Confirmation of Payee (CoP) helps reduce misdirected payments and certain types of authorised push payment (APP) fraud by checking whether a payee's account details match those held by their payment service provider. More than 320 organisations now offer CoP, with over 2 million checks completed every day.
Why are we consulting?
Specific Direction 17 (SD17), which underpins broad participation in CoP, is due to expire on 1 November 2026. We want to ensure CoP continues to provide strong protections for payment system users and remains effective as the payments market evolves.
What is in the document?
We have published a consultation on proposed amendments to SD17. The proposals would remove SD17's expiry date so it remains in force beyond 1 November 2026. We are also seeking views on whether it would be appropriate to expand the scope of SD17 to place all payment service providers (PSPs) currently offering CoP on equal regulatory footing, including those that offer it on a voluntary basis.
Together, these proposals are intended to maintain broad and consistent participation in CoP, helping to sustain protections against misdirected payments and certain types of APP fraud.
Who should read this document?
Anyone with an interest in UK payments, particularly payment service providers, businesses, consumer groups and organisations involved in fraud prevention.
We welcome your views on this consultation. If you would like to provide comments, please send these to us by 5pm on 20 August 2026.
Supplementary Files
-
Specific Direction 17 (July)
pdf | 586.1 KB
