Confirmation of Payee is an industry-wide service that adds a layer of protection for payments to a BSB and account number. It checks the account name, BSB and account number that a payer has entered against the details held by the recipient's bank and lets the payer know whether it's a match. The payer can then make an informed decision on how to proceed, reducing the risk of scams and mistaken payments.
When your clients make a payment to a new payee or edit a saved payee’s details in the Online Portal, they’ll see whether the account name they’ve entered matches the bank records of the intended recipient’s account name.
The same applies when someone tries to make a payment to your client’s account as the payer will have visibility over whether the account name entered matches your client’s account name. To enable this, we may share your client’s account name with the payer (through their bank).
No, there’s nothing your clients need to do. We’ll progressively roll out the CoP service from mid-2025. The Confirmation of Payee service will automatically check the details whenever your clients make a payment to a BSB and account number for the first time, or when they edit a saved payee's details. The same will happen for payers making payments to your client, depending on when their bank starts the Confirmation of Payee service.
The Confirmation of Payee match outcomes that will be displayed to payers are:
The account name entered by the payer matches your client’s bank account name.
The account name entered by the payer is similar, but not an exact match, to the bank’s records of your client’s account name. If the payer receives a ‘close match’ outcome and your client holds a non-individual account, your client’s account name will be displayed to the payer. The payer will still be able to proceed with the payment.
Here are some examples of what may trigger a 'close match’:
The account name entered by the payer doesn’t match your client’s account name. If your client holds a non-individual account, their account name will be displayed to the payer. Although the payer can still make the payment, they may want to confirm the bank details with your client before proceeding with the payment.
Here are some examples of what may trigger a 'no match’ for a non-individual account:
Here are some examples of what may trigger a 'no match’ for an individual account:
The payer may receive an error message if the account name couldn’t be verified, the account is closed or doesn’t exist.
Your client should contact the recipient to check that the account name, BSB and account number they’ve entered are correct before proceeding with the payment.
It’s your client’s responsibility to ensure the account details they’re using to make a payment are correct, regardless of the match outcome.
To learn more about what to look out for to avoid scams, please refer to our scam tips.
Your client should ask the payer to confirm what account details they entered when attempting to make the payment. If these details were incorrect, they should provide the payer with the full legal account name of the account they want them to pay into.
This is particularly important if your client is a business with an account name that’s different from their trading name.
Yes. Confirmation of Payee won’t stop the payer from making a payment if they receive a ‘no match’ result.
If the account number your client entered exceeds the account number field limit and starts with three leading zeros, they can omit the zeros and check those account details match. If your client is still unsure, they should contact the recipient using trusted contact details to verify their details before proceeding with the payment.
If someone is trying to pay your client and they’re not able to enter in the full account number (i.e. if it’s 12 digits long), the payer should omit the three leading zeros at the start of the account number. For example, if your client’s account number is 000123456789, they should enter 123456789 instead.
At this stage, Confirmation of Payee isn’t available for payments made in Adviser Online.
Display of your client’s details to the payer differs between account types. See:
If your client is receiving money into an individual account, the person who’s paying will be shown the account name only if the name they’ve entered is a match or a close match to your client’s account name. For example, if the payer enters ‘Will Thomas' or ‘Billy Thomas’ and the account name is ‘William Thomas’, this may be considered a match, and the account name will be displayed to the payer.
If your client holds a joint account and the payer enters one account holder’s name, only that name will be displayed to the payer, followed by ‘and others’ to indicate there are other account holders.
If your client holds a non-individual account that’s receiving a payment, the name of your client's account will be shown to the payer, regardless of whether it’s a match or not.
Non-individual accounts include:
If your client has an individual account and has reasonable concerns about sharing their name with payers and other financial institutions, you or your client can speak with one of our consultants via live chat. Opting out of the Confirmation of Payee service is not something we recommend because this service helps to prevent fraud. Opting out is only available in certain circumstances.
Please note, if your client has opted out of the Confirmation of Payee service, their name may still be shared with certain government agencies in relation to payments they make to your client.
Your client can request to opt back in to sharing their details with the Confirmation of Payee service at any time.
If you have any feedback on this article or need additional support, please contact us via live chat or email wrap@perpetual.com.au.