NatWest launches its Confirmation of Payee API for commercial customers

By Joy Dumasia

NatWest announced the launch of a new direct access Confirmation of Payee (CoP) Application Programming Interface (API) for its commercial customers. 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. 

NatWest’s new API will allow its corporate customers to embed the service directly into their systems and carry out bulk checks against outbound payee details for payments made using BACS, CHAPs and Faster Payments. This will help save time, improve customer experience, reduce costs and detect fraud. 

Gaurav Gaur, Head of Commercial Payments, NatWest Group, said: “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. 

NatWest is committed to investing in the development of new and innovative services which are API enabled to allow customers to embed them into their business. Today’s launch is another example of our commitment to support customers in this space.”

The API will be available under the NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank brands for commercial customers. Businesses can apply to use NatWest’s Confirmation of Payee API by visiting the website to register interest and will need to have the technical capability and resources within their business to implement the API at their own cost. 

Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that Bottomline, a leading provider of financial technology that makes business payments simple, smart and secure, announced the NatWest Group had adopted Bottomline’s Confirmation of Payee (CoP) solution to service their Agency Institutions in the fight against authorised push payment fraud (APP) across the UK.