Verification of Payee (VoP) is a security measure in the European Economic Area (EEA) designed to enhance the safety of electronic payments and reduce fraud. It ensures that payments are sent to the intended recipient by verifying the payee's details before the transaction is completed.
The VoP scheme sets rules, practices, and standards for payment service providers (PSPs) within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). It requires verifying payee data, such as IBAN and name, before a SEPA transfer. By matching the payee's name with account details, VoP prevents misdirected payments and combats fraud, enhancing the security and reliability of electronic payments.
Types of VoP checks
VoP checks can be done in different ways to make sure your payment is safe:
Name matching - Checks that the name of the person or business you are paying matches the account details you have entered.
Account verification - Makes sure that the account details you have entered are correct and belong to the right person or business.
Error prevention - Helps avoid sending money to the wrong account because of typos or other mistakes.
The VoP experience in Payhawk
Payhawk provides VoP checks that affect your experience in the following cases:
Whenever employees add their EUR bank details for reimbursement.
Whenever accountants or administrators add a supplier's EUR bank details.
Whenever designated employees, according to your set workflows, confirm payment details and authorize payments in EUR.
Depending on the VoP check, the result will be any of the following:
The payment details you entered fully match the account holder's data on the bank account, and have been confirmed as correct by the payee's bank.
The payment details you entered partially match the account holder's data on the bank account. In this case, you'll have to explicitly confirm that the details are correct and that you want to proceed.
The payment details you entered do not match the account holder's data on the bank account. In this case, you'll have to explicitly confirm that the details are correct and that you want to proceed.
The account cannot be verified because its holder's name or payment details cannot be verified. In this case, you'll have to explicitly confirm that the details are correct and that you want to proceed.
The verification process for the account cannot be completed due to technical reasons, such as a technical error that has occurred, a timed-out request, unsupported VoP by the Payment Service Provider (PSP), or the PSP being unreachable.
In this case, you won't be able to proceed and will get any of the following messages:
