Banks across Australia are officially rolling out Confirmation of Payee, the name-matching service designed to protect customers from being tricked into sending money to criminals.
After investing around $100million in the technology, banks in Australia hope Confirmation of Payee will help keep local consumers’ money safe. The service is a key initiative of the sector’s Scam-Safe Accord, a set of safeguards by banks to crack down on fraud efforts by bad actors.
Confirmation of Payee helps reduce scams and mistaken payments by checking whether the name, BSB, and account number entered by a customer match the account details held by the receiving bank and showing the match result before payment is made.
“Confirmation of Payee is all about giving customers greater control and confidence when making payments,” explained Adrian Lovney, chief payments and schemes officer at Australian Payments Plus, which developed the service. “It’s a simple concept, but it adds a powerful extra layer of protection for everyday transactions.”
In the UK, the six biggest banking groups, namely Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group, Santander, HSBC, and Nationwide Building Society, had all implemented Confirmation of Payee by June 2020 – as mandated by the Payment Systems Regulator at the time.
By early 2024, the service had checked over two billion transactions, while over 100 organisations had implemented it by that time. Fraud fell in the first six months of 2023 by two per cent, compared to the same period in 2022, while APP fraud, which is specifically targeted by Confirmation of Payee, had seen a one per cent fall, despite constant efforts by fraudsters to introduce more sophisticated methods and technology.
Improving customer safeguards
Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh says that, while Australia is one of the only countries in the world where scam losses were reducing, investing further in the latest scam-fighting technology was crucial to driving losses down even further.
“This is critical new technology that will help protect a customer from transferring money straight into the hands of a scammer. It is a new weapon that banks will have at their disposal to better shield customers
from losing money to scams,” Bligh added.
“When the rollout is complete, Australia will be one of only a handful of countries to have this technology in place across the entire banking sector, ensuring customers are protected regardless of who they bank with. It is further proof that Australian banks are leading the way when it comes to protecting customers from scams.”
Customer Owned Banking Association chair Elizabeth Crouch AM said the new Confirmation of Payee service is a big leap forward in customer protection: “Australia’s mutual banks are working hard to protect their customers’ money, and the new Confirmation of Payee service is a big leap forward. Developed as part of the banking sector’s Scam-Safe Accord, this crucial name-matching solution is being rolled out by all banks to deliver stronger safeguards against scams.”
“Customer-owned banks put their customers first and are committed to doing everything they can to deliver effective fraud and scam protections that work for their customers and communities.”
A national awareness campaign will also start today under the tag line ‘Check the name. Spot the scam.’ to educate customers about this new technology.
