What is the Confirmation of Payee Initiative and Why Should You Care?

Fraud and Financial Crime

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Germaine Lang

Feb 19, 2020

In the latest episode of The Payments Podcast, host Rich Williams is joined by fraud specialists Jack Gianella and Julien Laurent to discuss U.K. business payments and how the Confirmation of Payee initiative plays its role in the fight against fraud.

Payment fraud continues to be on the rise. In fact, in a recent survey from Strategic Treasurer, 53% of respondents stated that their organizations have experienced a fraudulent attack in the last 12 months. Payment Diversion tops the list of the types of fraudulent activity most often experienced. Payment Diversion occurs when fraudsters supply fraudulent bank account details, payments instructions or banking communications in order to divert funds.

From left to right: Jack Gianella, Market Development Executive and Julien Laurent, Market Development Manager for Fraud Solutions

Just What Is Confirmation of Payee?

Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is a new service in the U.K. that is an account name checking service to help businesses make payments more accurately and securely. One way CoP does this is by verifying the match between a bank account owner, their corresponding sort code and account number. Until CoP rolled out there was no formal system in place to ensure funds were going to the right recipient.

CoP is currently being adopted by many banks and financial institutions in the U.K. as a way to give customers greater assurance that their payments are getting to the intended recipient. It will help address many types of Payment Diversion fraud, including widespread Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. APP occurs when a fraudster convinces a payer to change the payment recipient.

Join Rich, Jack and Julien for a lively discussion about real examples of payment fraud, the Confirmation of Payee initiative and why it’s such an important step in fighting payment fraud. Listen to the full podcast, Know Who You Pay – Confirmation of Payee and Beyond! to learn how your organization can benefit from Confirmation or Payee.

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Germaine Lang

Germaine Lang is the Managing Editor of SmartPayments with a strong creative and technical writing background across many industries. She also works to engage customers and relate their experiences with vendor products and services, positioning them as innovative thought leaders.
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