NatWest has launched Confirmation of Payee (COP) access for its commercial customers.

The bank said that the COP Application Programming Interface (API) will allow customers to embed the service directly into their own systems, and carry out bulk checks against outbound payee details, for payments made using BACS, CHAPs and Faster Payments.

Confirmation of Payee was introduced across the UK banking industry in June 2020 to combat scammers and reduce 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 said the feature would help save time, improve customer experience, reduce costs and detect fraud.

The API will be available under the NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank brands for commercial customers.

Businesses will be able to apply to use NatWest’s Confirmation of Payee API by visiting a website to register their interest.

Commercial customers wishing to use the service will need to have the technical capability and resources within their business to implement the API at their own cost.

Gaurav Gaur, head of commercial payments at 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.”

He added:“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."

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