In just 18 days the UK’s Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service should have been introduced by the banks who received a Direction from the Payments System Regulator (plus a few other banks that have voluntarily joined the service).
Confirmation of Payee is a name checking service that helps protect consumers and businesses from certain types of fraud and misdirected payments by letting them know if the account name they have entered matches the account name of the recipient.
The Confirmation of Payee service is intended to give businesses and consumers greater assurance that they are sending payments to the intended recipient.
Whilst not a silver bullet, the implementation of Confirmation of Payee is expected be an effective way of combatting Authorised Push Payment Scams (e.g. where a fraudster tricks their victims into willingly making a large bank transfer to them).
Confirmation of Payee will also help to avoid payments being sent to the wrong account due to ‘fat fingers’ (keyboard errors) when we type in somebody’s Sort Code and Account Number.
Find out more at: Northey Point | Confirmation of Payee Explained.
Next week the ‘Payments, Payments, Payments’ newsletter will feature a piece on the introduction of Confirmation of Payee and I’d value your input via this thread.
If you have already used the Confirmation of Payee service to set up a new payment beneficiary or have had to provide your exact banking details to someone so that they could pay you – what was your experience?
Was your first experience of Confirmation of Payee just a bit of acceptable payment friction that helps reduce fraud or did it delay your payment?
Has your bank communicated well with you or do you still have questions about the service?
What top Confirmation of Payee tips would you offer your fellow payment professionals?