New Zealand banks to launch Confirmation of Payee service for more secure payments by end of November, full rollout expected by Easter 2025

The New Zealand Banking Association (NZBA) says retail banks around the country will start rolling out the new Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service in November.

The NZBA had previously announced in April that payee confirmation changes were on track to be rolled out before the end of the year.

The new CoP service is meant to provide bank customers with more reassurance when making domestic payments from one bank account to another. 

Before a payment is made, the service will allow people to check that the account name matches the account number.

Customers will be notified by the service on whether the account name and number match real-time bank records and 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,” the NZBA said.

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

NZBA chief executive Roger Beaumont said banks have been working “at pace” to have the service rolled out before the end of this year.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

According to Beaumont, this means the confirmation of payee service might not be available across all online banking platforms “simultaneously” but retail banks want to have the service available across all online personal banking channels by Easter 2025.

The NZBA cautioned on Thursday that while the new CoP service would help provide some reassurance to customers making domestic payments, customers needed to remain vigilant. 

When making a payment to someone, people needed to check why they were making the payment and whether they could trust the recipient, the NZBA said.

“The system will not fully protect them from scams and criminals will continue to look for ways to trick customers into making payments.”

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly said the new system would give people greater peace of mind.

In an open letter to the banking industry earlier this year, Bayly had told retail banks that he expected them to prioritise work around a CoP system.  

“The CoP service is a practical step towards making payments more secure, reducing the chances of errors or potential fraud where funds are mistakenly sent to the wrong person,” he said on Thursday.

In September, when the Banking Ombudsman Scheme published its annual report, it said scam-related cases had risen 27% compared to the prior year, comprising one in five of the Scheme’s cases. 

Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said the “growing sophistication” of scams and the resulting losses were matters of continuing concern to the Scheme.