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University of Salford
Confirmation of Payee solution saves times and reduces fraud risk
Read time: 3 mins Added: 03/04/2023
With fraud levels increasing, the University of Salford has worked with Lloyds Bank to introduce new methods to enhance fraud controls and mitigate fraud risks, supporting its team when they make payments to students, prospective students, suppliers and other vendors.
As a custodian of government funding, the University must monitor and mitigate fraud effectively. However, like many large institutions it had no straightforward way to confirm payee’s details before making payments. As it pays a significant amount of new beneficiaries each year, verifying bank statements proved a challenge, with various manual checks used to confirm payee information.
A perfect fit
When Lloyds Bank introduced its Confirmation of Payee digital solution, which checks payee details in real time using an API between the University and Lloyds Bank systems, it was a perfect fit. “It allows the University’s finance team to complete instant checks on beneficiary bank details to ensure they are paying who they intend to, adding another defence in the fight against fraud and scams,” explains Hayden Kaya, Cash Management & Payments Director at Lloyds Bank.
“Crucially, checks are integrated directly into existing workflows rather than taking place on the online banking channel.”
“This saves time and improves efficiency, and means that all processes and data remain wholly within the University’s environment. Our continued investment in our Cash Management & Payment solutions, and especially in our API suite, has helped the University of Salford to digitise and transform their processes.”
The rollout
The University of Salford began by focusing on student payments, given their higher volumes. Now, it is rolling out Confirmation of Payee to suppliers. As well as being valuable for one-time payments or setting up longer-term suppliers, the solution means that payee details can be quickly verified and updated when suppliers change their bank details – a moment of vulnerability often targeted by fraudsters. By leveraging its existing Microsoft Office 365 software, Confirmation of Payee enhances University of Salford’s return on investment.
Enhanced security and fraud controls
“Mitigating fraud risks is a key priority for the University of Salford. Through the adoption of Lloyds Bank’s Confirmation of Payee solution, the University has been able to enhance its security methods and strengthen fraud prevention controls,” says Andrew Crozier, Deputy Director of Finance at the University of Salford.
“The solution enables the University to instantly verify student, supplier and other beneficiary payment details, giving the University increased confidence when making payments to a new payee for the first time or when being asked to update bank details.”
Saving time, as well as costs
Crozier notes that the technology has helped the University to streamline processes and generate substantial cost and operational efficiencies as payee checking occurs within Microsoft Office 365. “We can now easily and instantly verify payee details directly from within Teams chats, SharePoint and/or other Microsoft Office apps,” he says.
“We can also complete automatic bank checks on digital form submissions to make sure we are paying who we intend to. This is helping us to streamline the way in which we onboard suppliers, update previously stored bank details, and run checks before issuing payments to students. It gives us greater peace of mind before we process any one-time or new payments.”
Speak to your Cash Management & Payments Team to find out more.