What is Verification of Payee?
A real-time check that confirms the payee's name belongs to the IBAN before a SEPA payment is sent — so money reaches the right person, not a fraudster or a typo.
The name behind the IBAN, confirmed before you pay
Verification of Payee (VoP) — also known as Confirmation of Payee — is a service that checks whether the name entered for a payment actually belongs to the IBAN the money is going to.
Before the transfer is authorised, the payer's bank asks the payee's bank a simple question: "does this name match this account?". The answer comes back in under a second, so the payer can continue with confidence, fix a typo, or stop.
It is the single most effective defence against misdirected payments and authorised push payment (APP) fraud — and, under the EU Instant Payments Regulation, it must be offered free of charge on euro credit transfers.
Verification of Payee in 4 steps
VoP plugs into the existing payment flow through the EPC scheme and standardised APIs — nothing changes in how customers pay.
The payer enters the details
Name and IBAN are typed in or pulled from an invoice, exactly as in a normal transfer.
The payee's bank is asked
A secure request goes to the beneficiary's PSP through the VoP scheme to compare the name against the account.
A result in under a second
Match, close match, no match, or not possible — returned in real time, before authorisation.
The payer decides, informed
With a clear answer on screen, the payer confirms, corrects the name, or stops the payment.
Four clear answers, every time
VoP results are standardised across Europe, so the payer always gets an unambiguous signal.
Match
The name matches the IBAN. Safe to send with confidence.
Close match
Almost right — the verified name is suggested so the payer can confirm or correct it.
No match
The name does not belong to this IBAN. A strong signal to stop and double-check.
Not possible
The payee's bank can't verify right now. The payer decides whether to proceed.
Paying with VoP vs. without it
The same transfer, with and without a payee check just before the point of no return.
| At the moment of payment | Without VoP | With VoP |
|---|---|---|
| Payee name checked | No — only the IBAN is used | Yes — name vs IBAN, in real time |
| Typo in the IBAN | Money can leave to a stranger | Mismatch caught before authorisation |
| APP / impersonation fraud | Hard to detect | A name mismatch exposes it |
| Instant Payments Regulation | Non-compliant | Requirement met |
| Payer confidence | Uncertain | A clear "name verified" signal |
One check, value for everyone in the payment
The same mechanism protects every party — only the perspective changes.
Banks & PSPs
Meet the Instant Payments Regulation, join the EPC VoP scheme, and offer verification to account holders through clean APIs.
Businesses & treasuries
Validate supplier and payroll IBANs before paying, cutting the risk of invoice-redirection fraud.
Payers & customers
A clear answer before sending money — reassurance that the transfer is going where it should.
Verification of Payee, in plain terms
Short answers, no jargon.
It is the same idea: checking that the payee name matches the account before a payment. "Confirmation of Payee" is the term used in the UK; "Verification of Payee" is the European scheme governed by the European Payments Council (EPC).
No. VoP is built for instant payments and returns a result in well under a second, before the payer authorises the transfer. The payment experience stays fast.
When the name is almost right — a missing middle name, a legal vs trading name — the service can return the verified name as a suggestion, so the payer confirms or corrects without guessing.
No. VoP is informative: it gives a clear answer, but the decision to send, fix, or stop stays with the payer. That is exactly why it is so effective against social-engineering scams.
The service only compares the name against the account and returns a match result — it does not expose the full account-holder details. Data is processed within the EU and in line with GDPR.
Keep reading
Add Verification of Payee to your payment flow
Talk to us about joining the EPC VoP scheme and going live before the regulatory deadlines.