Atom Bank teams up with SurePay to fight financial crime and misdirected payments

Digital challenger Atom Bank has joined forces with Dutch fintech SurePay to help protect its customers against fraud and prevent misdirected payments. 

According to research from UK Finance, in the first half of 2020 internet banking fraud jumped by 32 per cent to £64.3m, something that Atom Bank and SurePay are on a mission to stop. 

The partnership will see Atom Bank integrate SurePay’s Confirmation of Payee software to verify that the payee’s name and sort code match so they can prevent accidentally sending money to the wrong person. 

Roger Mackintosh, head of payments and partnerships at Atom bank, said: “Keeping customers money safe is our top priority and we’re working tirelessly to make sure our customers have the best technology to protect them.” 

SurePay’s system checks for small differences between the details entered and the details registered at a bank, hoping to not only prevent the misdirection of payments, but also fraudulent transfers. 

Richard Koldewijn, business development manager UK, added: “With all the things 2020 has thrown at the world, fraud has been on the rise as more people are willing to take advantage of the vulnerable.” 

“With Confirmation of Payee, we’re able to offer banks a way to help protect more people. We are excited to partner with Atom bank to help protect their customers against fraud and will continue working on further solutions for the UK and Europe.” 

SurePay already checks 95 per cent of all Dutch payments with its IBAN-Name Check and its Confirmation of Payee system checks 25 per cent of all online payments in the UK, adding the NatWest Group to its network of UK banks in June 2020. 

Atom Bank has had a busy 2020 so far, gaining accreditation to the government-backed CBILS lending programme in May and also launching a new savings product with 0.75 per cent AER, considerably higher than most high street banks.