Account Verification

Payer Name Verification

Protect customers and improve payment accuracy

As digital payments continue to grow across the utilities sector, ensuring payments are sent to the correct account has never been more important. Utility providers process millions of customer transactions every year, making accuracy, fraud prevention and operational efficiency critical priorities.

PayPoint's Account Verification solutions help utility providers reduce fraud, minimise payment errors and improve customer confidence through intelligent account validation services.

Whether preventing misdirected payments before they occur or ensuring bill payments contain the correct account references, our solutions help providers improve customer journeys while reducing operational burden.

Helping prevent fraud and accidental payment errors

Corporate Confirmation of Payee (CoP)

Customers increasingly expect reassurance that the account they are paying belongs to the organisation they intended to pay. At the same time, utility providers must protect customers from authorised push payment (APP) fraud and accidental misdirected payments.

Corporate Confirmation of Payee (CoP) enables account details to be validated before a payment is made, helping customers confirm they are sending money to the correct utility provider account.

By checking account information before payment is authorised, utility providers can help reduce the risk of:

  • Authorised push payment fraud
  • Accidental payments to incorrect accounts
  • Typing errors in account details
  • Customer confusion during payment journeys
  • Failed or disputed transactions
  • Customer service enquiries relating to incorrect payments

Providing customers with additional confidence before they make a payment can help improve trust, increase digital payment adoption and create a more secure payment experience.

Benefits of incorporating Confirmation of Payee

  • Reduced fraud risk
  • Fewer payment errors
  • Greater customer confidence
  • Improved payment success rates
  • Enhanced customer protection
  • Stronger compliance with industry standards

Building trust into every payment

In a sector where customers are regularly making high-value and recurring payments, confirmation that they are paying the correct organisation provides valuable reassurance and helps strengthen trust throughout the payment journey.

SRD Responder Service

Improving payment matching and reducing suspense accounts

Utility providers receive large volumes of account-to-account payments every day. For these payments to be processed efficiently, the customer must provide both the correct bank account details and the correct account reference when sending payment.

While account details may be correct, payment references are often entered incorrectly. A customer may mistype a reference, omit information, or enter wording that makes sense to them but cannot be matched to a utility account, such as "my electricity bill" rather than their account number.

Improving payment matching

When this happens, payments cannot be automatically allocated, which can result in:

  • Increased manual investigation
  • Delays in account reconciliation
  • Higher operational costs
  • Larger suspense account balances
  • Customer payment uncertainty
  • Potential delays in payment allocation

Verify both the account and the reference

PayPoint's SRD Responder Service is designed to improve payment accuracy by validating both the bank account details and the customer account reference before a payment is submitted.

Rather than only checking account information, the service can:

  • Validate account details
  • Check bill or customer reference information
  • Confirm when both elements match
  • Return a "reference not found" response when invalid references are submitted
  • Allow customers to correct information before making the payment
  • Improve payment allocation rates

By identifying incorrect reference information before funds are sent, utility providers can reduce payment exceptions and improve customer outcomes.

Benefits of SRD Responder Services

  • Improved payment matching accuracy
  • Reduced suspense account balances
  • Faster payment allocation
  • Lower operational costs
  • Fewer manual investigations
  • Better customer payment experiences
  • Increased payment confidence

Why PayPoint?

Fraud Prevention
Help protect customers and businesses from increasingly sophisticated payment fraud threats.
Payment Accuracy
Ensure payments are directed to the correct accounts and contain the correct reference information.
Improved Customer Confidence
Provide reassurance and transparency throughout the payment journey.
Operational Efficiency
Reduce manual reconciliation activity and improve payment processing performance.
Future-Ready Solutions
Support the continued growth of account-to-account payments and Open Banking-enabled payment journeys.

Making utility payments safer and smarter

As utility providers continue to modernise their payment infrastructure, robust account verification services play an increasingly important role in protecting customers, reducing operational costs and improving payment accuracy.

From Corporate Confirmation of Payee services that help prevent fraud and payment errors, to SRD Responder capabilities that improve payment matching and reconciliation, PayPoint helps utility providers create more secure and efficient payment journeys.

Talk to our team