What is Confirmation of Payee?
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is an industry-wide response in the UK to reduce financial losses from the fast-growing incidents of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. Authorised Push Payment scams occur when fraudsters trick you into sending a payment to a bank account they control.
It provides payers with greater assurance that payments are sent to the correct company/person. It also acts as an account name checking service that helps avoid accidental payments being made in error to incorrect beneficiaries. CoP introduces a new layer of payment protection with effective warnings about the risks of sending payments to any ‘non-verified’ payee account, resulting in the end-user being less likely to pay the wrong account holder. This can reduce financial liabilities, APP fraud losses, incorrect or fraudulent payments — helping to protect the trust and reputation of an organisation.
The service initially covers payments made to/from all GBP sort code and account number transactional accounts in the UK. This is being expanded to other account types, including ones that require secondary reference data to identify the unique person and/or business (e.g. ISAs, HOCA accts, Credit Cards).
Bottomline’s SaaS-based, API driven solution is agnostic to the payment scheme used. And with Bottomline’s Open Banking credentials, it’s fast to switch on and can be offered as an overlay service to the following payment types on new and modified payees:
- Faster Payments (mandatory, if CoP subscriber)
- CHAPS (mandatory, if CoP subscriber)
We’ll help you with your onboarding to the CoP service by providing a sandbox, so that you can develop the challenge screen needed for the “Verified and within x%” response. A simple API call connects to the service.
Why Bottomline?
1. Leaders in payment automation
For over 30 years, we’ve been leaders in payment automation technology and innovation. Our customers enjoy a simplified view and management of payments across payment types, parties, and channels.
2. Trusted by over 3,000 clients
Internationally recognised vendors of Fraud and Financial Crime solutions. 3000+ banks, corporates and financial institutions entrust Bottomline to protect their payments to the last mile.
3. Superior customer experience
We believe that we can turn a regulatory requirement into a potential opportunity to offer a superior customer experience by providing peace of mind that you ‘Know Who You Pay.’
4. Wealth of experience
We have a wealth of experience in screening and matching solutions with an extensive background in helping customers with Sanction Screening and exceeding compliance regulations.
5. Various long-standing partners
We leverage our existing expertise and long-standing partnerships within the UK payment landscape to bring you additional levels of verification when needed.
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.
