In October, we are implementing Confirmation of Payee, which is an account name checking service that is designed to reduce payments sent in error to incorrect accounts. By implementing Confirmation of Payee, it ensures that payments are sent and received by the intended account holder. It is a highly effective service that will be applicable to UK domestic sterling payments only.

How does it work and benefit you?

Confirmation of Payee is a service that can check the name and account details of the intended receiver of the payment in order to create more confidence when making payments via the online banking platform; this service is applicable to our corporate customers when making UK domestic sterling payments only. When making a payment you will now see one of the responses below (the text after the response may differ from the online banking platform):

Match - The account name provided matches the payee’s account name.

Close Match - The account name you entered is close to the payee’s account name.

No Match - The account name provided does not match the payee’s account name.

Unavailable – We are unable to check the account name, please try again later. There are a few reasons why this may happen; the bank receiving the payment are not members of the Confirmation of Payment service, the type of account does not exist, there may be a technical issue. More information will be presented if this occurs when making a payment.

When making a payment please ensure you have all the account details including account type (Company/Personal) as the online banking platform will run a confirmation of payee check before you make the payment. Shortened names and nicknames will generate a no match or close match response.

Confirmation of Payee was implemented to reduce the quantity of fraudulent payments; as a result, it boosts your confidence when making payments. That being said, there are still circumstances where Confirmation of Payee can provide a response of ‘Match’ but it could still be a potential scam. Therefore, before proceeding, you should contact the recipient through their official website or a trustworthy source to check the name. If you pay the wrong account, you may lose your money.

If you have a complaint relating to Confirmation of Payee, please follow ICBC London’s complaints process. Otherwise, if you have any questions at all or require any assistance, please contact us on 020 7398 9606 or 020 7397 8869.