Stay alert. Scammers may target you during Confirmation of Payee rollout. Read update
To get paid quickly and easily, you must provide the right account information. Where before you might have shared only your account number, now, you must share the correct number and name registered to your account.
People and some businesses may start receiving requests for their full account details from late November 2024.
You will be asked to share the account number and name registered to that account so that their bank can perform the Confirmation of Payee check.
Where before you may have shared your initials or a nickname, you now need to share the full name registered to the account.
If you are unsure of your correct account details, refer to your bank’s website or systems for guidance.
If you choose not to share the name registered to your account, the payer may receive a ‘no match’ response. The notification may prompt them to contact you for the correct details or caution them against proceeding with payment without verification. This may stop or slow down the payment.
If your account name no longer reflects your legal name, we recommend changing your account details with your bank.
If customers are paying you using their personal online or mobile banking apps then you must make your correct account name and account number easy to find.
Sometimes, a business might have a different trading name to its account holder name. It’s particularly important for these businesses to clearly communicate the correct name and number registered to their account for customers to use.
If your customers enter the wrong account holder name, they may be notified that the details don’t match and advised to contact the business they are trying to pay. This could slow down the payment process.
If you are unsure of your own account name, refer to your bank’s website or systems for guidance.
When customers are paying businesses that are registered as payees with Payments NZ, for example organisations like Councils, water and power companies, they won’t use the Confirmation of Payee service. These businesses already have their details checked through a separate process with their bank. (This may differ depending on your bank.)
The Confirmation of Payee service will initially be available to a limited group of business customers with broader availability for those using specific business banking platforms expected later in 2025.
As New Zealand banks prepare to roll out the Confirmation of Payee service, customers should be wary of fraudsters pretending to be calling from banks.
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In May 2024, the New Zealand Herald published an article covering the Confirmation of Payee service.
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In April 2024, the New Zealand Banking Association (NZBA) announced on behalf of the banking industry that New Zealand’s retail banks were preparing to introduce a new service called Confirmation of Payee by the end of this year.
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