Signicat and SurePay partner to solve payee confusion and fraud
The partnership will cross-check user’s identities against bank account details to reduce misdirected payments and improve customer processes and supplier processes

Netherlands, 2 December 2019 -This pioneering partnership enables financial institutions and businesses in the Netherlands to cross-check the payee’s digital identity with their bank account details. If they do not match, the person or business paying can be warned of discrepancies in real-time to avert misdirected payments as well as reduce bank and identity fraud.

A FinTech of Rabobank, SurePay’s Account Check service verifies a name belonging to an International Bank Account Number (IBAN) against the SurePay database, at the pre-payment stage. Before end-users send a payment, a notification with instant feedback of the beneficiary flashes up, alerting the sender to instances where the details of the beneficiary deviate from those known at the registered bank. If there is a deviation, then this is an indicator for businesses or merchants processing payments that further customer or supplier due diligence is needed.

For instance, for businesses or payment service providers (PSP), there is a need to verify both the identity and account to ensure there are no fraudulent transactions or purchases made through them. Alternatively, when businesses or merchants are procuring goods or paying out salaries, a double verification with a verified account enforces greater transparency that the payments is directed to the intended end-user.

With Account Check, Signicat and SurePay’s customers will now receive a confirmation of payee service, which categorises the beneficiary’s details into match, close match and no match for private accounts at the pre-payment stage. In case of minor spelling mistakes for private accounts, SurePay finds the closest match and suggests the known registered account holder, speeding up the digital verification process for creditors and debtors. For business accounts, the right name of the account holder is found. Additionally, the check notifies customers if there are multiple accountholders involved or if the account is closed. The Account Check is therefore efficient in delivering payments for businesses and benefits end-users in reducing misdirected payments and subsequent-related financial penalties.

Before the partnership, customers were only able to verify the name and address of their customers. With the partnership and Signicat’s integration of iDIN - the Dutch electronic identification (eID) -customers will be able to verify both the user’s identity but the cooperation allows for verification of accountholder(s) and account number.

“By verifying account holders at the point of payment, bank and identity fraud diminishes by 72% in online banking. Not to mention a 90% decrease in of failure in the onboarding process of new customers. By integrating the check in at the payee on-boarding stage both customers and suppliers have found it to prevent dropouts for second line investigation,” said Marcel Rienties, Co-Founder of SurePay.

This recent offering adds to Signicat’s Digital Identity Platform - the most comprehensive suite of verified digital identity services globally.

“Building trust between businesses and customers online is critical in the digital age,” said Gunnar Nordseth, CEO of Signicat. “Working with innovative solutions providers, such as SurePay, helps us provide businesses and end-users with pioneering and user-friendly solutions, whilst reducing payment risks and fraud.”

“SurePay makes it easier for companies to connect when multiple checks are involved. We’re proud to partner with Signicat, the leading Digital Identity Service Provider,” said David-Jan Janse, Co-Founder at SurePay.