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Confirmation of Payee

Reassurance and protection

Confirmation of Payee (CoP) helps reassure you that you’re sending money to the right account holder.

It's available for CHAPS and Faster Payments.

It also gives you an extra layer of protection against authorised push payment (APP) fraud.

It’s important to remember that a payment may still be suspicious or invalid – but CoP is an extra check designed to give you additional peace of mind.

You should always stop and think before ignoring a Confirmation of Payee response. Contact your branch as soon as possible if you think you’ve been a victim of fraud.

How does it work?

When you send money

When you set up a new payee (the person or business you are paying money to), or update their existing details, CoP compares the details you’ve entered to those that their bank holds for them. This is to help you decide if the account belongs to the person or business you intend to pay. This happens before you send the payment.

You enter their:

  • Account number
  • Sort code
  • Account name

Their bank then checks these and gives you one of four outcomes:

A match

The account name you’ve entered matches the payee's name. You can be confident about making the payment to them.

No match

The account name you’ve entered doesn't match the payee's name so it’s possible that the payment request is fraudulent. You won’t be able to see the actual name on the non-matched account, so you should carefully double-check the details, otherwise your money could be sent to the wrong person.

A close match

The account name you’ve entered is close to the payee's name, which you’ll get to see. If you’re comfortable you’ve got the right person, double-check the details before sending any payment.

Always stop and think before ignoring a Confirmation of Payee response.

Unable to check the account

Sometimes the name on the account you're sending money to can't be checked. This may be temporary or it could be that the payee has opted out of the Confirmation of Payee service. Before you continue with the payment, check the account name and details are correct, particularly if you’ve been asked to pay an amended or new account.

When someone sends you money

When you’re the payee, we provide your details to the payer’s bank. It’s important that whoever is paying you has the correct account number, sort code and name. 

For sole Individual accounts, this will be your full name (first name and surname); for joint accounts this is the full name of any or all account holders, and for Corporate accounts, you'll need the full name of the business. 

Although you can include titles, it's not a requirement, and it can also result in a ‘negative match’.

You can opt out of CoP by asking your branch, but we'll only agree to this in exceptional circumstances. If you do opt out, you can opt back in at any time.

Sort codes

Individual banking customers should use 60-95-34

Corporate banking customers should use 40-51-62

Some things to remember

  • A check is only carried out whenever you set up a new payee, or amend an existing payee’s details, not for the transactions you make after that. 
  • CoP doesn’t apply to debit or charge card payments, or to Direct Debits.
  • For joint accounts, you only need to provide the name of one of the account holders. You can include all account holder names if you like, and the order that a name appears on a joint account won't affect the matching response.
  • Checks are carried out for business accounts in the same way as personal accounts.
  • If you make a payment to the wrong payee, contact your branch. They may be able to help you recover it.

For more advice on ways to spot and protect yourself against fraud, visit:

Get Safe Online Opens in a new window

Take Five - To Stop Fraud Opens in a new window