Verification of Payee » Verification of Payee (VoP)

Verification of Payee (VoP)

Verification of Payee (VoP) is a new requirement that has been introduced as part of the EU (European Union) Instant Payments Regulation and will come into effect on October 9, 2025. This regulation aims to build trust and reduce fraud, particularly for digital and high-speed transactions.  VOP will involve validating that for any instruction to make a payment, the bank account number (IBAN) matches the beneficiary’s name before such instruction is processed.

If the Convera entity that provides services to you is Convera Europe S.A. (or one of its branches) or Convera Malta Financial Limited and you are making a euro-denominated credit transfer to a beneficiary located in the Eurozone, Verification of Payee (VoP) will apply to your payment.

VoP will be made available both for single payments submitted individually or within an order, file, or batch, and to multiple payments submitted together in an order, file, or batch. For multiple (“batch”) payments, please note the opt out rules set out in point 8 below.

When VoP is carried out, the IBAN and payee name which you have provided are submitted for verification via the European Payments Council (EPC) VoP scheme and one of the following responses will be returned:

  • Match – The name and IBAN correspond exactly.*
  • Close match – The name is similar to the account holder’s name, but not identical.
  • No match – The name does not correspond to the IBAN provided.
  • Verification not possible – The check could not be completed due to lack of data (e.g. the IBAN does not correspond to a bank account that is part of the EPC VoP scheme).
  • Not validated – The request fails to respond (e.g. due to an issue with the EPC VoP scheme or with the system).

* In certain cases, our Operations team may process a payment on your behalf without requiring you to proactively authorise the payment following display of the Verification of Payee (VoP) result – but only when the payee name is an exact match. Convera considers that these payments are conditionally pre-approved by you, i.e. that you authorise us to process the payment if the VoP result is an exact match. This applies, notably, to payment requests made by telephone or email and to payment requests sent to us through API, online or SFTP/File upload, where requiring your intervention after each VoP result would risk creating delays and undue complexity for you.For any further questions on this, please contact your account representative or our customer support team.

If the name provided does not exactly match the account holder’s name linked to the IBAN, the European Payments Council (EPC) service may return a Close Match result. For example, if “Joshee Alvarez” is submitted and the account holder is “Jose Alvarez,” this would be considered a close match.

In such cases, the client must review and confirm the name discrepancy before proceeding with the payment or choose to cancel the payment.

When a payee name includes special or non-Latin characters (such as accents or umlauts), the name is automatically converted to Latin characters in accordance with the European Payments Council (EPC) rulebook. This ensures consistency and compatibility across payment systems.

The beneficiary’s payment service provider (PSP) will return a result based on the converted name, which may include Latin characters or retain some special characters depending on the PSP’s handling.

If the converted name closely resembles the original but is not an exact match, a close match result may be returned.

If the converted name aligns fully with the account holder’s name, a match result will be returned.

Examples:

  • “José Álvarez” → “JOSE ALVAREZ” → match, if all other details align.
  • “Müller GmbH” → “MUELLER GMBH” (where “ü” is converted to “ue” or “u”) → match or close match, depending on the PSP’s interpretation.
  • Peña S.A.” vs “PENA SA” → accents/punctuation normalized → likely match

When you complete your transaction online through one of our payment platforms, the result of the VoP check will be displayed on your screen immediately before you authorize the payment order.

When you book a payment order via phone or email, the Verification of Payee process will still apply:

  • Exact match: If the payee name and IBAN match exactly, the payment can proceed without further intervention from your part; indeed, in order to provide you with a smooth and efficient payment processing experience, we consider in this case that the payment is conditionally approved by you subject to an “exact match” VoP outcome (please refer to our updated Terms and Conditions in this respect).
  • Close match / No match / Verification not possible: You will be contacted to confirm the payee details before the payment can be processed.

You cannot opt-out of Verification of Payee for single payment orders. However, in accordance with the Instant Payments Regulation, Convera is required to provide its corporate customers with the means to opt out from receiving the VoP service when submitting multiple payment orders as a package.

After careful consideration, to comply with this requirement and to ensure a seamless, efficient payment processing service with minimal delays, Convera has decided to apply a default opt out to all of its corporate customers for batch payments (for eligible systems*).

Please note that you can opt back in at any time (please see the “Opt in/Opt out process” section below).

For the avoidance of doubt, VoP is still required for all single payment orders even if submitted through a batch payment platform.

*If you’re using GlobalPay, GP+, FX360 and Masspay, Verification of Payee will be disabled by default for bulk payments starting from October 9. Edge and GPFI users will be applied a default opt-out for bulk payments starting from October 11.

It is important that you understand that retaining the opt-out means that:

  • You will not receive VoP for any payment included in the bulk payment request; this may lead to the transfer of funds to an unintended payee; and
  • Convera will not be held liable for the execution of a payment to an unintended payee and you may not be entitled to receive a refund for the amount transferred.

If you opt back in for bulk payments, you will be required to handle all individual Verification of Payee (VoP) responses before payments can proceed.

  • FX360: Clients submitting a multiple-payments file would need to review VoP results for each payment (e.g., no match, close match). In case of a close match, they must amend the payee name before the payment can continue.
  • MassPay: Similarly, clients submitting bulk files would receive a VoP response for every single payment via webhook or acknowledgement. For example, a batch of 600 payments would generate 600 individual responses, each needing review. If a payee name requires change (close match), the client would need to cancel that payment, correct the details, and re-add it to the batch. This introduces significant operational overhead and delays.

  • You will need to write to your account manager or to customer support at Convera to opt-in or opt-out.
  • The request must come from an authorised signatory.
  • Convera will then enable the client setting; please note that this may currently take up to 5 business days, although we are working to make this faster in the future.

The VoP flow will be as follows:

a.  Customers using bulk payment channels (API)

If you’re opted in: For bulk files processed through API, you will receive a VoP status result line by line for each payee using webhooks and request response.

If you’re opted out: For single files processed through API, or single EUR payment in a bulk file, your VOP result will be sent in a single line item for the payee using webhooks and request responded.

b. Customers using bulk payment channels (SFTP/ File Upload)

If you’re opted in: For bulk files processed via SFTP or file upload, the VoP system assesses whether each item meets the criteria for VoP.

If you’re opted out: For a single payment in a file or a single EUR payment in a bulk file processed via SFTP or file upload, the VoP (Validation of Payee) system assesses whether each item meets the criteria for VoP.

A corresponding message will be generated for each qualifying item, indicating its eligibility for VoP.  Please note that if the file is submitted as ‘committed’, it will be saved as pending as the order needs to be reviewed. Notifications are sent via email for both file uploads and SFTP submissions.

For files uploaded through the user interface, users are required to review and correct any entries flagged as close matches, and to confirm entries categorised as match, no match, or account not found, prior to re-submitting the file for processing.

For MassPay clients, Convera will provide access to a standalone Verification of Payee (VoP) service to help minimise the risk of errors before payments are submitted. This optional API service allows you to validate a payee’s name and IBAN combination at the point of creating or maintaining beneficiary details, giving you greater confidence that the information is correct.

Please note that this is an additional, convenience service and does not replace the mandatory VoP checks that will be performed at the transaction stage in accordance with EU regulations effective October 9, 2025.

All Convera-issued Virtual Accounts created in Europe and Malta for our clients will be shared to the EPC, so that if a remitter in Europe is paying a Convera issued Iban, it will be recognized for Verification of Payee.

Convera will be required to respond back on internal generated IBANs, i.e confirming the IBAN number, the name of the account holder and the status of the IBAN.

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