Beneficiary confirmation

When a transfer is made between national accounts at a Multibanco ATM, the name of the person or entity that will receive the money appears, allowing the transferee to confirm in advance that they are sending money to the right beneficiary before giving the final transfer order.

It is this functionality that Banco de Portugal is now extending to all transfers in all channels provided by banks, such as 'homebanking' or the banks' 'app' (application) that customers have on their mobile phones.

This functionality will also be present on direct debits to confirm that the debtor is the holder of the account to be debited.

In the 2023 Payment Systems Report, released today, Banco de Portugal considers that this service will reduce the risk of fraud, by minimising the possibility of sending money to the wrong recipients.

Transfers with phone number only

From June 24th (through implementation by banks will be gradual) it will be possible to make transfers between national bank accounts (normal or immediate transfers) just by entering the beneficiary's mobile phone number.

In other words, what already happens on the MBWay network will happen in all transfers between national accounts, whether made through home banking, through the bank's app or over the counter.

If the beneficiary is a company, the person making the transfer may only indicate the NIPC (company tax identification number).

In this system, now called 'proxy lookup', users have to associate their mobile phone number (it can be a foreign mobile number) with an account.