Verification of Payee: the missing link that finally makes Europe’s payments instant and safe

As of this month, every bank and payments provider in the eurozone must offer instant payments — money moving in seconds, around the clock, every day of the year. It’s a milestone moment for Europe’s financial system, one that brings new efficiency and competitiveness to how money moves. But the real story isn’t about speed. It’s about trust.

Verification of Payee, or VoP, is the quiet revolution behind this shift. It’s the simple “green tick” that confirms the name on a bank account matches the IBAN you’re about to send money to. That small moment of verification might not sound dramatic, but it’s the missing link that makes instant payments genuinely safe.

The UK learned this lesson the hard way. When real-time payments launched there in 2008, fraudsters quickly found ways to exploit the system. Money could move instantly — and once it was gone, it was gone. Businesses and consumers alike were tricked into sending funds to the wrong accounts, and losses ran into the billions. It took more than a decade, and a great deal of pain, before Confirmation of Payee was introduced in 2020. That feature, which checks that the name entered by the payer matches the name on the account, helped stop countless scams and mistakes almost overnight. Europe has learned from that experience and chosen not to repeat it.

Under the EU’s new Instant Payments Regulation, Verification of Payee is now a legal requirement. Every payment provider must offer a name-and-IBAN check at no cost to users. That means whenever you make a transfer, the system instantly confirms who you’re paying before the money moves. It’s a small step that transforms the entire landscape for fraud prevention and financial security.

For businesses, the impact is enormous. Most corporate payments still involve multiple teams, shared spreadsheets and manual checks. Finance teams confirm supplier details by email or phone, sometimes days after the first payment is sent. It’s slow, inefficient, and leaves a window wide open for fraudsters. With Verification of Payee, those checks can now happen automatically, at the same speed as the transaction itself. If the name doesn’t match, the system warns you immediately — no waiting, no guesswork.

That speed and certainty don’t just protect money; they protect relationships. In a world where trust underpins every transaction, the ability to verify instantly builds confidence between buyers, suppliers, and partners. It shows a business takes diligence seriously. And when those checks happen seamlessly in the background, it also makes life easier for everyone involved.

At Sis ID, we see this transformation unfolding across Europe. Thousands of companies are connecting their verification data directly to payment systems, creating a shared network of trust. Instead of each company managing its own isolated fraud checks, they can tap into a collective layer of intelligence built from verified data across banks, corporates and public registries. The result is a real-time safety net for Europe’s payment ecosystem — one that grows smarter with every transaction.

But the story doesn’t end here. The next frontier is cross-border verification. Fraud doesn’t stop at national borders, and neither should protection. As businesses expand across Europe and beyond, they need consistent trust checks wherever they send money. Extending VoP across currencies, languages and regulatory systems is the next logical step — and it’s where Europe has the chance to lead globally.

Instant payments have been a long time coming. They promise faster business, better liquidity, and a more connected economy. But without trust, speed alone is meaningless. Verification of Payee closes that loop — ensuring that instant finally means safe.

Europe has built the foundation for a new era of payments: one where verification moves at the speed of money, and trust is no longer the slowest part of the process.