Confirmation of Payee is an additional security feature to provide greater assurance that you’re sending payments and standing orders to the correct person or business. The service also helps you to avoid making accidental, misdirected payments to the wrong account holder, providing another layer of protection against ‘authorised push payment’ scams, where a fraudster tricks you into authorising a payment to an account which isn’t legitimate. A ‘payee’ is the term used to describe the person or business that you, as the ‘payer’, are paying money to.
Confirmation of Payee
Making your payments more secure
How does it work?
Confirmation of Payee adds protection before a new payment or standing order is made. When a new payee is set up, or their existing details are amended, the service verifies that the account belongs to the person or business the payer intends to pay. This is done before the payment is made to allow the bank to check if the name supplied matches the one held for that account.
Payments you receive
When a payer initiates a payment to you, we have to provide your details to the payer’s bank, so that they can be confident it will reach you. We do this using secure technology. It’s important that whoever is paying you has the correct information for you, specifically your account number, sort code and name. For sole Individual accounts, this will be your full name, 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. It's not a requirement, but customers can include titles, although some banks may not allow them and this may result in what's called a "negative match" and the payer may then choose not to proceed with the payment to you.
Sort codes
Individual banking customers should use 60-95-34
Corporate banking customers should use 40-51-62
If you have any concerns please check with your local branch or Handelsbanken Customer Connect on 0800 470 8000.
Payments you make
As we'll be making the service available over the coming months in phases, we want to share how this will work and what you can expect.
When you set up a new payment or standing order, or amend existing information, the payee’s details are checked against the details on their account.
- You enter the details of the person or business you are sending a payment to
- A request is sent to their bank to make sure the information you’ve included matches their account
- Confirmation comes back immediately and there are four possible outcomes:
A match
The account name you’ve entered matches the payee's name. You can go ahead and make the payment.
No match
The account name you’ve entered doesn't match the payee's name. At this stage, it’s possible that the payment is being requested for fraudulent purposes. As you won’t be able to see the name on the non-matched bank account, you should 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. You'll see details of the account you're paying to help you decide whether it's the right person. You will be able to accept the name that’s shown, if you’re comfortable that it’s the correct recipient. 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's bank isn't using the Confirmation of Payee service. Before you continue with the payment, check the account name and details are correct, particularly if you have been asked to pay an amended or new account.
Some points to remember
- A check is carried out whenever you set up a new payee, or amend an existing payee’s details, not for the transactions you make.
- Confirmation of Payee does not apply to payments you make with your debit or charge card, or to Direct Debits.
- The service covers domestic payments only, not inbound or outbound international payments.
- For joint accounts, you only need to provide a single account holder's name that’s registered to the account, but you can include all account holder names if preferred. 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 place or by accident, contact your branch who may be able to help you recover the payment.
- The matching decision is always made by the intended recipient’s bank, as it has the best knowledge about the name of the person or business being checked.
- Whatever the outcome of the name check, as the payer, the decision on whether to proceed with a payment rests with you. You should always stop and think before ignoring a Confirmation of Payee response. Contact your branch as soon as possible if you are concerned you may be, or have been, a victim of fraud.
- For payments made into your account, your details are provided to the payer’s bank so they can confirm the payment is going to the right place. You will be able to opt out of this service by contacting your branch, but please remember that we'll only agree to an opt out request in exceptional circumstances. You will be able to opt back into Confirmation of Payee at any time by contacting your branch.
For more advice on ways to spot and protect yourself against fraud, visit: