Confirmation of Payee
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is a name validation service that helps avoid payments being accidentally misdirected. It confirms if the name on the person’s or business’s account matches the person or business you intend to pay. It applies when you’re setting up a new payment. Confirmation of Payee also allows a person or business to check when they’re sending money that the name and type of account (Personal or Business) match the details held for that account.
No – you can still send payments even if you’re warned that your payee’s details don’t match. But please be aware that if you decide to continue with the payment without checking the payee’s details, we may not be able to recover the money you sent if it goes to the wrong person.
No payments will be made automatically. Even when the name matches, you will always be required to confirm that you want to proceed with the payment.
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) also applies when you’re receiving a payment. Make sure you provide the full name you have registered on your bank account to receive payments easily
When setting up a new payment, a payment services provider (PSP) will be able to check the name, sort code, account number.
(Please note, confirmation of payee service is currently available on our iMobile App (available on App store and Play store, this service is currently not available for payee added through internet banking using web browser)
There are four possible outcomes:
Verified – If the customer has used the correct account name, they will receive confirmation that the details match, and can proceed with the payment.
Partial match – If the customer had used a similar name to the account holder, they will be provided with the actual name of the account holder to check. They can update the details and try again, or contact the intended recipient to check the details.
False match – If they have entered the wrong name for the account holder they will be told that the details do not match and advised to contact the person or organisation they are trying to pay.
Unavailable – This occurs when it is not possible to check the name, for example as a result of timeout, customer opt-out or if the account doesn’t exist.
The Confirmation of Payee check should only take a few seconds, but the processing time may vary between different beneficiary banks or building societies.
We’ll never stop a payment being made just because of a Confirmation of Payee response. You can make a payment regardless of the Confirmation of Payee response you receive. If you decide to proceed with a payment that didn’t return a ‘Full match’, you’ll be at risk of sending the payment to the wrong account and we may be unable to recover the money.
This service will help reduce misdirected payments and provide greater assurance to the customers that payments are being sent, and collected from, the intended account holder for UK domestic payments. In particular, it addresses certain types of authorised push payment (APP) fraud by providing a platform for PSPs to provide effective warnings to payers about the risks associated with progressing with a payment to an account where the name does not match
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