Confirmation of Payee

Confirmation
of Payee

Helping avoid scams and mistaken payments

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What is Confirmation of Payee?

Confirmation of Payee is an industry-wide service that matches the bank account details entered by a payer with the account details held by the recipient’s bank and displays a match outcome to the payer.

Confirmation of Payee will be available in 2025 to help safeguard people and businesses from fraud, scams and mistaken payments.

Helping protect your money

More protection

A layer of protection when you're sending money to a BSB and account number.

Helping avoid scams

Have more confidence that money you're sending is going where you think it is.

Helping avoid mistaken payments

Reduce the risk of error, with the account details checked by the recipient's bank.

How it works

When you’re sending money to a business or person using their BSB and account number, Confirmation of Payee will check the account details you’ve entered with the account details held by the recipient’s bank and let you know the match outcome.

Using this information, you can choose whether you want to go ahead and make the payment, pause and check the details again – or stop the payment altogether.

Match outcomes

Match outcomes give you important information to decide what to do next. If you think you’ve entered the account details incorrectly, you can confirm them with the intended recipient before making the payment. Or if something doesn’t seem right, you can choose to cancel the payment.

Match

Match means the details you’ve entered match the bank records of the intended recipient.

Close Match

‘Close match’ means the details you’ve entered closely match the bank records of the intended recipient.

No match

‘No match’ means that the details you entered do not match the bank records of the intended recipient.

Error

The service could not confirm the account details you entered match.

FAQs

What is Confirmation of Payee?

Confirmation of Payee is an industry-wide service that adds a layer of protection for payments to a BSB and account number. It checks the account name, BSB and account number you’ve entered against the details held by the recipient’s bank and lets you know whether it’s a match. This can help you make informed decisions before you make a payment, reducing the risk of scams and mistaken payments.

Confirmation of Payee is an initiative of Australian Payments Plus, the same organisation that also provides trusted payment services like BPAY, Osko, eftpos, PayID and PayTo.

How do I activate Confirmation of Payee?

You don’t need to do anything. Confirmation of Payee will be made available in your online Banking. When you make a payment to a BSB and account number, or edit a payee’s BSB and account number, you will be given the match result before you make a payment.

How does Confirmation of Payee work?

When you make a payment to a BSB and account number, Confirmation of Payee checks the details you enter against the name, BSB and account number held by the recipient’s bank and gives you a match outcome. That helps you decide what you want to do next – and gives you more confidence that the money you’re paying is going to the right account.

How does my bank check my details?

Confirmation of Payee checks the account name, BSB and account number you’ve entered against the details held by the recipient’s bank to let you know whether it’s a match or a close match – or if the details don’t match at all. All Confirmation of Payee information is passed securely between financial institutions to ensure your data remains safe.

I’m receiving money into my account – who can see my information?

If you are receiving money into a personal account, the person who’s paying you will be shown the account name only if the name they have entered is a match or a close match. If any of these details are incorrect, the name will not be shown to protect your privacy.

If you’re a business or government organisation account that’s receiving a payment, the name of your account will be shown to the payer, regardless of whether it’s a match or not.

What do the match outcomes mean?

Account match means the details you’ve entered match the bank records of the intended recipient.

‘Close match’ means the details you’ve entered closely match the bank records of the intended recipient.

‘No match’ means that the details you entered do not match the bank records of the intended recipient.

Can I still make the payment whatever the match outcome?

Yes. Confirmation of Payee will never stop you from completing a payment. We encourage you to be scam aware and always take steps to make sure you know who you are paying, as scams or mistaken payments may be difficult to retrieve.

What information should I share when I want to receive payments?

If you want to get paid without any confusion or potential delays, you should share the name, BSB and account number for your bank account. This is especially important if you’re a business with an account name that differs from the name you’re using to take a payment; for instance, if you have a different trading name for a particular part of your business.

What should I do when a name has special characters, such as ‘, -, or &?

Names with special characters, like apostrophes (‘), will still match without being entered. For example, enter “O’Brien” as “O Brien” or “Obrien”. Or an account name with an ampersand (&) such as Paper & Pen can be entered as Paper Pen.

The name field won’t accept the full name, what do I do?

If the name you're trying to enter exceeds a character limit in your online banking, let the recipient know and consider how best to proceed by contacting your financial institution.

What’s a mistaken payment?

If you enter the wrong account details, you can end up sending your money to the wrong recipient. This can be difficult and time-consuming to resolve, which is why it’s important to check the accuracy of the details you enter before you send your money.

Can I opt out of having my name displayed to others?

Eligible customers may request to be opted-out of the Confirmation of Payee service. This means your account name and match outcome will not be displayed to payers and could impact the likelihood of the payer proceeding with the payment. To understand the opt out process and the implications, please contact each of your financial institutions.

I’ve changed my name, how do I update so the service shows my new name?

To ensure your name is accurate in the Confirmation of Payee service, please contact each of your financial institutions.

AP+ acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora nation as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we are based and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' ongoing connection to the lands and waters of Australia and thank them for their pivotal role in caring for Country. Always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

View our Reconciliation Action Plan