Confirmation of Payee (CoP) provides a layer of assurance that allows clients to verify the
name, sort code, and account number on an account before initiating a payment or
setting up a payment instruction. By offering direct access to the UK's regulated
Confirmation of Payee network via API, the service provides real-time verification for both
personal and business accounts.
Benefits
Improves operational efficiency
Lowers the operational costs and administrative burden of manually onboarding suppliers, investigating bounced payments, and managing failed Direct Debit setups.
Mitigates fraud risk
By validating the account owner in real-time, Confirmation of Payee systematically intercepts malicious transactions, drastically cutting exposure to APP (Authorised Push Payment) fraud and supplier impersonation by ensuring you are paying the correct entity.
Broader market reach
By validating against live bank ledgers, it can successfully verify consumers and businesses that might be invisible to traditional credit bureau searches.
Key Features
Returns specific match responses (Full Match, Close Match, No Match, or Unable to verify) alongside detailed reason codes and textual explanations.
Validates business accounts using either the registered legal name or a trading name, personal accounts (including handling common name contractions) and joint accounts.
Supports building society roll numbers and credit union references.
Can be integrated via a real-time synchronous API or utilised for high-volume batch file uploads.
Use Cases
This product is for businesses that need to:
Conduct Payer Name Verification before setting up a new Direct Debit mandate to reduce rejection rates and prevent costly indemnity claims.
Validate business bank details during supplier onboarding, or when bank detail changes are requested, to stop invoice redirection fraud and ensure funds go to intended recipients.