Real-Time Payments (RTP) & Open Banking: Technical Architecture and Why Vietnam Is a Strong Engineering Hub

The era of batch processing and siloed financial data is over. Two powerful, synergistic forces - Real-Time Payments (RTP) and Open Banking - are fundamentally reshaping the global financial landscape. This is not merely an incremental upgrade; it is a paradigm shift demanding a new architectural vision. For financial institutions and FinTech innovators, the challenge is no longer about whether to adapt, but how to build the robust, secure, and scalable infrastructure required to compete and win - from core banking integration, digital payment solutions, mobile banking, e-wallets, and digital wallet development to advanced fintech development services and payment gateway integration for fintech apps.
This analysis provides a strategic overview of the core architectural components and makes a compelling business case for leveraging Vietnam's world-class engineering talent as the engine for this transformation.

Success in this new ecosystem hinges on a deep understanding of the underlying technologies. While RTP provides the velocity of transactions, Open Banking provides the data-rich context that unlocks true innovation - including digital lending / cash-flow management, buy now pay later (BNPL) system, international remittance, wealth management software, robot advisor development, and AI-powered financial advisory tools.

Real-Time Payments: The Central Nervous System of Modern Commerce

RTP networks are the new standard for payment rails, facilitating 24/7/365, instant clearing and settlement. The global value of real-time payment transactions is projected to surge from $27.8 trillion in 2024 to an astonishing $87.3 trillion by 2028 (Statista, 2024). This explosive growth underscores the urgency for architectural modernization. Key pillars include:

• ISO 20022 as the Lingua Franca: The adoption of the ISO 20022 messaging standard is non-negotiable. Its data-rich format is the key that unlocks automated reconciliation and enhanced fraud detection. By 2025, it is expected that ISO 20022 will be the universal standard for high-value payment systems in all reserve currency zones, supporting over 80% of transaction volumes globally (McKinsey & Company, 2022).
• Modernized Core Infrastructure: Legacy core banking systems are the primary bottleneck. A successful RTP implementation requires either a core transformation or the deployment of a modern payment hub with seamless core banking integration and API integration for wealth management platforms. For instance, TMA Solutions recently partnered with a leading Australian payments company to develop a comprehensive BNPL system, enabling customers to pay in four equal monthly installments. This project involved building administrator and merchant web portals, mobile and web applications, and APIs for seamless merchant integration, resulting in faster transaction processing and enhanced user adoption across retail channels.
• Liquidity Management and Irrevocability: RTP transactions are final and irrevocable. This necessitates sophisticated, real-time liquidity monitoring and cash flow management system for fintech to ensure settlement obligations can be met at any second of the day.

International clearing and settlement systems, post-trade processing in capital markets are increasingly migrating to real-time rails powered by ISO 20022. TMA Solutions exemplified this in a collaboration with a global capital markets firm, modernizing post-trade operations to achieve full regulatory compliance, automate reconciliation processes, and enable real-time settlement-reducing operational costs by up to 30% while scaling to handle high-volume transactions.

Open Banking: From Data Silos to Collaborative Platforms

Open Banking mandates a shift from a closed model to an open, API-driven platform. The number of Open Banking users worldwide is forecast to grow to over 132.2 million, a more than five-fold increase from 2020, demonstrating massive user adoption (Statista, 2021). This requires a fundamental rethinking of how banks manage data, security, and third-party relationships - enabling mobile payment solutions, digital banking services, Web3 fintech platform, and even blockchain financial solutions such as letter of guarantee using blockchain.

• An API-First Security Framework: The architecture must be built around a robust API gateway and Agentic API AI. Protocols like OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect (OIDC), and Financial-grade API (FAPI) are the bedrock of trust, ensuring granular, consent-based access to customer data. TMA Solutions' expertise in this area shines through its development of secure API layers for digital banking platforms, supporting features like account aggregation and personalized financial insights while maintaining compliance with global standards.
• Consent Lifecycle Management: A critical architectural component is the Consent Management Platform. This system must provide a seamless user experience for granting, reviewing, and revoking consent, while creating an immutable audit trail for regulatory compliance.
• Scalable, Resilient Infrastructure: Exposing core banking functions via APIs introduces new performance challenges. The underlying infrastructure must be built on modern principles, such as microservices and containerization (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes), and AI-powered automation to ensure high availability and elastic scalability. As part of its Open Banking services, TMA Solutions has delivered end-to-end digital bank solutions for clients in Australia and Europe, incorporating real-time transaction processing, international remittance modules, and AI-driven fraud detection-empowering faster, safer financial services with 99.9% uptime.

Architecting these complex systems is only half the battle. Executing the vision requires a deep reservoir of world-class engineering talent. Increasingly, global technology leaders are finding this combination in Vietnam.

Vietnam has firmly established itself as a leading global technology hub, particularly in financial software outsourcing and fintech development services, ranking as the second-largest software outsourcing destination in Southeast Asia (Forbes, 2023).

• A Critical Mass of Specialized Talent: Vietnam's focused investment in STEM education has created a vast and growing pool of IT professionals. The country has a young, tech-savvy population, with over 57,000 students graduating with IT-related degrees each year, providing a sustainable pipeline of talent (Vietnamnet, 2023). Many of these graduates contribute to TMA Solutions' dedicated FinTech Center, comprising over 600 engineers specializing in digital payment solutions, core banking integration, blockchain financial solutions, AI-powered financial advisory tools, and robo advisor development.
• High-Impact Economics & Velocity: The economic advantage of partnering with Vietnamese engineering teams is undeniable. The strategic value, however, extends beyond cost savings. It enables companies to build larger, more dedicated teams, accelerating development velocity-a critical advantage in the fast-moving FinTech space. For example, TMA's scalable teams have accelerated time-to-market for clients' RTP and Open Banking initiatives by 40%, as seen in their delivery of Web3-enabled payment gateways and NFT marketplace integrations for fintech platforms.
• A Culture of Engineering Excellence: The Vietnamese engineering culture is characterized by a rigorous work ethic and a commitment to quality. This, combined with a stable political environment and strong government support for the digital economy, creates a low-risk, high-reward environment for mission-critical technology development. TMA Solutions leverages this to offer comprehensive services like fintech R&D using blockchain and Web3, digital lending, automated trading, and capital market solutions, trusted by leading firms in Australia, Europe, and Asia.

In the new financial ecosystem, your competitive advantage will be determined by the quality and agility of your technology. Visionary architecture is essential, but flawless execution is what delivers results.

At TMA Solutions, we bridge the gap between strategy and execution. With over 27 years of experience in delivering complex software solutions for global clients, we combine deep architectural expertise with the power of our world-class engineering centers in Vietnam. Our FinTech Center specializes in end-to-end fintech development services, from core banking integration, payment gateway integration, digital banking services, eWallet development for multi-currency and multilingual use, to cutting-edge Web3 fintech platforms and NFT marketplace development for fintech. We also provide specialized services in real-time payment orchestration, Open Banking API ecosystems, and AI-enhanced compliance tools, drawing from proven implementations like our BNPL payment system for Australian merchants and post-trade modernization for capital markets leaders.

We don't just write code; we build secure, scalable, and resilient financial systems that drive business outcomes-such as reducing processing times by 90% in logistics-integrated payment flows or automating document processing with Azure AI for fraud prevention.

The convergence of Real-Time Payments and Open Banking is no longer a future trend - it is the present reality of global finance. By 2028, real-time transaction volumes will exceed $87 trillion, and over 132 million consumers will actively use Open Banking services. Financial institutions that fail to modernize their payment rails, expose secure APIs, and adopt ISO 20022-native, cloud-ready architectures will simply be left behind.

With a dedicated FinTech Center of more than 600 specialized engineers, 27+ years of delivering mission-critical financial systems for banks, payment providers, and capital markets firms worldwide, and a track record that includes end-to-end BNPL platforms, digital banking services, core banking integration, Web3 fintech platforms, international remittance systems, robo-advisor solutions, and real-time post-trade processing modernization, TMA Solutions is uniquely positioned to turn architectural vision into production-grade reality - faster, more securely, and more cost-effectively than anyone else.

Take the next step today. Contact TMA Solutions and let our FinTech architects show you how to lead - not follow - in the new financial ecosystem.