Verification of Payee (VoP) is a real-time bank account verification mechanism mandated under the EU Instant Payments Regulation (Regulation EU 2024\/886) with mandatory compliance from 9 October 2025 for instant\u00a0credit\u00a0transfers.<\/strong>\u00a0It requires payment service providers to confirm the alignment between the payee\u2019s name and\u00a0IBAN\u00a0before<\/em>\u00a0executing a credit transfer \u2014 not after, not in a batch review, but in real time, before funds move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A fraudulently substituted account fails immediately. An honest error surfaces before any money moves. In both cases, the check happens before it\u2019s too late to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The most common type of payment fraud in Europe doesn\u2019t rely on complex hacking techniques. Instead, it targets a simple weakness: communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fraudsters intercept a supplier email, an invoice, or an onboarding form \u2014 and swap the legitimate bank account for their own. Your team approves the payment. The transfer goes through. The money is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is business email compromise (BEC) fraud<\/strong> \u2014 one of the most common forms of authorized push payment (APP) fraud, where victims are manipulated into sending money themselves rather than having it stolen directly. According to the European Banking Authority<\/a><\/strong>, this type of fraud accounted for 57% of total credit transfer fraud value in Europe in H1 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes it so effective is its simplicity: the payment is legitimate in every respect except the destination account.<\/strong> Standard controls don\u2019t detect it and by the time the error surfaces, the receiving account is already empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The common thread: all of it happens after<\/em> the payment has already been sent. At that point, your options are limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes credit transfer fraud particularly brutal from a legal standpoint is that recovery is rarely guaranteed. Once the funds are gone, you\u2019re in a long, uncertain process. VoP is simply one of the best secure insurance you can get \u2014 and it works in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want a deeper dive into VoP for EU companies?\u00a0<\/em>Read our full guide<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n VoP moves the check to\u00a0before the payment executes<\/strong>. Before funds leave your account, VoP queries the destination bank in real time and confirms whether the account name you have matches the actual\u00a0account holder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re not adding friction to every transaction. You\u2019re making sure the rare cases that actually need attention \u2014 the ones that would otherwise cost you \u2014 get caught before they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The operational cost of investigating a single misdirected payment \u2014 finance team hours, back-and-forth with banks, potential legal escalation \u2014 is entirely avoidable. VoP catches the error before the payment executes. No investigation needed, because the problem never happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every payment that returns a no match is a misdirected transfer and a potential recovery process avoided. Every close match is a discrepancy caught before it becomes a problem. The check takes milliseconds; the alternative can take months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n VoP integrates directly into your payment flow via API. Once it\u2019s in place, every transfer is checked automatically, in real time, before funds move. No added friction, no operational overhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Devengo is a regulated payment institution, supervised by the Bank of Spain and authorized to operate across the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verification of Payee (VoP) is natively available through Devengo\u2019s API, built on\u00a0SEPA\u00a0Instant infrastructure. No additional vendors. No compliance overhead. No new contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also offer account verification solutions across Spain and SEPA to reduce fraud risk and increase payment certainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you a bank or\u00a0PSP?<\/strong>\u00a0\u2192\u00a0Explore Verification of Payee for SEPA<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Payment](\"https:\/\/www.devengo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/VoP-how-does-it-work-1024x517.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Risk You\u2019re Carrying With Every Unverified Payment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why VoP Changes the Equation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Business Case Is Simple<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Protect your transfers with Devengo<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n