Swift to develop confirmation of payee service for Australian Payments Plus

New service will help reduce scams by ensuring consumers can confirm they are transferring funds to the intended person or entity

Australia-Swift to develop Confirmation of Payee image credit: shutterstock

Swift is to build a service to reduce the risk of misdirected payments and increase defences against payment fraud. It will provide Australians with more confidence when sending money. Swift built and runs the local NPP. It was chosen by Australian Payments Plus (AP+) to build confirmation of payee. The security measure helps protect consumers from fraud by confirming the identity of the payee before a payment is made. This is done by comparing the payee’s name entered by the payer with the name associated with the payee’s account.

Confirmation of Payee to be delivered via the NPP

The service will be delivered via the NPP, with standardised APIs and a centralised account matching service managed by AP+.

Swift’s selection to develop Confirmation of Payee for the NPP builds on its capabilities in AI and data services. This includes Payment Pre-validation for cross-border payments. Already, this is eliminating international payments friction with upfront account verification.

Suresh Rajalingam, Head of Oceania at Swift, said: “We are delighted to be working with AP+ and NPP participants to develop this important new service for Australian consumers. Making payments safe, instant and frictionless is at the heart of everything we do at Swift. We are committed to supporting the Australian financial industry in its fight against scammers.”

Adrian Lovney, Chief Payment and Schemes Officer at AP+, added: “The development of an industry wide Confirmation of Payee service will play an important role in reducing certain types of scams resulting in misdirection of a payment to the wrong account as well as avoid mistaken payments being made to incorrect account numbers.

Service to be integrated into banking channels in 2025

“AP+ is committed to working with the industry to better protect consumers and businesses as part of a collective effort to combat fraud and scams. Swift was the logical choice to partner with us in developing this important service. It builds on the strong partnership that we have had in place for a number of years.”

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Features of the new service will be progressively built and tested during 2024. This will allow financial institutions to integrate it into their banking channels starting 2025.