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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

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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.

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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
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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
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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
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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.
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Frequently asked questions – FAQ

Verification of Payee is the EU's payee name-checking service. It confirms that the payee's name matches the IBAN before a SEPA payment is made, reducing fraud and misdirected payments. It is the European counterpart to the UK's Confirmation of Payee and is built on the European Payments Council (EPC) scheme.

Under the EU Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), payment service providers in the euro area must offer Verification of Payee from 9 October 2025, with PSPs in non-euro EU member states following by 2027. The mandate covers both instant and standard euro credit transfers. obconnect is live and ready to deliver VoP from day one.

Yes - many UK institutions are in scope in practice. Any UK firm that makes euro SEPA payments, operates an EU entity, or serves customers paying into the euro area needs to interact with the VoP framework. obconnect supports both the Request and Respond roles, so UK providers can comply whichever side of the transaction they are on.

obconnect provides real-time, API-first VoP that is FAPI-compliant and OpenID-based, pre-tested against the EPC's Rulebook, API specification and YAML. It connects to the EPC Directory Service (managed by SWIFT) and to third-party Routing Verification Mechanisms (RVMs), and integrates with core banking platforms including T24, Finastra, TCS, Phoebus and SaaScada.

obconnect built and operates payee-verification systems at national scale, processing over 215 million checks a year, and applies advanced, multilingual name-matching logic so match rates stay high across diverse European populations. Every obconnect implementation is live and proven, with the lowest downtime in the market and no need for maintenance windows.

obconnect delivers VoP with a detailed implementation plan and hands-on support, drawing on a 100% delivery record across the UK, EU, New Zealand and the Middle East. With the IPR deadline already in force, obconnect prioritises rapid, compliant deployment for both first-time implementations and providers expanding across jurisdictions.