What is it about?
As of October 9, 2025, banks will be required to verify the recipient’s name against the IBAN before authorizing a SEPA transfer. This so-called “Verification of Payee” (VoP) is part of a new EU regulation. The verification aims to provide greater protection against fraud and reduce risk within the euro payments area.
Who is affected?
The new EU regulation affects all businesses and private individuals.
As soon as you send SEPA transfers, you are directly impacted by VoP—regardless of the transmission method or software you use.
Additionally, VoP is indirectly relevant for you as a payment recipient, since your debtors must know and use your correct recipient name.
How does VoP work in practice?
The bank performs the recipient verification immediately after a payment is submitted. This process takes just a few seconds. Based on the result of this verification, the payer decides for each submitted payment whether to authorize or cancel it.
Adjustments will also be made in the DATEV software. DATEV eG will provide further information on this in due course.
What do you need to do?
Ensure that you use the correct names (account holder names) when making SEPA transfers.
Start now by checking whether the correct names are stored in your master data:
- Review and maintain supplier master data: The names of your payment recipients must exactly match their account holder names.
- Check your own company name on invoices: Ideally, your account holder name should match your company name. This applies to all of your accounts, even those held with different banks.
Tips:
- Add a note to your invoice template indicating the exact recipient name your customers should use when making payments.
- If your official company name differs from your commonly used business name, consider registering a “trading name” with your bank.
What happens if the name and IBAN do not match?
The bank is liable for the accuracy of the recipient verification and the resulting consequences in the event of fraud.
However, if you authorize transfers despite a mismatch between the recipient name and the IBAN, you will generally be held liable.
Support and Further Information
You can find details and updates on this topic here:
- Document in the DATEV Help Center: www.datev.de/hilfe/1038957
- DATEV Help Video: go.datev.de/sv-5398
- General information on payments and VoP: go.datev.de/vop
If you have any questions regarding “Verification of Payee (VoP) for SEPA Transfers”, please do not hesitate to contact our Office Manager, Nicole Widlok, to schedule an appointment with the responsible attorney.
