
How does CoP protect against APP fraud and misdirected payments?
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is an industry-wide response to combat APP fraud in the UK and reduces the ways that fraudsters can dupe anyone into sending authorised payments into criminal accounts.
There are numerous ways we can be deceived into sending what we think is a genuine payment. For example, victims may receive a call from a fraudster, claiming to be from their bank, informing them that their account has been compromised and asking them to quickly transfer large sums of money, unbeknown to the victim, into the criminal’s account. Not just limited to calls, APP fraud can also take place via emails and social media.
CoP acts as a ‘Name Checking Service’, and allows the payer to check whether the name they’ve been provided matches the account number and sort code. This helps reduce APP fraud and payments from being accidentally sent to the wrong account due to human error.
Confirmation of Payee: All you need to know in less than two minutes
Hear Edward Ireland, our Senior Market Development Manager, discussing why complying with Confirmation of Payee is important and the benefits to your customers.

Confirmation of Payee: Peace of mind for corporate payments
Ideal for your business if you are making high-volume, high-value or high-risk transactions.

Awards

Aite Novarica Impact Award 2022
Bottomline is honoured to be the winner for the Aite Novarica Impact Awards Best Digital Identity Verification Innovation.

The Card and Payments award 2022
Bottomline is honoured to be the winner for Best Security or Anti-Fraud Development for our Confirmation of Payee solution.

Open Banking Expo Awards 2021
Bottomline is honoured to be the winner for Best Banking- as- a-Service Solution for our Confirmation of Payee solution.
Learn More
CoP Archived On-Demand webinars
How to stop APP fraud
The billion-pound question
Many are familiar with the alarming rise of APP fraud in the UK. With the latest official fraud statistics due to be published within the next few weeks, we've gathered a panel of industry experts to debate the issues and the expected interventions from the regulator in the industry this year.
APP Fraud and CoP
Building your Business Case for Confirmation of Payee
Hear from Bottomline, Pay.UK and Cashplus Bank discuss APP Fraud and the opening of phase 2 (July) of Confirmation of Payee and how to build the business case for your organisation.
How Bottomline Confirmation of Payee works
How we can help
Save time
Simple ‘switch on’ due to Open Banking credentials
Minimise hassle
Compatible with any payment scheme via our SaaS-based, API driven solution
Easy integration
Full on-boarding support with access to our sandbox
Future-proof
Multi-year roadmap to cover evolving phases and new functionality
Flexible and transparent
Pay-as-you-go model with no capex or compliance overhead


Our solution can be offered as an overlay service to the following payment types on new and modified payees:
Faster Payments (mandatory, if CoP subscriber)
CHAPS transfers (mandatory, if CoP subscriber)
Bacs Direct Debits and Direct Credits (optional at this stage)
FAQs
What are the rules for opting out?
There are no rules for Building Societies to opt-out. The most a Building Society can do is opt-out of outbound validations for their customers (if they can only send money to a nominated single, sometimes called a linked account).
Why has Confirmation of Payee been introduced?
In the UK, APP fraud accounted for losses totaling £479m in 2020 (Source: UK Finance), as payment scams increasingly moved online. However, only 25% of losses are ever recovered which highlights the urgency around implementing stronger preventative measures. CoP aims to minimise APP fraud and reduce the volume of payments that don’t reach the intended destination.
Why are you allowed to opt-out? Can you see which organisations have opted out?
Organisations can only opt-out if they prove they have no customers or have nominated/ linked accounts. Any opt-out requests must be submitted to Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) for consideration. A Bank, etc., cannot simply assume their opt-out status.
Are CoP checks done when the beneficiary is set up or every time a payment is made?
The rule is whenever a new beneficiary is set up. However, we see some Banks re-validating after a period of x days, but this is their choice and not in the rules.
How does CoP work with a generic sort code and account number where customers are required to quote a specific reference for their payment to reach the correct destination?
CoP uses Head Office Collections Account (HOCA), i.e., your central account and Secondary Reference Data (SDR). For Building Societies, this is a roll number. For Credit Cards, it is a PAN number, and for Mortgages, FX providers, etc., it may be a customer reference.
With ID&V checks - who gets checked? Non-Execs? Execs?
In short, whoever is registered at Companies House. This can vary by Bank, Building Society, etc. It’s worth validating/ double-checking that those noted have up-to-date details, as incorrect information has caused delays in some implementations.
How frequently do new accounts need to be added? How quickly do they appear?
We look for a daily file. Although, we have clients with more than one file per day. The intra-day RESTAPI takes 1.5 seconds to update.
Is it a given to have CoP if our organisation introduces Open Banking as a payment method?
In an Open Banking transaction, the customer consents to send a payment. This PISP (Payment Initiation Service Provider) payments are outside CoP requirements.
What complexities do we need to be aware of concerning the matching engine? Why use Bottomline and not build it ourselves?
Pay.UK issues a rule book for the matching engine. Anyone can build their solution provided they follow this rule book and get certified against the simulator. They will also need to consider hardware costs, response dates, system availability, etc., in any self-build. The other value is that the rulebook needs to be followed to the letter by all parties. Some of the earlier parties are not yet doing this, and the vendors in the market compensate for these differences - that said, any self-build solution could go through the same exploration as the vendors encountered.
Confirmation of Payee:
Building the business case for Confirmation of Payee
We have put together four drivers to consider when building out the business case for Confirmation of Payee within your organisation.

Payment Initiation Services (PIS) are provided by Bottomline Payment Services, who are authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Services Regulations for the provision of payment services with FCA registration number 616279.
UK banks and others can now enroll
LONDON, UK (12 April, 2021) – Bottomline (NASDAQ:EPAY), a leading provider of financial technology that makes business payments simple, smart and secure, today announced that LHV and The Access Bank UK Ltd have signed up to the business’ cloud-based Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service to help combat APP fraud.

Bottomline Scales Its Confirmation of Payee Service for UK Banks
Read the Press ReleaseGET IN TOUCH
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