diff --git a/.forge/BAIS-CI-1783819034-attempt-3.md b/.forge/BAIS-CI-1783819034-attempt-3.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b747ce9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.forge/BAIS-CI-1783819034-attempt-3.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# BAIS-CI-1783819034-attempt-3
+
+Forge 이슈 작업 브랜치 `forge/BAIS-CI-1783819034-attempt-3`.
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..032132d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
+         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+    <parent>
+        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
+        <version>3.5.14</version>
+    </parent>
+
+    <groupId>com.klaro.bais</groupId>
+    <artifactId>bais-platform</artifactId>
+    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <packaging>pom</packaging>
+
+    <modules>
+        <module>services/payments</module>
+    </modules>
+</project>
diff --git a/services/payments/pom.xml b/services/payments/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..730f6a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/payments/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
+         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+    <parent>
+        <groupId>com.klaro.bais</groupId>
+        <artifactId>bais-platform</artifactId>
+        <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <relativePath>../../pom.xml</relativePath>
+    </parent>
+
+    <artifactId>payments</artifactId>
+    <dependencies>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
+            <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
+            <version>3.18.0</version>
+        </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
+</project>
diff --git a/services/payments/src/main/java/com/klaro/bais/payments/PaymentReferenceService.java b/services/payments/src/main/java/com/klaro/bais/payments/PaymentReferenceService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..159a78d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/payments/src/main/java/com/klaro/bais/payments/PaymentReferenceService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+package com.klaro.bais.payments;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+
+public class PaymentReferenceService {
+    public String normalize(String input) {
+        return StringUtils.trimToEmpty(input);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/services/payments/src/test/java/com/klaro/bais/payments/PaymentReferenceServiceTest.java b/services/payments/src/test/java/com/klaro/bais/payments/PaymentReferenceServiceTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..251a720
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/payments/src/test/java/com/klaro/bais/payments/PaymentReferenceServiceTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+class PaymentReferenceServiceTest {
+    private final PaymentReferenceService service = new PaymentReferenceService();
+
+    @Test
+    void testNormalize_NullString() {
+        assertEquals(""); // null should be normalized to empty string
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testNormalize_EmptyString() {
+        assertEquals(""); // empty string should remain empty
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testNormalize_ValidString() {
+        String input = "  some text  ";
+        assertEquals("some text", service.normalize(input)); // should trim spaces
+    }
+}