Gartner defines a payment hub as a flexible platform that enables financial institutions to centrally process their incoming and outgoing payments. Payment hubs are deployed on-premises or in the cloud, either as software as a service (SaaS) or payments as a service (PaaS). They are divided into three sections: an input layer, which accepts the request and performs basic validation; a processing layer, where the payment is processed (including reachability checks, routing of payment, duplicate payment checking and so on); and an output layer, where outgoing payment messages are formatted and sent to the central settlement authority. A payment hub provides payment processing for financial institutions, such as banks or credit unions. It centralizes payment processing, which ensures consistency, and allows adherence to payment regulations. It allows financial institutions to support the different payment message formats that are used by the central settlement authorities they are connected to. This makes it easier for financial institutions to amend payment scheme formats to meet periodic scheme updates.