SEPAmail.eu and SurePay work together with StreamMind to prevent fraud and misdirection in cross-border payments

By Joy Dumasia

SurePay, SEPAMail.eu and StreamMind have announced the first cross-border IBAN Check/Confirmation of Payee solution. This service enables companies and banks to check that the account information entered matches the intended beneficiary when initiating cross-border payments between France and the Netherlands and marks an essential first step towards a pan-European solution in the fight against fraud.

SEPAmail.eu offers an account check solution in France for more than 90% of bank accounts, and SurePay’s IBAN-Name Check solution checks 99.5% of all online payments in the Netherlands. StreamMind has orchestrated the set-up, the cross-country SEPAmail homologation, and ensures the connection between the two entities. The companies will enable French and Dutch companies and banks to check that their payments are going to the intended beneficiary before the transaction is initiated.

The IBAN Check, known in the UK as Confirmation of Payee, is a way to give consumers, banks and companies greater assurance that their payments are being routed to the intended recipient and are not being accidentally or deliberately misdirected. The IBAN verifications that are done by quiring the account database of banks directly significantly reduce fraud and misdirected payments, helping to increase efficiency and reduce operational costs.

David-Jan Janse, CEO of SurePay, said: “Since implementing our IBAN-Name Check for banks and corporates in the Netherlands in 2017, our customers have witnessed an 81% drop in reported scams and a 67% drop in misdirected payments. The natural next step was to make our solution available for cross-border payments, and we are very proud of our partnership with SEPAmail and StreamMind, which allows us to achieve that goal. The team at SurePay are looking forward to working with SEPAmail and StreamMind to fight fraud.”

SEPAmail.eu offers interbank services that facilitate and simplify all financial exchanges between companies, individuals and banks. StreamMind has developed the LUCY DIAMOND software solution, the first application that instantly cross-checks banking with personal or corporate details, compatible with SEPAmail.eu DIAMOND service. The partnership will connect over 30 Dutch banks, accounting for 99.5% of all online payments in the Netherlands, and 114 French banks accounting for more than 90% of French bank accounts.