What is Confirmation of Payee (CoP)?
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is a name-checking service in the UK that UK Finance introduced to tackle fraud. This service gives the payer greater confidence that their money is going to the right place.
When you set up a new UK-based beneficiary from Ebury Online, we check the name on the account of the person or organisation you intend to pay against the details you've provided. If there's a discrepancy, we will caution you. This robust process helps prevent misdirected payments and combat certain types of payment fraud, such as authorised push payment (APP) scams.
CoP is a step toward improving payment safety, as financial institutions try to ensure that customers have the necessary information to avoid sending payments to the wrong account, whether by mistake or due to fraudulent activity.
How does Ebury help you avoid fraudulent transactions when making payouts to the beneficiaries in the UK?
Ebury has integrated the Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service to enhance the security of your transactions by allowing you to verify the beneficiary's name against their bank account details.
When you create a new beneficiary, we will complete the Confirmation of Payee (CoP) check, and a message will appear at the top of the page. This process can return one of four outcomes:
Match: If the account name you provided correctly corresponds with the records, you will receive confirmation that the details align, and you can securely proceed with the transaction.
Close Match: If the name entered is similar to the account holder's name, you will be shown the actual name of the account holder to verify. You can then correct the information and attempt verification again, or reach out to the payee to confirm their details.
No Match: If the wrong account holder's name was provided, you will be notified that there is no match. In this case, you are advised to get in touch with the intended payee to obtain the correct details.
Unavailable: This result occurs if the name cannot be checked, such as when the account doesn’t exist.
Opt in/out of Confirmation of Payee
You cannot opt out of CoP when making payments to others, but you can request that your Ebury collection account details not be verified when other individuals attempt to pay you. In such cases, they will be notified that your details cannot be checked.
CoP is used to ensure that your payment is not mistakenly sent to the wrong account, and it also provides protection against fraud. If you still wish to opt out, please complete and return the CoP Opt-out form to us by email at operationsteam@ebury.com. We will respond within 30 days.
If you have previously requested that your details not be verified when receiving payments, you can choose to opt back in. To do so, please complete and return the CoP opt-in form to us by email.
Please note that not all accounts are eligible to opt out; if you are eligible, we will inform you.
Need help?
For any questions, please contact Ebury support directly via live chat or at the below email addresses:
EMEA (operationsteam@ebury.com)
Asia Pacific (operationsteam.apac@ebury.com)
America (operationsteam.ca@ebury.com)