Introducing Paylist

Think about the last time you set up a new supplier, or got paid by a new customer. Somewhere in that process, a sort code and an account number were typed into an email, dropped into a PDF, or read out over the phone. Someone else retyped them into their accounting system. Nobody checked they were right, because there was no way to check.

That's the bit we couldn't get past. Invoicing moved online. Payments became instant. Accounting became a browser tab. But the eight digits that decide where the money actually lands are still passed around like a phone number scribbled on a napkin.

What goes wrong

Quite a lot, as it turns out, and most of it is invisible until it's expensive:

• Fraud. A convincing email saying "we've changed banks" is all it takes to redirect a payment run. There's no way to tell it apart from a genuine one.
• Typos. Details get rekeyed at every hop between the business that owns them and the system that pays them. Each hop is a chance to transpose two digits.
• Stale records. A business changes bank and has to tell every customer individually. Most of them find out when a payment bounces.
• Chasing. Onboarding a supplier means sending a form, chasing the form, and then chasing the missing field on the form.

What Paylist is

Paylist is a verified directory of UK business bank details. You list your business once. We check it against Companies House, validate the bank account behind it — including Confirmation of Payee, where the check is available — and a member of our team reviews the result. Once you're verified, your account gets a Paylist number: five digits that stand in for your payment details.

Ask for a Paylist number, not a bank detail form.

A Paylist number is safe to put in an email, quote on an invoice, or paste into a supplier onboarding ticket. On its own it can't be used to pay anyone. It's a pointer to a verified business, not a set of credentials.

How it works

• List your business and bank account, and get verified.
• Share your Paylist number with the people who pay you, instead of your account details.
• They look you up and see your business with its details masked — enough to know it's you, never enough to pay someone else.
• They request the full details, and you approve or decline. Every request and approval is recorded.
• The approved details go straight into their accounting software as a contact. Nobody retypes anything.

Private by default

Being listed doesn't mean being exposed. New accounts start private: other verified businesses can find you and see a masked account, but your full sort code and account number are released only when you approve a specific request. If you'd rather your details were available to any verified user without that step, you can choose that instead — and change your mind, or withdraw access you've already granted, at any point.

It fits what you already use

Paylist connects to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and FreeAgent, so payment details flow into the system you actually work in rather than sitting in yet another tool. Accountants can manage every client from one login. Employers can collect employee payment details the same way, without the spreadsheet.

What Paylist isn't

We're not a bank and not a payment provider. We don't move money, hold funds, or take payments on anyone's behalf. Paylist makes sure the right details reach the right people — what you do with them afterwards happens in your bank, exactly as it does today.

Getting started

Listing your business takes a few minutes. Once you're verified, share your Paylist number with the customers and suppliers you already work with, and invite the ones who aren't on Paylist yet. The directory gets more useful with every business on it — which is a good reason to be an early one.