Nomentia & Verification of Payee

Everything you need to know

Verification of Payee (VoP) is a fraud-prevention service designed to confirm that the account name and IBAN provided by a payer match the payee’s actual bank account details—before a payment is authorized or executed.  This added layer of verification is especially important for instant payments, which are both immediate and irrevocable, leaving little room to reverse fraudulent transactions. VoP helps ensure that funds are sent to the intended recipient, reducing the risk of fraud and misdirected payments.

VoP is being introduced across the EU as part of the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), effective from 9 October 2025 in euro-area countries. It applies to both SEPA and SEPA Instant payments.

How Verification of Payee works: 

1. You initiate the VoP request. 
2. A VoP check is performed before authorization.
3. You get a result: Match, Close Match, No Match, or Unavailable.
4. You choose whether to proceed, cancel, or investigate.

What VoP is solving:

• Fraud (especially Authorised Push Payment fraud)
• Mistyped beneficiary details
• Reputational risk due to misdirected payments

Nomentia payments: Status and roadmap

We’re actively preparing for full support of VoP within our payment solutions. Here’s a summary of our current status and upcoming roadmap:

What we support today

• Preparing our systems to send VoP requests to banks and display their responses.
• Testing support for Match, Close Match, and No Match result types.
• Ensuring payment approval is gated on VoP result handling.

What’s in progress

• Preparation for bank-specific ways to support VoP.
• VoP support for file-based payments and bulk uploads.
• Enhancements to audit trail and reporting for compliance teams.

What’s coming

• Support for VoP goes live ahead of the 9 October 2025 eurozone deadline for Payment Service Providers (PSPs). 
• Ongoing updates to support rollouts in non-euro countries by July 2027.
• Planned API enhancements for clients who prefer real-time integrations.

If you are already in an onboarding project or implementation cycle, our teams will ensure VoP capabilities are included in scope.

Timeline: Regulation & implementation milestones for PSPs

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

General understanding

• What is VoP and why is it being introduced?
  To prevent fraud and ensure accuracy by matching payee names with their IBANs before executing SEPA payments. While VoP helps confirm that funds are being sent to the correct recipient, payees can choose to either opt-in or opt-out of VoP.
  
• Is VoP mandatory?
  Yes, VoP is mandatory for banks for both instant and standard SEPA Credit Transfers, starting 9 October 2025 (Eurozone). However, there will be an option for customers to opt-in or opt-out for VoP.
• What types of payments are affected?
  SEPA Credit Transfers (standard and instant) bulk or single. Cross-border SWIFT payments are not in scope (yet).

Vendor data & internal processes

• How should we prepare our vendor master data?
  Ensure the beneficiary’s name in your ERP or TMS matches the official account holder name on file with their bank. Even small discrepancies (e.g., abbreviations, missing punctuation, “Ltd” vs. “Limited”) may trigger a "No Match" or "Close Match."
• How should we prepare for mismatches in bulk payments?
  Introduce a pre-validation step where VoP checks are run before sending files to banks. This lets you catch issues early without blocking the payment run.
• How should we adjust our invoice process?
  Ask vendors to include their legal name as registered with their bank on invoices. Cross-check this before onboarding them or making first-time payments. Likewise, make sure your own sales invoices clearly state your official account name to help customers pass Verification of Payee checks and ensure smooth receipt of payments.

Bank behavior & market differences

• Are all banks the same in how they implement VoP?
  No. Implementation, API responses, and validation logic may differ across banks and countries.
• What if a bank doesn’t support VoP?
  You may receive an “Unavailable” response. Some banks may allow you to proceed with extra risk disclosures.
• Who decides what qualifies as a ‘match’?
  The receiving bank evaluates the name-IBAN combination and responds based on their algorithm and risk tolerance.

Banking relationships

• How should we prepare for different bank implementations?
  Talk to your banks to understand their VoP rollout timelines and response formats. Some may return free-text descriptions; others use structured match codes.
• How should we prepare for banks that don’t support VoP yet?
  Treat these payments with extra caution. In most systems, a result like "Unavailable" won’t block the payment but will be logged for compliance.
• How should we align this with bank file formats?
  Verify that your payment files include clean beneficiary name fields and match the expected format for each bank.

Corporate process impact

• Will VoP block a payment?
  No, but systems can be configured to prevent approval if a VoP result is not “Match” or “Close Match.”
• Do I need to update my vendor master data?
  Yes. Beneficiary names should reflect the official account holder name to avoid delays or mismatches.
• Do I need to change my invoicing process?
  Ideally yes — make sure the company name printed on your invoices exactly matches the bank record.
• Can I opt out of VoP?
  For some file-based or bulk payments, yes. Opting out may shift liability to you, depending on your bank’s policy.
• Will VoP checks cost extra?
  Under IPR, VoP must be offered free of charge to the payer.

System configuration & TMS implications

• Will VoP require system configuration changes?
  Likely yes. Your TMS or ERP must capture VoP responses and handle exceptions prior to payment authorization.
• Is support planned for file-based VoP checks?
  Yes. You’ll be able to validate payment files before processing.
• Will your system store the VoP result in audit logs?
  Yes. VoP responses will be recorded along with user action (continue, cancel, override) for compliance traceability.
• What happens if there’s a partial match or no match?
  You’ll need to investigate before proceeding. Continuing with a payment after a “No Match” result is possible, but it increases your risk and may limit your recourse.

More questions? Get in touch