Confirmation of Payee (COP)

What is Confirmation of Payee (CoP)?

Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is a service that checks the account number, account type, name and reference details of the payment beneficiary (Payee) when adding a new payee or before making a new CHAPS, Faster Payment or standing order. This helps to make sure payments are sent to the correct account of your payee.

We also confirm your account details to the people who pay you (your payers) before making a payment to you. It is important that your information is kept up to date with us.

The CoP service helps to prevent fraudulent payments, or misdirected payments being sent to the wrong account. The service is a way of giving payees greater assurance that their payments are being routed to the intended beneficiary and not being deliberately or mistakenly misdirected.

In particular, it addresses certain types of authorised push payment fraud by providing a platform for Payment Services Providers to provide effective warnings to payers about the risks associated with progressing with a payment to an account where the name does not match.

Cynergy Bank will share with the payee bank, the payee account number and sort code, their full name as provided by you, type of the account they hold with their bank, and any reference data shared by you. The payee bank validates the details and responds immediately.  

Opting out

In an exceptional case, the Bank will allow you to request us to opt-out of your details being checked when other people from different banks try to pay into your account with Cynergy Bank.

By opting out of the service, you’ll still be able to use CoP service when you send a payment to another account, where applicable. However, your account will not be checked when another person or business tries to make a payment to you.

For more information read our COP frequently asked questions.