Confirmation of Payee (CoP)

Confirmation of Payee is an industry-wide service that can help you avoid scams and mistaken payments. It is available for domestic payments in Australia, made 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 is a match.

This can:

• Help you make a decision about what to do next, e.g. continue with the payment, check the details again or choose not to proceed with the payment altogether. 
• Help reduce the risk of being scammed or making a mistaken payment.

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

When you make a payment to a BSB and account number for the first time, add a payee or amend an existing payee’s account details saved in your online payees list, the service will automatically initiate a Confirmation of Payee lookup. This will check the account details you entered against the details held by the recipient’s bank and let you know whether it’s a ‘match’, ‘close match’ or if the details don’t match at all. This information can help to inform you what to do next and gives you more confidence that your payment is going to the correct account.

You do not need to do anything. A Confirmation of Payee lookup will occur automatically when you make a payment to a BSB and account number for the first time or create a new or edit an existing payee with a BSB and account number.

Confirmation of Payee will be available in 2025.

‘The account name you entered matches the account’ means the details you entered match the bank records of the intended recipient. The recipients name will be displayed.

‘The account name you entered is a close match to the account’ means the details you entered closely matched the bank records of the intended recipient. The recipients name will be displayed.

‘The account name entered does not match the account’ means that the details you entered do not match the bank records of the intended recipient. The recipient's name will not be displayed unless it is a business or government organisation.

‘The account name entered is not found’ means check the account details with the intended recipient. Account name won’t be matched, verified or checked with the BSB and account number.

‘The account name entered is not Active’ means the account is closed. Check the account details with the intended recipient.

Yes. Confirmation of Payee will never stop you from making a payment unless the response is ‘Account not active’, which means that the account is closed. 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 not be recoverable.

You should share your full account name, BSB and account number as held by ANZ for your account. This information is displayed in the details tab in transaction history in your Internet Banking.

Like ANZ, other banks may have a restriction on how many characters can be entered for a Payee name, and this can vary from 32 – 35 characters. This restriction may result in the name entered by the payer being less than the payee’s full account name as known by the payee bank, leading to an outcome of no match. Payers should be advised when paying another individual to enter the account name of the payee without titles like, Mr, Mrs, Dr and enter the first and last names at a minimum. When making a payment to a business avoid using identifiers like Pty, Ltd, and instead of writing Trading As, use TA and use ATF instead of As Trustee For.

The person who is paying you will be shown your account name as held by ANZ, only if the name they have entered is a ‘match’ or ‘close match’. If any of these details are incorrect, your name will not be shown to protect your privacy.

Where your account is a joint account, only the name/s entered by the payer will be displayed, along with an indication that there are other account holders (‘and others’). Other names associated with the account will not be displayed.

If you have a business or government organisation account that is receiving a payment, the name of your account will be shown to the payer, regardless of the match outcome.

Please book an appointment to visit an ANZ Branch with your relevant identification and supporting documents. Your details will be updated immediately on our systems.

When you make a payment in the ANZ App or Internet Banking, you are not able to enter special characters such as apostrophes (‘), hyphens (-), and ampersands (&). You can receive a match outcome by entering the name without the special characters when making a payment. For example, enter “O’Brien” as “O Brien” or “Obrien”, “Hall-Smith” as “Hall Smith”, and “Paper & Pen” can be entered as “Paper Pen.”

Provide the payer with the full account name recorded against the BSB and account number of the account you want them to pay into.

You should check the account name, BSB and account number with the recipient to ensure the details you have entered are correct.

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 contact ANZ, please follow the most convenient means below:

• Message us in the ANZ App
• If you are unable to message us via the ANZ app, please call 13 13 14 within Australia or +61 3 9683 9999 from overseas.

If your account is eligible and is opted out, this means your account name and match outcome will not be displayed to payers. Please note that your opt out will not apply when a government agency is making a taxpayer funded payment to you e.g. a welfare benefit or emergency assistance payment. Opting out could impact the likelihood of a payer proceeding with a payment to you.