Tag: Confirmation of payee

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pay.uk confirms launch of confirmation of payee service in the UK

Earlier this week, on 8 June 2020, Pay.uk published a press release confirming the launch of the confirmation of payee service in the United Kingdom.

Pay.uk says that if a customer’s bank or building society is confirmation of payee enabled, the new service lets the customer know if the customer’s account name matches the recipient’s account name.

Pay.uk’s research suggests:

– 34% of consumers have in the past made bank or building society payments to a person using a nickname; and

– 37% of business brands also trade under a different name to that on their business bank or building society account.

It remains to be seen the extent to which confirmation of payee provides a real level of protection for customers making electronic payments.

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Payment Systems Regulator consults on a specific direction on the implementation of the confirmation of payee service

On 9 May 2019, the UK Payment Systems Regulator (the PSR) published its response to the first consultation on the proposed implementation of the confirmation of payee service, and published a new consultation on a specific direction on the implementation of the service.

After considering the feedback, the PSR has refined its approach. It has decided to give a specific direction to Lloyds Group, Barclays Group, HSBC Group, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Santander Group and Nationwide Building Society (being the six largest payment services providers).

The proposed effect of the specific direction is to require:

– From 31 December 2019: the directed PSPs must respond to compliant confirmation of payee requests; and

– From 31 March 2020: the directed PSPs must send confirmation of payee requests and present responses to their customers.

The consultation period ends on 5 June 2019.