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Verification of Payee Glossary of Terms

Verification of Payee comes with its own vocabulary of acronyms and scheme terms. This glossary defines the words you will meet most often, in plain English, so the rest of the topic makes sense.

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Verification of Payee Glossary of Terms

Key takeaways

  • VoP confirms the payee name matches the account holder behind an IBAN.
  • The four outcomes are match, close match, no match and not possible.
  • VoP is the EU equivalent of the UK's Confirmation of Payee (CoP).

Verification of Payee sits at the intersection of payments, regulation and fraud prevention, so it borrows terms from all three. Here are the ones worth knowing, defined simply.

Core terms

  • Verification of Payee (VoP): a check that the name on a payment matches the account holder behind the IBAN, before the payment is sent.
  • Confirmation of Payee (CoP): the UK's name-check scheme; VoP is the EU equivalent under the Instant Payments Regulation.
  • IBAN: the International Bank Account Number that identifies the destination account.
  • SEPA: the Single Euro Payments Area, the set of countries and rules for euro payments.

Outcomes

  • Match: the name and account holder agree.
  • Close match: a near match, such as an abbreviation or word order difference.
  • No match: the names do not agree.
  • Verification not possible: the payee's bank could not provide an answer.

VoP vs CoP

They solve the same problem — confirming the payee name. CoP is the UK scheme; VoP is the EU scheme mandated by the Instant Payments Regulation.

Regulation and fraud terms

  • Instant Payments Regulation (IPR): the EU regulation that makes VoP mandatory for euro credit transfers.
  • APP fraud: authorised push payment fraud, where a victim is tricked into sending money to a fraudster's account.
  • PSP: payment service provider — a bank or fintech that moves money.
  • EPC: the European Payments Council, which publishes the VoP scheme rulebook.

Where to go next

With the vocabulary in hand, the rest of the topic is easier to follow. Start with what VoP is and how the four outcomes work, then explore the regulation and integration guides.

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FAQ

Frequently asked

They solve the same problem — confirming the payee name matches the account holder. Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is the UK scheme; Verification of Payee (VoP) is the EU scheme mandated by the Instant Payments Regulation.

Match (names agree), close match (a near match like an abbreviation), no match (names differ), and verification not possible (the payee's bank could not answer).

Authorised push payment fraud, where a victim is tricked into authorising a payment to a fraudster's account. VoP helps catch it by flagging when the payee name does not match.

Keep reading

What is Verification of Payee? Start with the basics. The Instant Payments Regulation Why VoP is mandatory.

From terms to a working integration

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