea level and about 66 m. Produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010–2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014–2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. read 2026-10-17. Estimate: A digital surface model: trees and roofs are in the heights. Relief exaggeration is printed on the stage.
- Power plants The 30 plants inside the box with nameplate capacity in MW and primary fuel, from the 2021 release, drawn as columns by capacity: the portfolio's assets. Power plants: Global Power Plant Database v1.3.0 (2021), World Resources Institute and partners, CC BY 4.0. release 1.3.0, 2021-06-02. Estimate: A 2021 snapshot, never current operating status; capacity is nameplate.
- Refineries, terminals and industrial sites Named refineries, chemical works, terminals, port land and industrial sites, each as one point with its tags as mapped. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. data as of 2026-05-31. Estimate: Points as mapped; no asset value, ownership or operating status is implied.
- Surface water extent, OPERA DSWx (HLS) Open and partial surface water on the date shown, draped on the terrain around the assets. OPERA Dynamic Surface Water Extent from HLS, NASA JPL OPERA (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data; USGS Landsat), via NASA GIBS, with the product date. Live: this page requests gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov when the layer is opened; the data date is printed with it. We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Estimate: A classification from optical imagery; clouds leave gaps; never a flood warning, a return-period hazard or a risk rating.
- Built-up and settlement extent, HBASE 2010 Built-up extent in 2010 from Landsat as the exposure footprint around the assets. CIESIN, Columbia University, and NASA SEDAC: Global Human Built-up And Settlement Extent (HBASE) 2010. Live: this page requests gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov when the layer is opened; the data date is printed with it. We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Estimate: A 2010 classification; the year is printed.
Why this place: One box of about 77 by 66 kilometres holds the petrochemical complex of the Houston Ship Channel, Galveston Bay's refineries and terminals, and a city whose insured losses from Hurricane Harvey (2017) and the February 2021 freeze are the standard cases for catastrophe accumulation, protection gaps and the pricing of flood and power-outage risk. Data quality: the Global Power Plant Database lists the region's 30 plants with capacity and fuel, OpenStreetMap maps 192 refineries, terminals, works and industrial sites, Copernicus DEM GLO-30 covers the low relief, and OPERA surface-water detection and HBASE built-up extent load live from NASA GIBS. It connects to the Insurance, reinsurance and protection gaps, Disaster risk finance, Actuarial science, Climate and nature financial risk, Market, liquidity and treasury risk and Public finance and sovereign debt disciplines of the atlas.
Flat plan of the same data: relief as contours from the inline grid, the plants by capacity, the industrial points by kind and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked.
The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).
03Live map
Connected activity in Middle East and North Africa
Night-time lights and population density, the footprint of electrified, connected activity, over Middle East and North Africa.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 2
Connected activity
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Connected activity, framed on Middle East and North Africa.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Optional layers (3 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
04The subject
The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies
The field and its scope
For staff of payment systems, clearing houses, banks, fintech firms and their overseers who need to understand the risks in the infrastructure that moves money and securities.
Quantities and units
Methods and their limits
Each method is listed with what it assumes and where it fails.
What the field debates
Bodies that set practice, and the data they publish
Bodies and standards are named so learners can find and apply their published work; the Academy teaches their use and links to the publisher, and no affiliation is implied.
05The method
From price volatility to a default fund: how a central counterparty sizes its protection
A central counterparty collects initial margin sized to price volatility over the time it needs to close out a defaulter; losses beyond margin under extreme but plausible stress are met by a default fund sized to the two largest members.
Sources: CPSS and IOSCO, Principles for financial market infrastructures (2012); Duffie and Zhu, Does a central clearing counterparty reduce counterparty risk? (2011).
06At a glance
At a glance, standards and evidence, research and evidence, what is changing and learning
Payments, market infrastructure and fintech at a glance
risksacademy.comfinance-economicsdiscipline
- Open, 0
- In preparation, 2
- Subtopics, 8
Nexus Standards it teaches and relies on
The Nexus Standards the discipline teaches toward, grouped by master standard, with the disciplines that teach each.
nexustandards.com/digital-ai · 1 taught
Digital, Cyber and AI
NRS-H110 Distributed ledgers and digital assets
1standard1discipline
Nexus Standards at the AcademyThe Academy proposes how each discipline teaches toward the Nexus Standards; the mapping is open for public review.
Research and tools
Research and preprints as they are published, by discipline, with the faculty's other tools.
The hub lists the newest research and preprints for Payments, market infrastructure and fintech, each with its source and date. Open the research hub
What is changing now
Recent developments in payments, market infrastructure and fintech, each with its source; sources checked on 16 October 2026.
Courses in this discipline
Courses for this discipline are in development; until they open, study it through the connected courses and open lessons below.
The course catalogue lists every open course of the Academy.
07Console
How Payments, market infrastructure and fintech is taught, as a process you can run
Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.
08Practice
Practice, learning and connections
How technology helps and what risk it brings
Achievements in this discipline
Course achievements
One for each course with this as its primary discipline, earned when you pass the course's assessed activities.
Department: Financial Markets and Investment
Earn two discipline achievements in the Department of Financial Markets and Investment. In development.
An achievement is a record of the learning completed and assessed here. How recognition works.
Where the subject is practised
The three Foundry systems where it is practised
- FoundryNXS-RLS systemGoverned exchanges with receiptsHandoffs room
- NXS-NSF systemAuthorisation and assurance of payment servicesAssurance room
- NXS-NET systemPayment infrastructure depends on connectivity
Foundry system pages describe what each system and its rooms are designed to do; the courses teach the methods these systems apply.
Across the ecosystem
09Take part
Take part in Finance and Economics
Start from who you are.
10References
Core references and where to begin
Start with Kahn, then Committee on Payment, then Duffie.
11Questions
Questions, answers and key terms
Is study here free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the courses in payments, market infrastructure and fintech?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.
Key terms
Term
Financial market infrastructure
A system for clearing, settling or recording payments, securities or derivatives.
Term
Central counterparty
An entity that stands between the two sides of a trade and guarantees its completion.
Term
Settlement finality
The point at which a transfer becomes irrevocable.
Term
Tokenisation
Representing an asset or claim as a digital token on a ledger.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
Risk Academy
Related
Around Payments, market infrastructure and fintech
Payments, market infrastructure and fintech
Prepare with a related course
Open courses in connected disciplines teach the methods this discipline will build on.