In March 2024, the European Parliament adopted the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), introducing the concept of Verification of Payee (VoP) into European law.
The IPR pushes for widespread adoption of SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (SCT Inst), ensuring that payments become faster and continuously available.
However, this speed raises fraud risks, prompting the European Commission to propose a new framework for securing payments at scale. Verification of Payee (VoP) is one of the key solutions to limit payment fraud and enhance transparency.
Sometimes called ‘IBAN x Name check’, VoP checks whether the beneficiary’s name matches the beneficiary’s bank account. This mechanism will become mandatory across Europe in October 2025 for all SCT Inst and SCT.
The Instant Payment Regulation is rolling out progressively. A key milestone is January 2025, when instant credit transfers became free for individuals in many European countries. This accelerates usage but makes fraud control more challenging requiring rapid implementation of verification of the transfer beneficiary.
| | Receiving Instant Payments | Sending Instant Payments | Providing Verification of Payee | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Euro area Member States | | | | | Banks | 9 January 2025 | 9 October 2025 | 9 October 2025 | | EMI | 9 April 2027 | 9 April 2027 | 9 October 2025 | | PI | 9 April 2027 | 9 April 2027 | 9 October 2025 | | Non-euro area Member States | | | | | Banks | 9 January 2027 | 9 July 2027 | 9 July 2027 | | EMI | 9 April 2027 | 9 April 2027 | 9 July 2027 | | PI | 9 April 2027 | 9 April 2027 | 9 July 2027 |
October 2025 - Euro area member states : Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain.
July 2027 - Non-Euro area member states: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden.
Not mandatory - Other countries in the SEPA Zone: Albania, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Vatican City.
The PSPs are responsible to execute and respond to VoP requests on behalf of their clients.