Tanda's Josh Cameron joined a Zepto webinar in April 2026 to discuss how Tanda uses Zepto Validate to reduce the anxiety and downstream chaos of mistaken payroll payments.
By overlaying Zepto’s proprietary payment intelligence across the name matching capabilities of Confirmation of Payee (CoP), Zepto Validate helps protect against scams and mistaken payments.
Australia's payroll systems process over 20 million individual salary and wage payments every fortnight worth some $50 Billion. It's a high stakes environment with little tolerance for mistakes.
The ‘first’ fortnight for Aussie businesses using trusted payroll service providers like Tanda can be a high-anxiety journey. For employees, there’s the anticipation of that first pay run. For the payroll officer, there’s the quiet dread: Did we get their bank details right?
To unpack this a bit more, Zepto’s Suzie Slingsby (Head of Strategic Growth) and Jaimie Wistaff (Senior Solutions Engineer) sat down with Josh Cameron, Chief Strategy Officer at Tanda, to discuss how Tanda is using Zepto Validate to reduce that anxiety and protect thousands of Aussie businesses from the downstream chaos of mistaken payments.
The ‘Checking’ Problem: Why Data Integrity Matters
In Australia, we’ve long relied on BSB and Account numbers. But as Josh Cameron pointed out, these numbers are prone to the ‘fat-finger’ effect. Even worse is the ‘account name’ minefield during new employee onboarding.
"Some new employees think that ‘account name’ should be something for their own reference, like 'checking' or 'savings'," Josh shared during the webinar.
"At one stage, nearly 50% of people were putting in non-identifying names. When that payment bounces back, our poor clients were sitting there trying to work out: 'Checking’s account bounced back. Who is that? And how do we get him this money?'"
Josh Cameron
This isn't just a minor admin hiccup. One incorrect account name or detail can trigger hours of manual rework, delayed wages, and a compliance headache. For a company with a thousand employees, that’s a real issue. And an expensive one.
By embedding Zepto Validate into their onboarding flow, Tanda has shifted the window from "hoping it’s right" to "knowing it’s right."
Friction vs. Protection: The Great Flip
A common fear with adding security steps is ‘friction’—the idea that users will abandon a process if it’s too hard. However, Jaimie Wistaff argued that Zepto Validate flips this narrative.
Instead of adding steps, it adds confidence.
“End users don't really notice it, which is actually what you want. It’s a crucial step, and it’s barely visible. At the end of the day, it’s changing the conversation around adding a security layer which is often seen as a source of complexity”, said Jaimie.
“Zepto Validate flips that on its head. Instead of unnecessary friction, it adds a competitive advantage: the initiators know that funds are going where they should; the payers are confident they're sending funds to the right person; and payees have the confidence of knowing that they’ll reliably receive their funds.”
Jaimie Wistaff
For Tanda, payment security is less of a hurdle with Zepto Validate; it’s a feature that differentiates Tanda from legacy payroll systems.
Not All Look-ups Are Created Equal
While CoP returns a ‘traffic light’ response (Match, Close Match, No Match) to bank account name look-up queries, Zepto Validate goes deeper. As a Connected Institution to AP+, Zepto doesn’t just proxy the rails; it layers its proprietary intelligence on top.
Jaimie explained how ‘Close Match’ responses showcase the Zepto Validate proposition well.
"Depending on the vertical, a Close Match might be enough to proceed, or it might require manual intervention," Jaimie noted.
"Zepto Validate provides actionable intelligence—like identifying if it’s a joint or individual bank account—to help merchants make educated risk decisions."
The ROI: Peace of Mind as a Product
For Tanda, the return on investment isn't just about the cents saved per transaction; it’s about the customer experience.
- For Tanda: It creates a "nicer experience", as Josh put it, higher data integrity, and clear differentiation in a crowded HR tech market.
- For Tanda’s Customers: It reduces risk and rework (the hours-long chase for bounced funds), and provides peace of mind during the most stressful part of the business cycle: the first pay run.
“I think it's mostly peace of mind. It's peace of mind during those first two weeks for employers who don't have to worry about whether the right people are going to receive their wages in the right account. It reduces stress, and provides peace of mind during that first couple of pay runs. It's really just a better control. That's where people are seeing the most value,” says Josh.
The Bottom Line
As the Australian financial ecosystem evolves, Zepto Validate is increasingly being recognised as a foundational component for businesses across a range of use cases and verticals. It’s a tool that allows businesses to move fast without breaking things—or, in Tanda's case, to move fast and help ensure the right person gets paid, every single time.
Zepto Validate is accessible via the Zepto API as a standalone service.