Glossary · Payment methods
Verification of payee
Also called Confirmation of Payee, VoP, CoP
Verification of payee checks that the name on a bank transfer matches the account holder before money is sent, to stop fraud and errors.
Before a transfer goes, the payer’s bank asks the recipient’s bank whether the name entered matches the account. The payer sees the result: a match, a close match with the correct name suggested, or no match.
The UK introduced Confirmation of Payee from 2020. In the EU, the Instant Payments Regulation made verification of payee mandatory for euro credit transfers, both standard and instant, from October 2025.
For suppliers, the practical point is that your invoice must show the exact legal name your bank account is held in. A trading name that doesn’t match can trigger a warning, and a cautious customer will stop and ask before paying.
Example
A client pays an invoice to “Brightline Studio”, but the account is held by “Brightline Creative Ltd”. The bank shows a close match and suggests the correct name; the client confirms with the supplier, then pays.