The partnership will enable COA Solutions' financial management software customers within the public sector to link to Experian Payments' bank account validation software, Bank Wizard, to check the validity of their payments data before it is submitted to Bacs. Using Bank Wizard, COA Solutions' customers will be able to validate bank account details at the point of data capture, significantly reducing payment errors.

Billions of direct debit and direct credit transactions are processed in the UK every year. However, a significant number of these transactions fail due to the customer/supplier accidentally or purposefully supplying incorrect bank account details. Typically, incorrect bank account details only become apparent when a payment is rejected by Bacs. It can then take considerable time and cost to obtain the correct account details, delaying payment further and potentially creating strained relations between the customer/supplier.

Fergus Gilmore, Public Sector Sales Director from COA Solutions, says, "Public sector organisations are under ever-increasing pressure to deliver efficiency savings. Technology solutions such as Bank Wizard are key to helping to realise these savings as rectifying incorrect direct debit and direct credit transactions are costing UK industry an incredible £3 billion each year."

Jonathan Williams, Director of Strategic Development at Experian Payments, says, "This is an exciting partnership that provides COA Solutions' customers with even greater software functionality to complement the already extensive range of business applications COA Solutions provides. We look forward to Bank Wizard helping COA Solutions' public sector customers deliver the efficiency savings they are targeted with achieving whilst freeing up considerable time for public sector workers to concentrate on core business."