Thousands of payment service providers participate in the VoP scheme. None of them maintains a direct connection to every other one — that would be unworkable. Instead, a Routing and Verification Mechanism (RVM) sits between participants: it takes a VoP request, finds the responding PSP that holds the destination account, and delivers the request and response within the scheme's timing rules.
What an RVM actually does
- Reachability: it exposes you to every responding PSP, directly or via other interoperable RVMs.
- Routing: it resolves which PSP — and which RVM — serves the destination IBAN, using the EPC Directory Service.
- Transport and trust: it carries the standardised request/response with mutual authentication and within the maximum execution time.
Why interoperability matters
There is no single RVM. Around 55 routing mechanisms operate across SEPA, and they must interoperate. That is the point: you connect to one and you can reach a counterparty whose bank uses a different one. Picking an RVM is therefore less about which network and more about coverage, performance and price.
- 1 Confirm coverage: which responding PSPs and RVMs it can reach, and how reliably.
- 2 Check performance: latency under load against the 5-second (preferably sub-second) target.
- 3 Weigh the model: connect directly to an RVM, or use a provider that abstracts routing for you.
You don't have to manage routing yourself
Connecting to an RVM, maintaining certificates and tracking directory changes is real engineering. A provider on the scheme can give you reachability through one API instead.
RoxPay operates on the SEPA VoP scheme and handles routing, directory resolution and trust for you, so a single integration reaches participating banks across SEPA — without you selecting and integrating an RVM yourself.