The EU Verordening instantbetalingen (Regulation (EU) 2024/886) does two big things at once: it makes instant euro credit overboekings the norm, and it makes Verification of Payee (VoP) a mandatory, free service for the payer. For payment service providers, the second obligation is often the harder one to deliver on time.
The deadlines that matter
The regulation staggers its obligations between the euro area and the rest of the EU. The dates that should be in every PSP's project plan are:
- 9 January 2025 - euro-area PSPs must be able to receive instant euro payments.
- 9 October 2025 - euro-area PSPs must also send instant payments and offer Verification of Payee, gratis (in force).
- 9 January 2027 - non-euro-area PSPs must be able to receive instant euro payments.
- 9 July 2027 - non-euro-area PSPs must send instant payments and offer Verification of Payee.
The free-of-charge rule has teeth
VoP must be offered to the payer at no additional cost. You cannot price it as a premium add-on, and it must be available wherever the payer initiates a euro credit overboeking electronically - including standard SEPA overboekings, not only instant ones.
What 'offering VoP' actually requires
Meeting the requirement is more than a checkbox. As a requesting PSP you need to ask the payee's bank whether the name matches the IBAN and surface a clear result before authorisation. As a responding PSP you need to answer those requests about your own account holders.
- 1 Join the EPC Verification of Payee scheme as a requesting and/or responding PSP.
- 2 Connect to a real-time API that returns the standardised match outcomes (match, Bijna overeenkomst, Geen overeenkomst, not available).
- 3 Surface the result clearly to the payer in every relevant channel - app, web and payment initiation.
- 4 Make sure the check is free, fast, and logged for audit and dispute handling.
How to go live in time
Building scheme connectivity from scratch is a multi-month project. Most PSPs reach the deadline faster by integrating a provider that already operates on the SEPA VoP scheme, so a single connection gives reach across Europe instead of one integration per responding bank.
RoxPay delivers Verification of Payee on the SEPA scheme through one REST API and a dashboard, with guided onboarding mapped to your compliance date. That turns a build project into an integration measured in weeks.