Confirmation of Payee (CoP)
A UK name-checking service that tells a payer whether the name they have entered matches the name on the account they are about to pay.
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is a check made when a new payee is set up or a payment is sent. The payer's bank asks the recipient's bank whether the name entered matches the account holder, and returns one of three results: a match, a close match with the correct name suggested, or no match.
CoP was introduced to reduce misdirected payments and authorised push payment fraud, and is now offered by hundreds of UK payment service providers. It is a valuable control, but a narrow one. It checks one field at one moment: that a name and an account agree. It does not tell a payer whether the supplier is genuine, whether the bank details have recently changed, or whether the request to pay came from the supplier at all.
That is why CoP works best as one layer rather than the whole defence. A fraudster who opens an account in a plausible name can pass a CoP check. Verifying the supplier's identity and bank details before the payment run, and keeping them verified over time, closes the gap that a point-in-time name check leaves open.
CoP is mandated for in-scope payment service providers by the Payment Systems Regulator under Specific Direction 17, which the PSR has consulted on extending beyond its November 2026 expiry. The Financial Services and Markets Bill, introduced in May 2026, would consolidate the PSR into the FCA; until it takes effect, the PSR remains the regulator.