The Verification of Payee deadline
Under the EU Instant Payments Regulation there are two dates: euro-area PSPs have had to offer VoP since 9 October 2025, and PSPs in non-euro EU countries must comply by 9 July 2027.
When is Verification of Payee mandatory?
Verification of Payee (VoP) is required by the EU Instant Payments Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/886). The obligation rolls out in two phases depending on whether a payment service provider is located in the euro area or in a non-euro EU member state.
The short answer: if your PSP is in the euro area, the deadline has already passed - VoP has been mandatory since 9 October 2025. If you operate in an EU member state that doesn't use the euro, your deadline is 9 July 2027.
The check must be offered free of charge to the payer, work in real time for both standard and instant SEPA credit transfers, and cover the sending (requesting) and receiving (responding) sides. Providers that aren't ready risk non-compliance and a worse fraud profile.
The Verification of Payee timeline
- 1
9 January 2025 - Euro-area PSPs: receive instant payments
Payment service providers in euro-area countries had to be able to receive instant euro credit transfers.
- 2
9 October 2025 - Euro-area PSPs: send instant payments and offer VoP (in force)
Euro-area providers must send instant euro payments and offer Verification of Payee free of charge on euro credit transfers, including SEPA Instant.
- 3
9 January 2027 - Non-euro EU PSPs: receive instant payments
Providers in EU member states outside the euro area must be able to receive instant euro credit transfers.
- 4
9 July 2027 - Non-euro EU PSPs: send instant payments and offer VoP
Providers in EU member states whose currency is not the euro (e.g. Poland, Sweden, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Denmark) must offer VoP by this date.
What the deadline actually requires
Free for the payer
The VoP check cannot carry a fee for the person making the payment.
Real time
Results must return in seconds so they fit the instant-payment experience.
Both sides
You must support being the requesting PSP and responding to other banks' VoP requests.
All euro credit transfers
Applies to standard and instant SEPA credit transfers, not just instant payments.
Who the Verification of Payee deadline applies to
The obligation falls on payment service providers that offer euro credit transfers: banks, payment institutions (PIs), e-money institutions (EMIs) and neobanks. It applies to both roles in the scheme - asking the payee's bank whether the name matches the IBAN (requesting PSP) and answering those requests about your own account holders (responding PSP).
Businesses, corporates and software platforms aren't legally required to offer VoP, but they can use it to check supplier, payroll and treasury IBANs before paying. Individuals don't implement anything: their bank runs the check automatically and shows the result before they confirm a SEPA payment.
What happens if you miss the deadline
For euro-area PSPs the requirement is already in force, so not offering VoP is a compliance gap rather than a future risk. The regulation is enforced by national competent authorities, and the practical consequences are a weaker fraud position: misdirected payments and authorised push payment (APP) fraud that a name check would have flagged.
The good news is that catching up doesn't require a multi-month build. A managed VoP API gives you both the requesting and responding roles through one integration, so you can be live in weeks rather than months.
Behind on the deadline?
A managed VoP API lets you meet the requirement quickly - covering both the requesting and responding roles through a single integration, without building scheme connectivity in-house.
FAQ
There are two. Euro-area PSPs have had to offer VoP since 9 October 2025. PSPs in non-euro EU countries must comply by 9 July 2027. Both stem from the EU Instant Payments Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/886).
Yes, for payment service providers in the euro area - the requirement has applied since 9 October 2025. Providers in non-euro EU states have until 9 July 2027.
EU member states that don't use the euro, including Poland, Sweden, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary and Denmark. Their PSPs must offer VoP by 9 July 2027.
No. VoP applies to standard and instant SEPA euro credit transfers, and must be offered free of charge to the payer.
The 9 October 2025 date covers PSPs in euro-area countries, which must send instant euro payments and offer VoP. The 9 July 2027 date extends the same obligations to PSPs in EU member states that don't use the euro.
With a managed API covering both the requesting and responding sides, integration typically takes weeks rather than months, because you don't have to build and certify scheme connectivity yourself.
Meet your VoP deadline with confidence
RoxPay delivers compliant Verification of Payee for both the requesting and responding sides through one API.