Bank Account Verification - AVS-R

Introduction to AVS – Bank account Verification

The Real-Time – Account (Holder) Verification Service (AVS-R) is a function catering for the verification of the match of the identification number and bank account number of an individual or a business with the account details stored within the bank’s database. Currently, the major South African Banks provide this service, in one form or another, to their respective clients. pbVerify provides a platform that allows for the verification of accounts across all participating banks, in a uniform process.

Available Banks:

• ABSA
• African Bank                                                             
• Access Bank                                                               
• Bidvest Bank (Business Only)                                                           
• Capitec                                                               
• Discovery Bank                                                              
• Finbond Mutual Bank                                                              
• FNB                                                              
• Grindrod Bank                                                                                                                      
• Investec                                                             
• Mercantile Bank (Business Only)
• Nedbank                                                     
• Sasfin                                                        
• Standard Bank
• Tyme Bank                                                                                                                       

Why AVS?

The basic business requirement for the account verification mechanism is twofold: firstly, businesses making payments into numerous bank accounts have a need to verify that the account to be credited belongs to the intended beneficiary. Secondly, institutions that are mandated to process debit order collections against the accounts of their customers have a need to verify, prior to submitting the debit order instruction, that the debtor is indeed the owner of the account to be debited.

The aim is to ensure the integrity of the current creditor/debtor database, as well as the accuracy of any future amendments and additions to it, in an effort to mitigate fraud.

The data verified will show: 

• That the account exists at the institution                           
• That the individual (or business) is the rightful owner of the bank account. This is done through the verification of an identity number (or company registration number) against the bank account number supplied                             
• That the bank account in question is presently open and active                             
• The bank account in question accepts debit and credit transactions                       
• That the bank account in question has been in existence for a period exceeding 90 (ninety) days                      
• The supplied contact email is the same as that hosted at the bank                       
• The supplied contact cell phone is the same as that hosted at the bank                     

pbVerify’s AVS solution

pbVerify proposes to process verification requests received from Customers to the Account Verification participating banks and to deliver the verification results to Customers within the agreed-upon period.

pbVerify’s systems are already geared for the processing of transactions across the Electronic Banking platforms of multiple banks and as such, pbVerify is able to facilitate the following process:

• Customer will submit a file to pbVerify containing AVS requests (via a Host-to-Host connection) or individual account verification requests (via Web Services). These requests will be for the verification of accounts held at multiple South African banks, which participate in this service. pbVerify will validate the integrity of data. Any records failing validation will not be processed. Such records will be treated as upfront rejections and will be returned to the Customer together with reasons for rejection, as part of the response file.                  
• pbVerify will transmit the verification requests to the respective banks for processing.                   

Web Services 

• The customer will submit an individual account verification request to pbVerify via a Web Services call. This request will be for the verification of account holder details to account held at any of the multiple South African banks, which participate in this service.             
• pbVerify will transmit the verification request to the respective banks for processing, identifying the issuing bank by the branch code accompanying each verification request.                          
• The issuing bank will process the verification request and provide positive or negative responses on the fields queried.              
• Once processed, the verification result will be sent to PbVerify by the issuing banks. PbVerify will arrange the data into the format originally received and return the response to the Customer via Web Services.                     

AVS Benefits

Following is a summary of benefits to the Customer through the use of the AVS process: 

• Ability to detect possible fraud on a pro-active basis                          
• A means to mitigate risks associated with fraud, both financial and reputational                          
• Shorten the time required to vet new business                             
• Reduce costs by automating a process that is currently largely manual                            
• Enhance the integrity of data stored                            
• Reduce the risk of unpaid transactions                         
• Reduce query administration                        
• Aid in ensuring legislative compliance