UK Confirmation of Payee: Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: 26 March 2020

What is Confirmation of Payee?

We’re introducing Confirmation of Payee, a new name checking service.

It confirms if the name on the person’s or business’s account matches the person or business you intend to pay. It applies when you’re setting up a new payment or amending the beneficiary’s details in an existing one. This is for bill payments, standing orders and other high value payments in Sterling (GBP) but it doesn’t include other currency or international payments.

Confirmation of Payee also allows a person or business to check when they’re sending money that the name and type of account (Personal or Business) match the details held for that account.

Other banks are also introducing Confirmation of Payee as part of an industry-wide change. You’ll see this being introduced through early 2020.

Why’s this happening?

It’s being brought in to help protect against Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams and reduce the number of payments which are sent to the wrong account in error.

Payments related to APP scams can be made over the phone, online or in person and most are completed instantly. The name check will take place on online banking, mobile banking and if you contact us to make the payment on your behalf.

What happens when I make a payment in the UK?

When you’re paying someone for the first time or making changes to beneficiary details in an existing payment instruction, you’ll need to enter the full name for the account and also state whether the account you’re paying is a Business or Personal Account. You’ll need to do this for domestic Faster Payments or CHAPS payments in the UK (including Standing Orders).

We’ll then check this with the other bank and confirm to you if the account name and account type are correct and match the details you have provided

Is the account for personal use or for business?
Before you make a payment to someone, ask whether their account is personal or business. If they’re not sure, you should ask them to check with their bank and let you know before you try to make the payment.

Is the name you’re inputting correct?
The name on that person’s bank account may not be the name you’re inputting. For example, you may be typing in ‘Jim’ where the account name is ‘James’ or you may know them as ‘Jim my builder’ but the business account is ‘James Smith Building Contractor’. If you’re not sure, you should check with them before you confirm the payment.

You’ll then receive a response to say how closely the information you entered matches the account details along with advice on the next step you should take (e.g. confirm details with the beneficiary).

What will the Confirmation of Payee check show me?

We’ll receive a response from the other bank which will show you how closely the information matches. You’ll then be able to decide whether you want to make the payment, check the details you’ve used are correct or not make the payment.

You’ll receive one of these responses in HSBCnet:

Full match	The name and account type (personal or business) you have input match those held on the account you are sending the money to. Select ‘Continue with payment’ to proceed.
Partial match	You’ve used a similar name or the wrong account type. The actual account name will be shared on screen so you can decide whether to edit the details or check with the person you’re paying to be sure. You can then decide whether to make the payment or not. Once you’ve verified the beneficiary’s details, you can select ‘Update and re-check’ button to amend your entry and achieve a full match.
No match	The name and/or account type entered aren’t the same as the one held by the beneficiary’s bank. You should check with the person or business you’re paying before making the payment. We recommend that you double-check the details using a known genuine phone number or other trusted source, especially if this is someone you don’t know well or is an unsolicited request for money. Once you’ve verified the beneficiary’s details, you can select ‘Update and re-check’ button to amend your entry and achieve a full match. If you’re confident the details are correct you can make the payment without checking but we don’t recommend this.

Sometimes the Confirmation of Payee name check may be unavailable, not supported by the beneficiary’s bank or we’re unable to check the details for another reason. In those cases, an onscreen message will confirm that to you and you’ll be able to decide whether to continue.

If the response is ‘Account not found’ then either the sort code or account number you’ve entered is incorrect or the account you’re trying to send the money to doesn’t exist. In this case you’ll be unable to make the payment and should contact the person or business you’re trying to pay to confirm the correct details.

What if I receive a partial or no match and want to continue with the payment without updating the beneficiary details?

We’ll never stop a payment being made just because of a Confirmation of Payee response. You can make a payment regardless of the Confirmation of Payee response you receive. If you decide to proceed with a payment that didn’t return a ‘Full match’, you’ll be at risk of sending the payment to the wrong account and we may be unable to recover the money.

How long does it take for the bank to perform the Confirmation of Payee check?

The Confirmation of Payee check should only take a few seconds, but the processing time may vary between different beneficiary banks or building societies.

When will I see the new Confirmation of Payee screens?

Once available, you’ll see new Confirmation of Payee screens when you’re creating GBP payments to new beneficiaries using Faster Payments or CHAPs from UK accounts (including Standing Orders).

The new Confirmation of Payee screens will also appear if you’re making one of these types of payments to an existing beneficiary whose details you’ve amended in HSBCnet.

I’m authorising a payment. Do I need to do anything?

When authorising an eligible payment, you’ll see a new Confirmation of Payee section in the ‘Authorise payment’ screen that will tell you the results of the check. You should make sure you review the results before deciding to proceed with authorising the payment.

If you choose to authorise a payment that didn’t return a ‘Full match’, you’ll be at risk of sending the payment to the wrong account and we may be unable to recover the money.

How do I review the results of completed Confirmation of Payee checks?

You can use HSBCnet’s Activity Log in the User and account management service to view the results and status of your Confirmation of Payee checks.

What happens for payments I’m expecting?

When someone is paying you for the first time or they’re making changes to the payment instruction details, they’ll be asked to confirm if your account is a business or personal account. We’ll be asked to confirm if your account name is correct and matches the name on the payment instruction and confirm the account type is correct.

The Payment Sender will receive a response to say how closely the information matches and they’ll then be able to make a decision on whether they want to make the payment, check the details they’ve input are correct or not proceed with making the payment.

If they get a Match – they know your account is your personal or business account and have used the correct account name, they can proceed with the payment.

If they get a Partial Match – they’ve used a similar name, we will be sharing your account name back with the sender’s bank and this will be provided to that person. They can decide whether to make the payment or check with you.

If you have any concerns about name sharing, please contact your HSBC representative.

If they don’t get a Match - they should check with you before making the payment, but they can decide to proceed with the payment without checking with you.

Some exceptions:
If the Payment Sender’s bank is not registered for Confirmation of Payee, or is not quite ready to send requests to us, then they won’t see any change to their payment process and will be able to pay you as they do today.

Where the Confirmation of Payee name check isn’t available, an onscreen message will confirm that to the sender and they’ll be able to pay you as they do today.

What do I need to do for anyone paying my organisation?

You can help make sure that your payments are processed smoothly by checking in with your payers:

Confirm that they’re paying a business account
Confirmation of Payee is used for both personal and business accounts. You can help by telling anyone making a payment to you the account type when you give them your account details. If you’re unsure of your account type, please check with us.

Make sure payers have the correct account details
The name we hold on your account might not be the name the person is inputting – for example they may be know you as 'Bob my builder' but your business account is 'Bob the Builder Limited'. If you’re not sure, you can check your account on HSBCnet or give us a call.