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Confirmation of Payee: What the Bank Name Check Tells You and Why a “No Match” Should Make You Stop

When a new payee is set up in a UK banking app, the app may say the name entered matches the account, is a close match, or does not match. That is Confirmation of Payee, often shortened to CoP. It is a useful pause point in bank transfer scams, but it is not a guarantee that a payment is safe. This guide explains what the check does, what each result means, and how fraudsters try to get around it. It covers UK domestic payments only and is general information, not financial advice.

What Confirmation of Payee is

Pay.UK, which sits behind the service, describes CoP as an account name-checking service designed to help reduce misdirected payments, for UK domestic payments. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) explains that with CoP, banks can check the name on a new payee’s account as well as the sort code and account number. A customer setting up a new payee, or changing the details of an existing payee, can confirm that the name entered matches the one on the account they intend to pay. Alerts tell the payer whether there has been a match, a close match or no match, so corrections can be made before the payment is sent. The PSR says the service is designed to prevent misdirected payments and fraudulent ones.

What each result means

  • Match. Pay.UK says the customer has used the correct account name and can proceed with the payment.
  • Close match. The customer used a similar name to the account holder, and is shown the actual name of the account holder to check.
  • No match. The customer has entered the wrong name for the account holder, and is told that the details do not match and advised to contact the person or organisation they are trying to pay.

Which payments it covers

Pay.UK’s FAQs say the service covers domestic UK payments and applies to CHAPS, Faster Payments and Bacs. They also say CoP checks new payees that are set up and the amending of details for existing payments, so it does not check recipients already saved or standing orders that are already running. The PSR directed the largest banking groups to implement CoP from 2019 and later directed around 400 more firms to provide it. In a thought piece dated 31 October 2024, it reported that over 300 firms had adopted the service, that over 99 per cent of transactions through Faster Payments and CHAPS would benefit, and that more than 2.5 billion CoP checks had been completed since 2020.

What the check cannot do

Pay.UK’s FAQs are direct on this: CoP is “not a silver bullet to eradicate fraud”, and it does not guarantee reimbursement for fraudulent payments. Two limits stand out.

  • It matches a name, not an intention. A match shows that the name on the account is the one entered. It does not show that the person holding the account is honest, or that the account is not being used by a criminal.
  • It does not cover accounts outside its scope. The PSR has noted that fraudsters sometimes convince a victim that a “new” or “safe” account has been set up in a bank that does not generate a CoP warning.

The PSR’s 2021 statement adds that fraudsters have used techniques to psychologically manipulate victims into bypassing CoP warnings, while evidence indicated that CoP led customers to abandon potentially fraudulent transactions.

Warning signs that someone is trying to get past the check

  • A caller claiming to be from the bank or police says the account is unsafe and a payment must be made to a “safe account”.
  • A supplier or solicitor emails new bank details and the name does not match the business you know.

Impersonation of this kind is explained in the guide to bank, police and official impersonation, and the 159 number guide shows how to reach a bank safely. The same pattern of changed payment details appears in invoice and business email compromise fraud.

What to do on a close match or no match

  1. Stop before confirming. Do not treat the warning as a formality.
  2. Contact the person or organisation using contact details you already hold or find independently, not those in the message that asked for the payment.
  3. If a payment has been made in error or under pressure, contact your bank straight away.

If a scam payment has already been made

The PSR says that everyone making a payment via Faster Payments or CHAPS from one UK bank account to another is covered by its reimbursement requirement, subject to the conditions of the rules, with sending and receiving firms splitting the costs 50:50 and most APP fraud victims reimbursed within five business days, with additional protections for vulnerable customers. The PSR page on APP scams says the first step for a victim is to contact their bank, building society or other financial organisation; if unhappy with the response, they can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The bank transfer scams guide covers the reimbursement rules in detail, and the guide to where to report a scam lists the reporting routes.

The bottom line

Confirmation of Payee is a real safeguard: the PSR reported in October 2024 that over 99 per cent of Faster Payments and CHAPS transactions benefit from it, and it says the check leads people to abandon suspect payments. But it checks a name against an account, not a person’s honesty. A “no match” or “close match” should be treated as a reason to stop and verify independently, and no caller should ever be able to talk a customer out of heeding it.

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