UK Banking
Confirmation of Payee
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is a name-checking service for UK bank transfers. Before a payment is sent, CoP verifies that the recipient's name matches the account details (sort code and account number) provided by the payer. It was introduced to reduce accidental misdirected payments and authorized push payment (APP) fraud.
When you set up a new payee in your banking app, your bank sends the name, sort code, and account number to the receiving bank via the CoP system operated by Pay.UK. The receiving bank checks the name against its records and returns one of three results: a match, a close match (with the correct name shown), or a no match. If the name does not match, you receive a warning before confirming the payment. CoP works across both Faster Payments and CHAPS.
Before CoP, there was no way to verify that the account details you entered actually belonged to the person you intended to pay. Billions of pounds were lost annually to misdirected payments and fraud. CoP adds a critical verification layer that catches errors and scam attempts before money leaves your account, making UK payments significantly safer.
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