Verification of Payee Powered by trust

obconnect’s Verification of Payee (VoP) solution empowers PSPs to strengthen payment security, meet regulatory mandates, and protect customers across SEPA. With scalable APIs and unmatched domain expertise, we support your compliance from day one

What is Verification of Payee?

Verification of Payee (VoP) is a mandatory name-checking service that ensures the payee’s name matches the account number (IBAN) before a payment is executed. Mandated under the EU Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), VoP will be compulsory for all SEPA PSPs offering euro credit transfers – both instant and standard – from 5 October 2025.

The aim

Reduce Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud and misdirected payments by verifying recipient details in real time.

VoP has been modeled closely on the UK’s Confirmation of Payee (CoP), which has processed over 8 billion checks to date. The European Payment Council’s (EPC) version adopts an API-first approach, requiring all participating PSPs to interact directly or via an RVM (Routing Verification Mechanism).

The scheme includes a published Rulebook, API specification, character sets, and a Directory Service (EDS) managed by SWIFT.

obconnect supports both Request and Respond roles in the VoP framework and is prepared to deliver from day one.

Why obconnect?

Our solution is designed to support banks and PSP’s with VoP compliance, resilience, and scalability from the outset. obconnect has a proven track record in delivering real-time, API-first payee verification solutions globally and is ready to enable your VoP rollout with speed and certainty.

Proven provider of trust-based products globally

obconnect has delivered CoP and Open Banking systems across the UK, Europe, and APAC, processing over 215 million verification checks annually. Including services for a sovereign nation

100% delivery record across global markets

From the UK and New Zealand to the Middle East and EU, we serve Tier 1 banks, building societies, and regulators with consistent, compliant deployments

Localised solutions in multiple European languages

While the VoP character set is normalised (e.g. Ö → O), our experience with multilingual populations and name-matching logic ensures strong match rates across diverse demographics. Our business has vast language skills so we lose nothing in translation

Enterprise-ready APIs trusted at scale

FAPI-compliant, OpenID-based, and cloud-native – our real-time VoP APIs are compatible with core banking systems including TCS, SaaScada, Pheobus, T24, and Finastra as well as many others

Key factors for success

Launching Verification of Payee successfully depends on aligning technical capabilities, operational preparedness, and regulatory context. These are the key success factors that we see across all successful VoP rollouts:

Internal needs

Strong internal coordination is critical, from compliance to infrastructure. Ensure your legal, risk, and technical teams are aligned on VoP’s mandatory nature, implementation timeline, and scope. We will present you with a plan for your activity as well as our deliverables. We will work with your teams as a partner and trusted ally

External needs

Stakeholder collaboration is key. External dependencies like API connectivity to the EPC Directory Service (EDS), interactions with third-party RVMs, and regulatory disclosures must be understood early. We are trust framework experts and have delivered and connected to many

Resource

Plan for ongoing configuration, monitoring, and refinement of your name-matching logic. obconnect offers support to fine-tune match confidence thresholds and handle edge-case scenarios. The roadmap for engagement is ongoing. The true work starts when VoP is live

Focus

Treat VoP not just as a regulatory obligation but as a customer protection enhancement. Banks that take a user-first approach to VoP will see fewer errors, lower fraud rates, and higher satisfaction

The obconnect difference

Trusted by the world’s leading financial institutions and corporates, obconnect is not only one of the original CoP vendors in the UK – we’re now leading the charge on VoP implementation in Europe.

What sets us apart:

Real-time, API-first VoP solution used by organisations like you
Seamless integration with core banking platforms, proven experience of doing so
Every one of our implementations is live and functional. We are proven at our task
Pre-tested against EPC VoP specs, Rulebook, and YAML
The lowest down time in market, no need for maintenance windows
Strategic partner who can deliver much more than just VoP
24/7/365 technical and operational support, including triaged ticketing and rapid resolution protocols
Robust data security with ISO27001, SOC2 Type I & II, Cyber Essentials, and DORA compliance

Explore further

API & Tech spec request

Our technical documentation provides full API endpoints, integration flow diagrams, field validation logic, error handling, and guidance on dynamic registration

Gain strategic insights into VoP’s regulatory foundations, its relationship to CoP, architectural best practices, and the key decision points PSPs must consider

Delivering VoP with confidence

Verification of Payee is fast becoming a cornerstone of secure, compliant banking in Europe. With the EPC mandate drawing closer, the time to act is now. obconnect is already working with PSPs to achieve VoP compliance and readiness. Whether you’re preparing your first implementation or expanding your reach across jurisdictions, we provide the tools, expertise, and support to ensure success. Let’s make your VoP rollout seamless, scalable, and compliant from day one.