Bank for International Settlements Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures publishes brief on payment pre-validation to improve cross-border payment safety and efficiency

The Bank for International Settlements Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) has published a CPMI Brief examining payment pre-validation (PPV), describing how validating payment details before a transaction is initiated can reduce errors, mitigate fraud and non-compliance risk, and improve operational efficiency and user experience. It notes that the G20 South African Presidency and the CPMI recognise PPV’s potential benefits, but that adoption remains limited in cross-border payments. The brief explains that PPV services verify the accuracy, validity and completeness of payment information as a first step in payment initiation, allowing the payer to proceed only after receiving a satisfactory result. It highlights “confirmation of payee” (also referred to as verification of payee or beneficiary check) as a specific PPV service that authenticates payee information using at least a name and an account identifier. While PPV is increasingly supported in domestic fast payment schemes and is mandated for payment service providers (PSPs) in some jurisdictions, cross-border rollout faces legal, regulatory, technical and operational differences; the brief points to international standards and guidance for interoperability, governance frameworks, privacy safeguards and international collaboration, alongside transparent pricing and consumer education, as key enablers for wider adoption.