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NatWest launches Confirmation of Payee API for business customers

NatWest launches Confirmation of Payee API for business customers

NatWest has launched an API that lets commercial customers embed Confirmation of Payee into their own systems and processes.

Confirmation of Payee was introduced across the UK banking industry in June 2020 to combat scammers and guard against customer errors. The technology allows banking customers to carry out a check on individual payments through their online banking, by ensuring the account details entered by the sender accurately match those of the payee.

The new NatWest API will enable commercial customers to carry out bulk checks against outbound payee details, for payments made using Bacs, Chaps and Faster Payments.

Gaurav Gaur, head of commercial payments, NatWest Group says: “Confirmation of Payee has been a game-changing innovation in the battle against fraud and scams in the UK, and today we’re delighted to launch our own API that will allow commercial customers to implement this functionality into their own systems. Not only will this detect fraudulent and misdirected payments, but CoP is also proven to reduce operating costs and improve the digital journey for customers.

Businesses can apply to use NatWest’s Confirmation of Payee API by visiting www.bankofapis.com to register their interest, and will need to have the technical capability and resources within their business to implement the API at their own cost.

Comments: (2)

Damien Dugauquier
Damien Dugauquier - iPiD - Singapore 31 May, 2022, 10:53Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

I am really curious to watch the take-up of CoP in the UK. It makes a lot of sense and solves a real problem for customers. I hope it will be more successful than Paym - which was also a great solution to a real problem but interestingly seems to struggle in terms of adoption.  

Ketharaman Swaminathan
Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 31 May, 2022, 19:201 like 1 like

"Businesses ... will need to have the technical capability and resources within their business to implement the API".

Banks took the same stance on Merchant Account. By making it possible for businesses without said qualifications to accept credit card payments, PayPal, Stripe and Square became amongst the most successful fintechs of all time. 

Now, with the same stance, banks are opening up the CoP field to fintechs who will make it easy for businesses to implement Confirmation of Payee functionality without the qualifications demanded by banks.

I wonder why banks take this stance repeatedly. Is it because (A) They do not realize the consequences of their stance (B) They do not have the tech chops to be able to develop a solution in a way that will remove the need for businesses to have tech chops, or (C) They do it consciously to create space for fintechs in which they can invest via their venture capital subsidiaries, as they have done in Stripe, Plaid, etc.

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