UK PSR to remove expiry date of Specific Direction 17 on confirmation of payee

The UK Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has published its policy statement PS26/2, confirming its decision to remove the expiry date from its Specific Direction 17 (SD17). SD17 requires most payment service providers (PSPs) to provide the confirmation of payee (CoP) service, which helps to prevent misdirected payments and reduce certain types of authorised push payment fraud by checking whether the name on a payee's account matches the details provided by the payer. SD17 was due to expire on 1 November but will now remain in force unless varied or revoked. This addresses the potential risk that CoP coverage could weaken over time as PSPs may stop using it and new PSPs might not adopt it.

The PSR will review the requirement to provide CoP in five years' time, or sooner if significant developments affecting CoP or the wider payments landscape warrant it. It will also consider the case for expanding CoP requirements to a wider group of PSPs, to include those that currently provide CoP voluntarily. The PSR will engage with these firms to test the potential impacts identified through the July consultation, including incremental governance, compliance and legal costs, before deciding whether to consult on any future proposal. The scope of SD17 therefore remains unchanged at this stage. The PSR published the updated version of SD17 (SD17a) together with a tracked changes version, alongside its policy statement. 

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