Introduction to VoP API
What is Verification of Payee?
Section titled “What is Verification of Payee?”Verification of Payee (VoP) prevents payment fraud by checking if the recipient’s name matches their bank account details before money is transferred. This is now a mandatory regulatory requirement for banks in the euro area.
Simple example: Before sending €1,000 to “John Smith”, VoP confirms that the account actually belongs to John Smith - not a fraudster.
EU Regulatory Requirements
Section titled “EU Regulatory Requirements”🏛️ Legal Obligations
Section titled “🏛️ Legal Obligations”- Instant Payments Regulation: Published in the EU Official Journal on 19 March 2024
- Entry into force: 9 April 2024
- VoP Deadline: From 9 October 2025, banks must implement VoP for:
- ✅ Instant payments (SEPA Instant)
- ✅ SEPA credit transfers
- ✅ IBAN name matching verification
📅 Timeline for Banks
Section titled “📅 Timeline for Banks”- 9 January 2025: Passive participation (receiving instant payments)
- 9 October 2025: Full VoP implementation required
- Response time requirement: Maximum 3 seconds for verification
Why You Need VoP
Section titled “Why You Need VoP”💰 Save Money
Section titled “💰 Save Money”- Prevent fraudulent transfers before they happen
- Reduce chargebacks and dispute costs
- Avoid regulatory penalties for non-compliance
🛡️ Protect Your Business
Section titled “🛡️ Protect Your Business”- EPC-compliant solution: Follows European Payments Council standards
- Rulebook v1.x compliant: Based on official EPC VoP specifications
- Bank-grade security with TLS 1.3+ encryption
- 131+ systematic tests ensure reliability
⚡ Easy Integration
Section titled “⚡ Easy Integration”- Ready in 2-4 weeks (not months)
- Simple REST API for all use cases
- Complete documentation and support
- Multi-bank capable architecture
Supported Use Cases
Section titled “Supported Use Cases”Our VoP implementation covers all regulatory requirements:
- Incoming external VOP requests - Respond to verification requests from other banks
- Internal VOP requests for external payees - Verify payments to other banks
- Internal VOP requests for internal payees - Verify internal transfers
- Batch requests from corporate customers - Handle bulk verifications via EBICS
Verification Methods
Section titled “Verification Methods”🔍 Advanced Matching Algorithms
Section titled “🔍 Advanced Matching Algorithms”Our VoP solution employs multiple sophisticated algorithms to ensure accurate name verification:
String Distance Algorithms
Section titled “String Distance Algorithms”- Levenshtein distance - Measures minimum edit operations between names
- Jaro-Winkler distance - Optimized for short strings like personal names
- Damerau-Levenshtein - Handles transposition errors (e.g., “Jhon” vs “John”)
Phonetic Algorithms
Section titled “Phonetic Algorithms”- Soundex - Classic phonetic matching for English names
- Metaphone/Double Metaphone - More accurate phonetic encoding
- Cologne phonetic - Optimized for German names
- NYSIIS - New York State Identification system for diverse names
Token-Based Matching
Section titled “Token-Based Matching”- Token analysis - Handles name order variations (“John Smith” vs “Smith, John”)
- N-gram matching - Finds partial matches in longer names
- Jaccard similarity - Set-based comparison for multi-part names
Specialized Techniques
Section titled “Specialized Techniques”- Normalization - Handles accents, special characters, and case variations
- Abbreviation expansion - Matches “Ltd.” with “Limited”, “Co.” with “Company”
- Title removal - Strips “Mr.”, “Dr.”, “GmbH”, etc. for cleaner matching
- Transliteration - Handles Cyrillic, Greek, and other scripts
Multi-Identifier Support
Section titled “Multi-Identifier Support”- IBAN and name verification - Primary matching method
- LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) - For corporate entities
- VAT numbers - EU tax identification
- BIC codes - Bank identification
- National IDs - Country-specific identifiers
How It Works
Section titled “How It Works”- Customer initiates payment → Your system calls our VoP API
- We verify the details → Check name against account information using advanced algorithms
- You get instant result → Match result within 3 seconds (EPC requirement)
- Decision support → Clear match status: MATCH, NO_MATCH, or CLOSE_MATCH
- Payment completed safely → Fraud prevented, customer protected, compliance achieved
Architecture Benefits
Section titled “Architecture Benefits”- Multi-deployment options: Public cloud, private cloud, or on-premise
- Multi-bank capability: Support multiple financial institutions
- Batch processing: Handle corporate bulk requests efficiently
- High availability: Production-grade infrastructure
- Complete test environment: 131+ EPC test cases included
Ready to get started? Follow our Quick Start Guide to deploy VoP in your environment and ensure regulatory compliance by October 2025.