Paystack Verification API — KYC verification tools for resolving bank accounts, validating account ownership, and looking up card BIN information. Use this skill whenever verifying bank account details before transfers, confirming account holder names, validating customer identity for compliance, looking up card brand/type/bank from BIN, or implementing KYC flows. Also use when you see references to /bank/resolve, /bank/validate, /decision/bin endpoints, or need to match account numbers to names.

Paystack Verification

The Verification API provides KYC tools for account resolution, validation, and card BIN lookups.

Depends on: paystack-setup for the paystackRequest helper.
Related: paystack-miscellaneous for fetching bank codes.

Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	`/bank/resolve`	Resolve account number to name
POST	`/bank/validate`	Validate account ownership
GET	`/decision/bin/:bin`	Resolve card BIN

Resolve Account Number

Confirm an account belongs to the right customer. Returns the account holder's name.

Param	Type	Required	Description
`account_number`	string	Yes	Bank account number
`bank_code`	string	Yes	Bank code (from List Banks endpoint)

const resolved = await paystackRequest<{
  account_number: string;
  account_name: string;
}>("/bank/resolve?account_number=0022728151&bank_code=063");
// resolved.data.account_name → "WES GIBBONS"

Verify Before Transfer Pattern

async function verifyAccountBeforeTransfer(
  accountNumber: string,
  bankCode: string,
  expectedName: string
) {
  const resolved = await paystackRequest<{
    account_number: string;
    account_name: string;
  }>(`/bank/resolve?account_number=${accountNumber}&bank_code=${bankCode}`);

  const resolvedName = resolved.data.account_name.toLowerCase();
  const expected = expectedName.toLowerCase();

  if (!resolvedName.includes(expected)) {
    throw new Error(
      `Account name mismatch: "${resolved.data.account_name}" does not match "${expectedName}"`
    );
  }

  return resolved.data;
}

Validate Account

Full account validation with identity document verification. Use before sending money.

Param	Type	Required	Description
`account_name`	string	Yes	Customer's first and last name
`account_number`	string	Yes	Account number
`account_type`	string	Yes	`personal` or `business`
`bank_code`	string	Yes	Bank code
`country_code`	string	Yes	Two-letter ISO code (e.g. `NG`, `ZA`, `GH`)
`document_type`	string	Yes	`identityNumber`, `passportNumber`, or `businessRegistrationNumber`
`document_number`	string	No	Identity document number

const validation = await paystackRequest<{
  verified: boolean;
  verificationMessage: string;
  accountAcceptsDebits: boolean;
  accountAcceptsCredits: boolean;
  accountHolderMatch: boolean;
  accountOpen: boolean;
}>("/bank/validate", {
  method: "POST",
  body: JSON.stringify({
    bank_code: "632005",
    country_code: "ZA",
    account_number: "0123456789",
    account_name: "Ann Bron",
    account_type: "personal",
    document_type: "identityNumber",
    document_number: "1234567890123",
  }),
});
// validation.data.verified → true
// validation.data.verificationMessage → "Account is verified successfully"

Resolve Card BIN

Get card brand, type, and issuing bank from the first 6 digits of a card number:

const card = await paystackRequest<{
  bin: string;
  brand: string;
  sub_brand: string;
  country_code: string;
  country_name: string;
  card_type: string; // "DEBIT" | "CREDIT"
  bank: string;
}>("/decision/bin/539983");
// card.data.brand → "Mastercard"
// card.data.card_type → "DEBIT"
// card.data.bank → "Guaranty Trust Bank"