Banks To Start Rolling Out Confirmation Of Payee In November

New Zealand’s retail banks will start rolling out the new Confirmation of Payee service by the end of November this year, says the New Zealand Banking Association. It will be a phased delivery to customers to ensure proper testing and customer satisfaction.

Confirmation of Payee will provide bank customers with an extra level of reassurance when making domestic payments from one bank account to another. The service will allow them to check that the account name matches the account number. This will happen before the payment is made.

The new service will notify customers whether the account name and number match real-time bank records. Customers will be provided with a match, partial match or no match notification. Where the payee’s bank does not yet offer the service the payer will receive a ‘cannot check payee details’ notification.

While the new service will help provide some reassurance to customers making domestic payments, banks are reminding customers to remain vigilant. The system will not fully protect them from scams and criminals will continue to look for ways to trick customers into making payments.

When making a payment to someone, it’s always a good idea to take the time to check why you’re making the payment and whether you can trust the recipient.

New Zealand Banking Association chief executive Roger Beaumont says: “Banks have been working together at pace to start making the service available before the end of the year. Due to the size and complexity of payments services the banks offer, some banks are adopting a phased approach to ensure thorough user testing and customer understanding.

“The technology build and integration of the new service differs across banks, so it’s unsurprising that each bank’s testing and delivery phase looks slightly different. It’s crucial that all banks gain assurance the system is working as it should, across their online and mobile banking platforms and services, before rolling it out broadly. This will ensure a smooth implementation particularly, in New Zealand, where so many people have more than one bank.

“For customers, this means Confirmation of Payee might not be available across all online banking platforms simultaneously. They might find that a Confirmation of Payee check is available from some banks and not others, alternatively it might be available on your desktop banking platform but not your mobile app, or vice versa.

“The good news is that banks are working to have the service available across all online personal banking channels by Easter 2025. As a bank customer, you can expect to hear more from your bank about their approach and timing for introducing the new service.”

Banks participating in the new Confirmation of Payee service are ANZ, ASB, Bank of China, BNZ, CCB, The Co-operative Bank, Heartland Bank, ICBC, Kiwibank, Rabobank, SBS Bank, TSB, and Westpac.

“The phased approach is similar to how banks implemented Confirmation of Payee in the United Kingdom.

“Our banks are working with obconnect, which is a leading global provider of Confirmation of Payee and other tech solutions.

“We are joining a very small number of countries that already have a Confirmation of Payee service.”

Confirmation of Payee is one of a suite of anti-scam initiatives the banking industry committed to in September last year.

For more information about Confirmation of Payee, see: www.getverified.co.nz.

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