Two years ago, obconnect was lucky enough to begin working with Zopa Bank.
They’d come to obconnect to migrate away from their existing Confirmation of Payee provider. The reasons were their own. But we knew they needed an expedited delivery. What mattered was the brief: move them onto obconnect’s CoP, cleanly and quickly, without drama.
This week marks two years since obconnect published the blog announcing that partnership. Time flies. Zopa now sits alongside one other bank – Oxbury – with a similar record in obconnect towers: both were onboarded in under two weeks.
Two weeks. Not two quarters. Not “sometime after the next change freeze”. Two weeks.
And here’s the part that obconnect is proudest of: both remain clients today. It’s a genuine pleasure to have them on board.
CoP renewals are a cycle – and the cycle is turning
obconnect is seeing a lot of CoP activity at the moment, and that’s no accident. Those enthusiastic contracts signed in the first wave have aged quickly, and a fair number of institutions are now hitting renewal. It’s a natural moment to look around and ask whether the current setup is still the right one. It’s also pretty prudent to have a look at some of those early commercials….
The thing that holds banks back isn’t usually the decision. It’s the dread. Changing a payment-critical service feels expensive and slow – the sort of project that swallows a year and a roadmap with it. So the renewal quietly rolls over, not because it’s the best option, but because change feels like the bigger risk.
Zopa and Oxbury proved that simply isn’t true.
Speed and excellence don’t have to be a trade-off
The reason those clients being onboarded took under two weeks wasn’t luck, and it wasn’t corner-cutting. It was the combination that made hard things go smoothly: a rich, detailed plan, and a genuinely good working relationship on both sides.
When you have both, something rare happens – speed can collide with excellence. Most projects force you to pick one. Get it fast, and you’ll pay for it later; get it right, and you’ll wait forever. A clear plan and a trusting partnership collapse that trade-off. The result is quick and good.
That’s not an obconnect-only trick, either. It takes two. obconnect delivered because it was working with excellent clients, as, frankly, all of them are.
The takeaway
If CoP renewal is on your horizon and the prospect has felt like a long, costly migration, take Zopa and Oxbury as evidence to the contrary. With the right plan and the right partner, change is neither slow nor expensive. Whether it’s a new initiative like Oxbury or an existing migration like Zopa.
It can, in fact, be a pleasure.
Read the original announcement: Zopa Bank partners with obconnect for Confirmation of Payee (CoP).
obconnect provides Confirmation of Payee, Verification of Payee and Open Banking technology to banks, building societies, corporates and regulators worldwide. If a CoP renewal or migration is on your horizon, get in touch – it’s quicker than you think.
