Description of the Pay a Contact Register

The Czech National Bank operates a Pay a Contact Register (hereinafter the “Register”). The CNB’s main role is to offer a technical solution for the use of the Pay a Contact service by direct participants in the CERTIS system (i.e. banks in the Interbank Payment System). The CNB does not operate the Pay a Contact service itself.

The main purpose of the Register is to manage pairs of mobile telephone numbers and account numbers, including account names. Only direct CERTIS participants who have fulfilled the pre-defined conditions for joining and using the Register’s services may gain access to the Register. Joining the Register is not mandatory for CERTIS participants. The description of the Register’s services and rules is laid down in the Rules of the CERTIS Payment System, in particular Annex 8. Communication takes place between the Register and its participants using secure web services.

The Register maintains profiles consisting of an account number, a mobile telephone number and an account name. A request to create or delete a profile is sent to the Register by a participating bank. The bank sends this data to the Register based on a client request. The data from a profile in the Register allow banks participating in the Register to enable their clients to issue a payment order based on the knowledge of the recipient’s telephone number – the Pay a Contact service. A client of a bank participating in the Register fills in the payment order, giving a telephone number of the recipient instead of his or her account number. The bank then sends a request to the Register to identify the recipients’ account number. If the Register finds the corresponding profile on the basis of the telephone number, it sends an account number and an account name back to the bank. Based on the account number, the bank sends a payment order to CERTIS in the form of a credit transfer or instant payment. It takes just milliseconds for the Register to respond to a bank’s enquiry.

The Register can store several telephone numbers for one account number. However, it cannot assign multiple account numbers to one telephone number.

The Pay a Contact service is operated by the participants of the Register themselves (i.e. banks). As participation in the Register is voluntary, not all banks offer the Pay a Contact service. Pay a Contact payments may be received by clients of participating banks who have actively arranged this service with their bank and paired their telephone number with their bank account. Payers may enter their telephone number instead of their account number when sending money to the users of this service. Telephone numbers not included in the Register will not be able to receive Pay a Contact payments.

The maximum amount of one payment is CZK 5,000. The minimum amount is CZK 1. Pay a Contact payments can only be made in Czech koruna.

The Register’s services have been prepared by the Czech Banking Association in cooperation with the CNB. The list of banks (pdf, 199 kB, in Czech only) participating in the Register and the Rules of the Register are available on the CNB website. The standard for the Pay a Contact service can be found on the CBA website (in Czech only).

To prevent financial fraud, the Czech National Bank recommends that bank clients only send money to people they know and trust. They should be particularly wary of unsolicited and potentially fraudulent requests for money. As payments become faster and more convenient, clients can also lose their money more quickly. More information on how to protect against financial fraud can be found on the CNB educational website PenizeNaUteku.cz under Podvody (in Czech only).