Practice

Certainty of Payee

The Scheme must provide a confirmation of payee notification service that requires an authenticated payer to confirm the payee prior to initiation of a payment that relies on a standardized approach to account naming that makes it easy for the payer to identify whether the payee is the correct recipient.

Safe Payments

Scheme ensures that users can conduct their transactions safely

Review Principle

How to Implement

Guidance

Standardize account naming.

DFSPs provide an account holder with standardized guidelines for naming their personal, business, or group account during the account opening process (and in line with KYC requirements); account naming may also happen during alias registration (note that account name is not the same thing as the alias used to initiate a payment). The account name of a payee should be identifiable and provide sufficient detail to allow the payer to determine that the payee is the correct one. The account name should not be used to obfuscate the true owner of the account. Both individuals and businesses should be encouraged to communicate their account name to those they expect to receive payment from.

Implement confirmation of payee.

The application of confirmation of payee allows the authenticated payer to be presented a notification that shows an identifiable account name (see Design Note for examples) of the receiver prior to sending a payment. The notification from the DFSP explicitly asks the payer “Do you want to make this payment to this recipient?”.  An unexpected recipient name may signal to the sender that the receiver is not the intended party, allowing them to cancel the payment. An audio presentation of the receiver’s name would further support the needs of a broader set of users, including those with lower literacy needs.

Why It Matters

Certainty of Payee makes Inclusive IPS more trusted and reliable by supporting end users in ensuring that they send funds to the correct recipient. This prevents errors due to mistyping, which may be especially important for low literacy and newly digital users. Standardized naming conventions minimize usefulness for fraudsters.

Seeing More Clearly

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Women’s Inclusion

Often expressing higher concerns about fraud and privacy in digital payments, and having less experience making digital payments, women – along with all users – must be presented with the opportunity to confirm the receiver prior to initiating a payment.

Fraud Mitigation

A confirmation of payee service can prevent authorized push payment fraud where a sender is scammed into sending a payment to a fraudster’s account. (It can also prevent funds being sent to an unintended party due to errors in keying their alias or account number.) The service provides a tool that can stop fraud before it happens and prevent an end users’ loss of funds.

A woman purchases a necklace using mobile money in Rwanda.

Tools

Design Guides

Dig into how to implement each of the practices.

Ecosystem Roles in Enabling Certainty of Payee

Account Naming Role: Inclusive IPS Actions: Role: DFSP Actions: Role: Regulator Actions: Alias Addressing Role: Inclusive IPS Actions: Role: DFSP Actions: Role: Regulator Actions: Confirmation…

Review the Note Review Ecosystem Roles in Enabling Certainty of Payee

What Good Certainty of Payee Looks Like

Overview of good design in the certainty of payee process, alongside a tangible example and illustration of the certainty of payee process.

Review the Note Review What Good Certainty of Payee Looks Like

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A woman uses mobile money to purchase fruit at a market in Rwanda.