Verification of Payee (VoP) for SEPA Payouts

To comply with the new EU Instant Payments Regulation, there will be a new requirement called Verification of Payee (VoP) for all SEPA (Eurozone) credit transfers from October 9, 2025. At TrueLayer, we're committed to helping you navigate these changes smoothly. This article explains what VoP means for you, how our solution works, and the simple steps you need to take.

1. What is Verification of Payee (VoP)?

Verification of Payee (VoP) is a regulatory requirement enforced by the EU Instant Payments Regulation. It’s a process that confirms whether the name & IBAN provided by a payer matches the name associated with the recipient's bank account before a payment is processed.

The possible results returned by the bank from a VoP check are the following:

• MATCH: The provided name and IBAN match the bank's records.
• PARTIAL MATCH: The name is similar but not an exact match. We will return the name on the account for the banks that supply it for you to be able to assess the level of close match. 
• NO MATCH: The name and IBAN do not match the bank's records.
• MATCH NOT POSSIBLE: The VoP scheme could not complete the verification request.

2. Payments in Scope 

The regulation is mandatory for all EU/SEPA banks and Payment Service Providers (like TrueLayer), for both domestic and cross-border euro credit transfers.

The scope of payments impacted is:

EUR payouts to an external account in an eligible country

1. External account

Your payouts are in scope if your payout_type = external_account

2. Eligible country All EU countries except for Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden

3. Solution Overview 

TrueLayer’s VoP solution is embedded into your payout flow, and will complete a VoP check before execution of the payout.

We've created a two-phase plan to ensure compliance  with the new regulation with minimal disruption to your business.

Please review the solution below and the actions required:

• NOW (Phase 1): Review the decision logic in Section 3.1 and confirm in writing whether you would like to proceed with our Opt-in approach, or the Default approach. TrueLayer will implement the Default Execution Approach unless otherwise instructed.
• NEXT (Phase 2): In 2026 TrueLayer will share all technical specifications and work with you to create a migration plan to the full VoP service. 

3.1 Phase 1 (No build required)

This approach is designed to ensure TrueLayer is compliant by the October 9, 2025 deadline with no development work needed on your side. The goal is to minimise any impact on your payout success rates.

For our Phase 1 solution, TrueLayer will execute the name match decision on your behalf according to the Execution Approach below: 

3.1.1 Phase 1 Execution Approach Options

In the Default Execution Approach, auto-failing no match could result in an estimated 5-10% reduction in payout success rates. We have therefore provided an alternative Opt-In approach where we also execute no match. Given the higher risk related to executing the no match results, should you prefer to take this approach, we require a signed side letter confirming your instruction and that you will not hold TrueLayer responsible for any losses you incur due to TrueLayer following this instruction.

TrueLayer will implement the Default Execution Approach unless a signed side letter is completed This configuration will remain active until you have integrated the Phase 2 solution.

3.1.2 Phase 1 webhook details 

A new account_holder_verification object will be added to the payout webhooks with the following fields detailing the VoP outcome:

You can find more details in our docs - under EXTERNAL ACCOUNT

https://docs.truelayer.com/reference/webhook-payouts

We have observed the following latencies of the VoP scheme since live:

Whilst we are working to optimise this with the scheme, you should expect these latencies to be added to the payout webhook.

3.2 Phase 2 (Build required)

The Phase 2 solution will enable you to be able to fully optimise for payout success. In cases of a PARTIAL MATCH, NO MATCH, or MATCH NOT POSSIBLE you determine whether to execute by retrying a payout with account holder verification ID ✅

TrueLayer is obligated by the scheme to present all partial match, no match and match not possible cases to you to make explicit and recorded approval of each match decision. 

Therefore the Phase 2 solution is mandatory for payouts in scope.

We expect to have the VoP service product available in H2 2026 and will share technical details as soon as they are available. 

4. Ongoing support

We will provide further communication and updates to this article as new information becomes available. 

If you require any further information or support with regards to Verification of Payee, please contact your Truelayer point of contact or submit a ticket via our Help Centre.