Use this page to understand what the checker can prove, where evidence comes from, and when you should escalate to direct bank confirmation.
The current stack includes Open Banking branch data, Vocalink fallback coverage, Pay.UK overlays, FCA Register evidence where a reliable institution match is available, and supporting directory evidence layers.
All external records are standardized into local tables so institution, branch, location, validation, and overlay fields can be interpreted consistently.
Checker pages and directories read from the latest promoted dataset snapshot, not from live browser-side calls to upstream providers.
If a layer is missing, blocked, stale, or not reliable for a field, we show partial, limited, or unknown states rather than silently inventing certainty.
Some institutions appear without branch rows. Those records are published through a branchless model with regulatory, overlay, validation, or service-point evidence instead of branch counts.
For high-value, urgent, or sensitive payments, direct confirmation with the bank or payee remains the final authority.
Trust Boundary
These boundaries are applied consistently across the checker and directory pages.
Freshness reflects the age of the promoted site dataset, not guaranteed real-time change timing for every upstream provider.
Partial runs may still publish with caveats when policy allows safe promotion.
This tool does not confirm whether a bank account exists, is open, or belongs to a specific person or business.
For high-risk decisions, confirm details directly with the bank, payee, or FCA Register before sending money.
Data Layers
Different layers provide different levels of certainty. Branch-level evidence, institution-level overlays, and regulatory enrichment are not equivalent.
Open Banking branch data is the primary branch-level evidence layer for institution, branch name, and city metadata where providers publish it.
Vocalink fallback coverage can provide lower-detail validation context when branch-level detail is unavailable.
Pay.UK participant overlays can enrich institution-level scheme and capability context, but overlay evidence alone is not treated as branch proof.
The FCA says the Financial Services Register is the official public record of firms and other bodies that are or have been authorised or registered by the FCA or PRA. This site uses Register evidence as one regulatory layer where a reliable institution match is available.
The FCA also provides Register API access through its developer portal. The FCA notes that the API is currently free of charge and does not come with an uptime guarantee or SLA, so this site never treats FCA-linked data as a substitute for direct review.
Authorised and registered are not treated as the same thing here, and this is not a blanket claim that every published institution is FCA-linked today.
All incoming layer records are normalized, merged, and promoted into local tables before publication so page output remains stable and auditable.
Checker, bank hub, and city pages are served from the active public snapshot. Service-point or broader presence rows are separated from branch-linked certainty when needed.
Unknown and limited states are deliberate trust controls. They prevent this product from pretending certainty when branch-level evidence is missing or conflicting.
Freshness is tied to successful local sync and promotion, then exposed through the currently active published snapshot.
The displayed sync time represents the latest successful promoted dataset time available to this site.
Provider-side changes can occur between upstream refreshes and local publication.
Use these routes for correction requests, stale-data reporting, trust objections, and methodology questions.
Return to the checker for branch-level validation, then use bank and city pages when you need broader coverage context.
Related Tools
Use one route at a time based on your immediate job: validate a code, compare directories, or resolve trust objections.