Verification of Payee (VoP) Simulator
How does the EU's pre-transfer 'does the payee name match the IBAN?' check (Verification of Payee) work? Enter the two names and see the likely VoP result and what it means.
Updated:
Privacy: The calculation runs in your browser; the full IBAN, account number, amount and reference you enter are not sent to a server, logged or passed to analytics. Some tools may pass only a non-sensitive term (e.g. bank code, BIC, currency) to a lookup service for search/matching. Per-tool detail: Privacy.
How does this tool calculate?
Heuristic — rule-based estimate- Method/formula used
- Normalizing the two names (case, accents, titles, punctuation) and comparing them with word-set + Levenshtein similarity.
- Data used
- Only the two names you enter (VoP result types: EU 2024/886 IPR + EPC VoP scheme)
- Unsupported cases
- Only the recipient's bank performs the real VoP — this is a simulation
- It does not look up the real owner of the IBAN
What is Verification of Payee (VoP)?
VoP (Verification of Payee) is a service that checks, before a transfer is sent, whether the payee name you entered matches the real account holder of the IBAN. Its purpose is to reduce sending to the wrong account and fraud (e.g. fake invoices). Under the EU Instant Payments Regulation (EU 2024/886), euro-area banks offer this check from 9 October 2025.
Result types
- Match: The name matches the account holder. This is a good sign but is not a security guarantee on its own — also verify the recipient's identity and the authenticity of the payment request (is the invoice fake, has the request been hijacked). VoP is a layer that reduces fraud, it does not eliminate it.
- Close match: The name is similar but not identical. The bank often shows the real name; the decision to check and proceed is yours.
- No match: The name does not match the IBAN holder. High error/fraud risk — confirm with the recipient before sending.
- Unavailable: The recipient's bank could not verify (e.g. unreachable). Proceed with caution.
Sources
Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) — eurozone credit institutions must offer receiving SEPA Instant (SCT Inst) from 9 January 2025, and sending plus Verification of Payee (VoP) from 9 October 2025; for EMIs 9 April 2027
European Union — Regulation (EU) 2024/886 (amends 2021/1230 and 260/2012)
- Document date:
- 2024-03-13
- Last checked:
- 2026-07-16
- Valid from:
- 2025-01-09
Register of Participants — official list of payment service providers that actually participate in the SEPA schemes (SCT, SCT Inst, SDD Core/B2B, VoP) (downloadable CSV/PDF/XML; SDD B2B register current as of 12 Jun 2026)
European Payments Council (EPC)
- Document date:
- 2026-06-12
- Last checked:
- 2026-07-16