Verification of payee (VOP)
What is verification of payee (VOP)?
Verification of payee (VOP) is a check that confirms the payee name a payer has entered matches the name held on the account behind the , before a credit transfer is sent. The payer's asks the payee's provider to compare the two and returns the result while the payer can still cancel.
VOP was introduced by the EU Instant Payments Regulation and is operated through the European Payments Council's Verification Of Payee scheme rulebook, which entered into force on 5 October 2025. It addresses misdirected transfers and authorised push payment , where a payer is persuaded to send money to an account that isn't the intended one. A credit transfer settles to whatever account number is supplied and has no chargeback route back, so the name check has to happen before the payer authorises the payment.
Key requirements
- Scope: credit transfers in euro across , both instant and standard
- Who must offer it: banks, payment institutions and e-money institutions that provide credit transfers
- When: before the payer authorises the payment, and at no extra charge to the payer
- Response types: match, close match (with the name on the account returned), no match, and verification not possible
- Also known as: payee verification. The UK equivalent is Confirmation of Payee
- Governing texts: Regulation (EU) 2024/886 and the EPC Verification Of Payee scheme rulebook
How it works
- The payer enters the details. Payee name plus IBAN, in online banking, a mobile app or an initiated file.
- The requesting provider sends the query. The payer's provider routes a VOP request to the payee's provider through a routing and verification mechanism that can reach any scheme participant.
- The responding provider compares. The payee's provider matches the submitted name against the name registered on that account.
- The result comes back. Match, close match, no match, or verification not possible, returned within seconds so the payment flow isn't interrupted.
- The payer decides. On a close match the correct name is shown; on a no match the payer gets a warning and chooses whether to continue. Where a warning was given and the payer proceeds anyway, the regulation limits the provider's liability for the resulting loss.
Who it applies to
Payment service providers in euro-area member states have had to offer VOP since 9 October 2025. Providers in non-euro EU member states follow on 9 July 2027 for the euro credit transfers they handle. Coverage follows the currency and the corridor rather than the sending institution's size, so a small payment institution handling euro transfers into SEPA carries the same obligation as a large bank.
The obligation sits with the payer's provider to offer the check, and with the payee's provider to answer requests, so a provider that only receives transfers is still in scope as a responding participant. Corporate and retail channels are both covered, which means bulk file submission and single payments each need a verification path. VOP sits alongside the authentication duties introduced under , including , and covers a different failure: the payer authenticates correctly but pays the wrong account.
Penalties for non-compliance
Enforcement runs through national competent authorities, which apply penalties set under national law rather than a single EU-wide fine schedule. Supervisory measures and administrative fines are the usual instruments, and they apply to providers that fail to offer the check as well as to those that fail to respond to incoming requests.
A provider that can't answer VOP requests also returns "verification not possible" to every counterparty that queries it, which puts a visible warning in front of payers sending money to its accounts.
