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Shufti has launched a bank account verification product for businesses in more than 70 countries.
The product checks whether a bank account exists, is active and belongs to the individual or business claiming it before a payment is made. It can be used for account linking, payout setup, direct debits and beneficiary changes.
The launch adds bank account ownership checks to a market where many businesses still rely on separate suppliers or manual reviews to confirm where money is being sent. Identity checks at onboarding do not always show whether the account used for payouts, withdrawals, refunds or collections is actually controlled by the verified customer.
Shufti's system combines identity verification and bank account verification in a single decision through one application programming interface. This allows a business to compare a verified identity with the account holder name held by a bank without asking customers for bank statements or using callback checks.
Each result is stored alongside the identity check in the same case record, creating an audit trail that shows the account checked, the method used and the time of verification.
Regulatory push
The launch comes as account and payee verification rules expand across several payments markets. In the UK, Confirmation of Payee requirements were extended to more payment service providers under Specific Direction 17, with broad coverage expected across Faster Payments and CHAPS transactions.
Across the European Union, the Instant Payments Regulation introduced Verification of Payee rules for euro credit transfers. In the United States, Nacha requires originators of internet-initiated ACH debits to validate an account before first use and before any change of account number.
Although these rules do not apply in the same way in every jurisdiction, they have increased pressure on businesses and payment providers to check destination accounts before funds move. For companies operating across borders, the challenge often lies in dealing with different local checking methods and varying levels of data banks are allowed to return.
Shufti says it handles those local differences within the same product rather than requiring customers to build market-by-market processes. The service returns different forms of evidence depending on the jurisdiction and the bank's data-sharing rules.
Different responses
The product can return six response types, including the full account holder name, a masked version of the name, a pass-or-fail match result, confirmation that the account is active, IBAN validation and IBAN checksum verification.
In some markets, such as Finland and Indonesia, the system can return the full account holder name the bank holds. In others, including Australia, the bank performs the comparison and returns only a match result.
In about 21 markets where live bank account checks are not available, the service instead validates the IBAN structure and checksum. This is intended to catch data-entry errors before sending payment instructions.
Businesses submit account details through a server-to-server interface and receive a response in seconds. The process does not require a bank login, a redirect or a separate action by the end user.
Fraud checks
Account verification can also be triggered when an existing customer adds a new bank account or changes payment details. That matters because account takeover fraud can occur after a customer passes an initial onboarding check.
In those cases, a business can require the customer to re-authenticate with a biometric check before updated payout or withdrawal details are accepted. Shufti says its liveness testing conforms to iBeta Level 3 under ISO/IEC 30107-3.
Shufti serves more than 2,000 businesses in sectors including banking, fintech, payments, crypto, foreign exchange and online marketplaces. Its wider product range includes identity verification, business verification, anti-money laundering screening, transaction monitoring, authentication and ongoing monitoring.
A single evidence record is central to the company's pitch to customers that need to explain payment decisions after the event.
"When a payout is questioned, the business has to show which account was verified, which method was used, and when. If identity and account checks sit with two different providers, someone has to piece that answer together manually, often months later. Shufti runs both checks in one decision and saves them to one record, so the answer is already there when the question is asked," said Raja Hassan, Chief Product Officer at Shufti.