From the 1st of May 2025, purpose codes will be mandatory for CHAPS payments, in line with new Bank of England regulations.

What's Changed?

New Requirement for ABS Clients:

All GBP payments to the United Kingdom now require a purpose code.

New Requirement for RM Clients:

GBP payments over 1,000,000 GBP to the United Kingdom now require a purpose code.

Retrieving Purpose Codes:

You can use the GET /v1/payments/purpose-of-payment endpoint to retrieve the appropriate purpose codes for GBP transactions.

Impact & Action Required

If you are processing GBP payments to the UK as an ABS client, ensure that a valid purpose code is included in your payment request.

If you are an RM client sending GBP payments above 1,000,000 GBP, you must also provide a purpose code.

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You will need to update your integrations accordingly to fetch and include purpose codes when required.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please get in touch with our support team at [email protected]

Happy building! 🚀

The Alpha API Development Team