# Verification of Payee (VOP)

Verification of Payee (VOP) checks that the payee name given for a euro bank transfer matches the IBAN the money is going to, before the transfer is sent. It exists to catch the two ways money goes to the wrong account: a typo in an IBAN, and a fraudster who talks someone into paying a real account that isn't the one they think it is.

It is a scheme of the European Payments Council (EPC), with its own rulebook and its own adherence process.

## What the check returns[​](#outcomes "Direct link to What the check returns")

The party sending the transfer asks the receiving side whether the name matches the account, and gets back one of three answers:

| Result      | What it means                                                                                                 |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Match       | The name matches the account behind the IBAN.                                                                 |
| Close match | Nearly the same name — the registered name is returned so the payer can compare it against the one they have. |
| No match    | The name does not correspond to that account.                                                                 |

A close match or a no match does not block anything on its own. The payer is warned and decides whether to go ahead.

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## Who has to run it[​](#regulation "Direct link to Who has to run it")

The EU Instant Payments Regulation makes the check mandatory: since **9 October 2025**, every payment service provider in the euro area has had to offer it, free of charge to the payer, on euro credit transfers. Providers outside the euro area follow in July 2027.

## MONEI's role[​](#monei-role "Direct link to MONEI's role")

MONEI is certified as a **requesting party** in the VOP scheme — the side that asks. When a euro credit transfer is about to leave MONEI, MONEI sends the verification request to the receiving payment service provider and takes back the result before the money moves.

For a merchant, the transfer that matters is the one that pays you: the [settlement that MONEI sends to your IBAN](https://docs.monei.com/manage-account/payouts-and-settlements/.md). So the account holder name registered for that IBAN needs to correspond to the business on your MONEI account. The same applies to each IBAN if you [settle your stores to separate bank accounts](https://docs.monei.com/manage-account/stores-and-points-of-sale/.md#store-iban). If you need to change the IBAN your payouts settle into, [contact support](https://support.monei.com/hc/requests/new).

info

MONEI is a member of the European Payments Council (EPC) and is fully certified for two separate EPC schemes: Verification of Payee (VOP) and [SEPA Request to Pay (SRTP)](https://docs.monei.com/payment-methods/sepa-request-to-pay/.md).

## VOP is not SEPA Request to Pay[​](#not-srtp "Direct link to VOP is not SEPA Request to Pay")

The two are easy to confuse because MONEI is certified for both, but they are separate schemes that do different jobs, and a payment service provider can take part in one without the other:

* **VOP** verifies a name against an IBAN before a credit transfer is sent. It moves no money.
* **[SRTP](https://docs.monei.com/payment-methods/sepa-request-to-pay/.md)** carries a request for payment from a payee to a payer. It is a messaging scheme — not a payment instrument — and it says nothing about how the payment that follows is executed.