Scheme aims to improve fraud checks on European bank transfers by mapping account numbers to bank identifiers
The European Payments Council (EPC) has launched a public call for interest to third-party data providers as part of its efforts to establish a European Verification of Payee (VOP) system.
The initiative, announced on July 7, is a step towards introducing real-time name-checking for bank transfers across the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), aimed at reducing fraud and misdirected payments.
Under the new scheme, payers will be able to confirm that the name associated with a bank account number matches the intended recipient before funds are transferred. It is a model already familiar in the UK, where Confirmation of Payee has become a standard feature of most domestic payments.
The EPC’s latest move focuses on the technical infrastructure underpinning the service. A newly created EPC Directory Service (EDS) will act as a centralised platform to store the information needed to identify and reach participants in the VOP scheme.
To build this, the EPC is inviting directory service providers to submit expressions of interest by July 18.
These providers typically manage structured datasets such as Bank Identifier Codes (BICs), national identifiers and IBAN (International Bank Account Number) ranges. Their inclusion is intended to support the development of algorithms that map IBANs to BICs, a key process for routing VOP requests across participating institutions.
According to the EPC, the call is intended to test whether the necessary data for these routing models is available in sufficient quality and scope. If successful, the collaboration will help refine how the EDS interacts with scheme participants and may inform the final design of the central platform.
“Directory Service Providers are invited to manifest their interest to collaborate with the EPC with the goal of checking routing algorithms that may be used by VOP scheme participants when issuing VOP Requests,” the EPC said in its statement.
The VOP scheme forms part of a wider push to improve trust and interoperability across European payments. While SEPA has long enabled cross-border transfers, the security layer offered by name-matching has lagged behind some domestic implementations, particularly in comparison to the UK or the Netherlands.
In its announcement, the EPC highlighted that this collaboration is designed to be open and transparent. Interested providers must complete a formal response form (EPC194-25) and submit it by midnight Brussels time on 18 July 2025.
Although the EPC has not confirmed a full launch date for the VOP scheme, the directory testing marks a notable step towards operational readiness. The eventual goal is a scheme-wide service that allows banks and payment service providers to check the beneficiary name before processing payments, thereby reducing the risk of fraud and human error.
The development also intersects with wider efforts to modernise European payment infrastructure, including the SEPA Request-to-Pay framework and initiatives tied to digital identity and cross-border fraud detection.
Whether the EDS and its data partners will be sufficient to support these ambitions at scale remains to be seen, but the EPC’s latest call signals clear intent to address one of the remaining gaps in SEPA’s payment security toolkit.
