Integrate UK Confirmation of Payee (CoP) checks before initiating a Faster Payment

Steps

1. Determine your access path: onboard directly to the CoP scheme as a participant, or integrate through an intermediary/aggregator with existing CoP connectivity, since CoP is a peer-to-peer API service with only a participant directory as shared infrastructure.
2. Before creating or confirming a payee, submit a CoP request carrying the payee's account name, sort code, account number, and account type (personal or business) to the receiving PSP identified via the directory.
3. Handle all possible outcomes: Match (name confirmed), Close Match (return the actual held account name for the customer to review), No Match, and Unavailable (e.g., timeout or the receiving PSP not enrolled).
4. Surface Close Match and No Match results to the end user before allowing the payment to proceed, and log the CoP outcome against the payment instruction for fraud/dispute evidence.
5. Re-run CoP whenever the payee's account details are added or edited, not just once at account setup, since a CoP result verifies a specific name/account pairing at that point in time.