A process for efficiently storing and accessing data for a payment system is described. An association is created between a payment system participant and a hierarchy node associated with a hierarchy. An association is created between a payment system data element and each node in the hierarchy. The hierarchy is stored in a first database and the second data elements are stored in a second database. A request for information is accepted from a payment system participant. The hierarchy is retrieved from the first database. The second database is traversed to obtain a set of data elements including all of the data elements located at memory locations associated with each node in a portion of the hierarchy. The set of data elements is provided in response to the request. The portion of the hierarchy traversed to obtain the data elements consists of all nodes subordinate to the hierarchy node.
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