Paying by proxy
A proxy is a mobile number, an email address, or a customer identifier that a person registers with their own bank. It stands in for their bank account number.
You can pay a customer using only their proxy. You never learn their account number, and they never have to give it to you.
Capture a proxy beneficiary
The customer must already exist as a counterparty. A proxy tells you a name, not a party — so you attach it to someone you already know.
- Open the counterparty’s Beneficiaries panel.
- Select Add Beneficiary — see adding a beneficiary.
- Choose the mobile, email, or customer-identifier type.
- Enter the proxy.
- Select Check name.
- Read the name back to the customer.
- Select Save.
The beneficiary is saved with no account number, because none was ever known.
Why you confirm the name
Mobile numbers get reassigned. An instant payment to a reassigned number cannot be recalled.
The scheme’s answer is a fact with a time, not a stored truth. So the name is checked twice: once when you capture the proxy, and again when the payment is sent.
| When the two names differ | What happens |
|---|---|
| At capture | The save is refused, and you see the name the scheme holds |
| At send | The payment is stopped, and you see both names |
If a payment stops this way, confirm with the customer who should be paid, then capture the proxy again.
When a payment cannot be addressed
An instant rail caps how much it will carry. A proxy beneficiary has no account number behind the proxy, so a payment over the cap has nothing to fall back to.
The payment is still recorded. It appears in the account’s direct credits marked Cannot be addressed, with the cap it went over.
To fix it:
- Ask the customer for their bank details.
- Add them as an ordinary external account.
- Raise the payment again against that account.
Nothing is lost and nothing stops. End of day carries on, and the payment is waiting for you the next morning in the screen you already open.
Two ways a proxy appears
The same word covers two different facts, depending on which direction the money moves.
| Direction | What the proxy is |
|---|---|
| You pay someone | Their proxy is how you address them, and it is all you hold |
| Someone pays you | Your bank account is registered under one or more proxies |
Your organisation’s own bank accounts stay single records. You add proxies to them from the account’s own screen, alongside the account number.
Proxy types
| Type | What you enter |
|---|---|
| Mobile number | An international number, for example +27 82 123 4567 |
| Email address | The address registered with the scheme |
| Customer identifier | The identifier the scheme issued |
Mobile numbers are stored in international format, so the same number entered two
ways is recognised as one proxy. This follows the ISO 20022 proxy account type code
set — see the standards register row for
ISO 20022 — ExternalProxyAccountType1Code.
What your organisation configures
- Which addressing standards are allowed. Proxy capture only appears when your organisation permits it. An administrator sets this in settings.
- Which rails carry proxy payments, and their limits. A proxy payment goes out on an instant rail, and instant rails usually cap the amount.
- Whether the Proxy Payments feature is licensed at all.