What is Verification of Payee (VoP)?

The introduction of the Verification of Payee (VoP) service on 9 October 2025 will enhance the security of your euro transfers within the SEPA zone¹. Its implementation is part of a broader effort by the European Commission²to further secure payments within the European Union. This service will improve the fight against fraud (e.g. identity theft, transfers to fake suppliers) and reduce transfer errors due to incorrect entries.

Verification of Payee: how does it work?

When you enter a transfer, and before it is executed by your bank or payment service provider, VoP will automatically verify in real time that the beneficiary details entered (name and IBAN) match those held by the beneficiary's bank.

‘Match’: if the details match, you will receive a confirmation message and you can confirm your transfer as entered.
‘No Match’: if the details do not match, you will receive an alert. You should then check the transfer details.
‘Close Match’:in the event of a partial match, you will receive a message with the proposed name of the beneficiary.
‘Verification not possible’: if the verification service could not be performed for a technical reason, reasonably, for example, you will receive this message.

In the event of a mismatch (‘No Match’) or partial match (‘Close Match’), you can still decide to confirm the transfer without making any changes. In this case, you will be liable for any incorrect execution.

To avoid any risk, we recommend that you:

Do not validate the payment immediately.
Contact the beneficiary of the transfer directly via a verified channel (known telephone number, official website, certified email) to confirm their bank details.

As a business or institutional customer, you can opt out of the beneficiary verification service for your multiple transfers sent via file in Multiline by requesting an OPT-OUT. For more details on this option and how to set it up, please contact your Raiffeisen advisor.

Practical recommendations

As a payer:

Check that the names of your beneficiaries match the exact reasoned names appearing on the bank details or invoice.
Update your beneficiary lists in your systems (ERP, Isabel, MultiLine).
In the event of an alert, confirm the details via a reliable channel (official number, certified email).

As a payee:

Provide your customers with the exact name associated with your bank account (no acronyms or trade names).
Clearly add this name to your invoices and documents.

Points to note

Aliases or trade names may trigger alerts (‘close match’ or ‘no match’).
Payments to certain non-euro SEPA countries (e.g. Denmark, Poland, United Kingdom, Switzerland, etc.) may display ‘verification not possible’ until July 2027.
Fraudsters could exploit this new rule by sending false requests for account changes. Never change an IBAN without checking directly with the provider through a secure channel.

_{1 The list of SEPA member countries is available here:}_{https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/document-library/other/epc-list-sepa-scheme-countries}

_{2 The introduction of the Verification of Payee service is planned as part of EU Regulation 2024/886.}