Verification of Payee

Verification of Payee (VOP) is a mandatory service introduced under the EU Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) requiring PSPs to verify that the name of a payment recipient matches the IBAN or account identifier provided by the payer before executing a credit transfer. VOP was introduced to address fraud and misdirected payments, cases where a payer is deceived or makes an error in entering payee account details, resulting in funds being sent to the wrong recipient. 

VOP became mandatory for PSPs across several Eurozone countries on 9 October 2025, the first major deadline under the Instant Payments Regulation. From this date, PSPs offering Euro instant payment sending services must provide their customers acting as payers with a VOP check before authorising a credit transfer. Deadlines for non-Eurozone EU member states and for additional credit transfer types are phased in according to the IPR implementation timeline.

LUXHUB’s Payee Verification Platform is an EPC VOP Scheme-compliant solution designed to help PSPs across Europe comply with the Instant Payments Regulation’s Verification of Payee requirement. The platform provides two complementary services: VOP Service Provision, which enables PSPs to expose and manage a real-time name-and-account-details verification service as the Responding PSP; and VOP Unified Access, which offers payer PSPs a single gateway to access VOP verification services made available to Requesting  PSPs across Europe.

A Routing Verification Mechanism (RVM) is a technical provider that enables connectivity and inter-operability to payee PSPs to receive and respond to VOP verification requests in compliance with the EPC VOP Scheme. LUXHUB’s Payee Verification Platform acts as an EPC VOP Scheme-compliant RVM, handling all technical exchanges, name matching, and response generation required under the scheme on behalf of its client PSPs. By acting as a RVM, LUXHUB enables multiple PSPs to comply without each building and maintaining their own individual infrastructure. 

The Payee Verification Platform delivers two complementary services. VOP Service Provision supports PSPs in their role as the account-holding institution: it exposes a secure, compliant real-time name and account-details matching service, manages account list import with built-in validation, stores data in encrypted siloed storage, and offers an API option fordirect access. VOP Unified Access supports PSPs initiating credit transfers: it provides a single interface to verify any European recipient account, offers flexible integration endpoints (single/batch checks, web portal), and maintains direct partnerships with domestic and international schemes and hubs.

LUXHUB has developed a proprietary name matching algorithm specifically optimised for bank account naming conventions and the specific challenges of financial payment data, including variations in legal entity names, abbreviated names, accented characters, and transliteration issues. This algorithm goes beyond simple string comparison to deliver high-accuracy match, close match, and no-match responses while minimizing false positives that would unnecessarily disrupt legitimate payment flows. 

Under the Instant Payments Regulation, VOP initially applies specifically to PSPs offering Euro instant payment sending services. However, the regulation’s scope is broader than instant payments alone, it applies to all types of credit transfers processed in euros, including standard (non-instant) SEPA Credit Transfers. This means PSPs must apply VOP checks not only when initiating instant payments but across their full range of euro credit transfer services, including bulk payments and corporate transactions. 

VOP directly combats) fraud and misdirected payments by informing the payer before they authorise a transaction.In fraud scenarios, criminals typically deceive victims into sending payments to accounts controlled by fraudsters, often by impersonating suppliers, employers, or official bodies. VOP provides a real-time verification layer that flags mismatches, prompting the payer to investigate before the transfer is executed and irreversible. 

The EPC (European Payments Council) VOP Scheme is a standardised pan-European framework defining the rules, technical standards, and operating procedures for Verification of Payee services across the SEPA zone. Compliance with the EPC VOP Scheme ensures interoperability between PSPs across EU member states allowing a French payer’s bank to query the VOP service of a German payee’s bank, for example. LUXHUB’s Payee Verification Platform is EPC VOP Scheme-compliant, ensuring its customers can connect with any PSP across the European VOP ecosystem.

Yes. LUXHUB’s VOP Unified Access service is designed to provide a single interface for verifying recipient accounts at payee PSPs across Europe, not just in Luxembourg. LUXHUB maintains direct 1:1 partnerships with relevant domestic and European schemes and hubs, enabling its clients to query VOP services at PSPs in multiple EU member states through a single integration. This pan-European reach is essential for PSPs whose customers make cross-border credit transfers.

LUXHUB’s Payee Verification Platform is specifically designed to reduce the burden of VOP implementation through mutualization. Development, infrastructure, regulatory monitoring, and scheme compliance complexity are shared across all LUXHUB VOP clients. The platform reuses existing technical integrations where possible, making the account list import process easy to implement and maintain. Flexible integration options including single-check, batch-check, and web portal endpoints that allow PSPs to integrate VOP into their existing payment initiation touchpoints with minimal disruption. 

24 Financial Institutions in Luxembourg and 10 in Europe, selected LUXHUB as their VOP service provider. This significant mandate reinforces LUXHUB’s position as the leading VOP compliance partner in the Luxembourg market and reflects the confidence of the country’s major financial institutions in LUXHUB’s Payee Verification Platform. Details of the participating institutions are available in the LUXHUB Resource Hub press release from 8 April 2025.

LUXHUB is ISO 27001 certified, the world’s best-known international standard for information security management. In consequence, LUXHUB’s VOP platform stores account holder name and account identifier (IBAN) data submitted by PSPs for verification matching in a secured, full-encrypted, and siloed manner ensuring that one institution’s customer data is protected and strictly isolated from another institution’s data within the mutualized platform. Furthermore, access to this sensitive information is strictly restricted—no LUXHUB employee can view or retrieve customer data—reinforcing the platform’s robust confidentiality and privacy safeguards. Storage and processing comply with GDPR and financial data protection requirements. The platform is hosted in LUXHUB’s Tier IV Luxembourg data center and also operates under ISO 27001-certified information security management. 

LUXHUB has published a dedicated Verification of Payee White Paper ‘Tackling the Verification of Payee Challenge’ covering IPR compliance obligations, EPC VOP Scheme adherence, European PSP connectivity, and implementation guidance. The product brochure can be downloaded here. For a personalised discussion, contact LUXHUB or email info@luxhub.com.