The UK Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) fined Bank of Ireland UK plc £3,779,300 on 19 February 2026 after the bank failed to implement a required part of Confirmation of Payee (CoP) on time. The safeguard was due by 31 October 2023; the PSR said the bank implemented it 14 months late. During the delay, more than 1.14 million new payees received payments totalling approximately £6.9 billion without the check.
What was the fine for?
The penalty concerned Bank of Ireland UK’s failure to have and use systems to send CoP check requests by the deadline set for Group 1 payment service providers. The PSR found that this breached the send requirements in paragraph 3.1 of Specific Direction 17 (SD17). It was a late implementation of a payment-verification safeguard—not a fine for a cyberattack or for a physical security system.
The PSR opened its investigation on 10 July 2024. Bank of Ireland UK agreed to settle early in the enforcement process. The PSR set a £5.4 million penalty and applied a 30% early-settlement discount, bringing the fine to £3,779,300. The PSR’s announcement gives the penalty and settlement details.
What is Confirmation of Payee?
Confirmation of Payee checks whether the account details entered for a payment match the account expected for the intended recipient. It is designed to help customers catch errors or potential fraud before sending money. The PSR describes it as an important mechanism for combating fraud and misdirected payments and supporting confidence in online payments.
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For this enforcement action, the key issue was the bank’s ability to send CoP requests. The fine does not establish that every payment made during the delay was fraudulent or misdirected, or that customers suffered losses of £6.9 billion. That figure is the approximate value of payments to the affected new payees while the safeguard was absent.
How late was the bank, and how many payments were affected?
| Measure | What the PSR reported |
|---|---|
| Required Group 1 deadline | 31 October 2023 |
| Implementation delay | 14 months late |
| New payees involved | More than 1.14 million |
| Payments to those payees | Approximately £6.9 billion |
The dates and exposure figures are from the PSR’s 19 February 2026 enforcement announcement. The figures describe the scope of payments made without the safeguard, not a measured amount of fraud or customer compensation.
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Why was there a deadline?
The PSR published SD17 on 11 October 2022, and its provisions came into force on 24 October 2022. It required Group 1 payment service providers to have and use systems to send and receive CoP requests by 31 October 2023. The direction’s Specific Direction 17 sets out the requirement.
Group 1 providers were prioritised because of their size and complexity and the expected impact of their adoption on preventing authorised push payment (APP) scams and misdirected payments. The PSR said Bank of Ireland UK was the last Group 1 provider to achieve compliance.
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What does the decision mean for Bank of Ireland UK customers?
The PSR said the absence of the safeguard increased customers’ exposure to fraud risk during the delay. The enforcement finding is about the bank’s failure to meet the implementation requirement; it does not, by itself, show that a particular customer lost money or establish an individual claim for reimbursement. Customers concerned about a specific payment should contact their bank through its official channels and follow its fraud-reporting process.
The PSR’s announcement quotes Managing Director David Geale describing CoP as a vital tool against fraud and misdirected payments. The regulator’s enforcement notice and decision notice contain the published details of the action.
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