Important information about the new SEPA varification
As of 9 October 2025, banks in the European Payment Area are required to carry out a so-called Verification of Payee (VoP) before each authorization of a SEPA transfer and SEPA real-time transfer. This is a technical IBAN name comparison. The VoP is intended to prevent fraud within the SEPA area. This allows verification to be carried out before a payment is made, ensuring that the recipient’s name and IBAN match the data registered with their bank (technical IBAN name matching).
Notice dated 08/09/2025:
In August 2025, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) published “Questions and answers on the regulation on real-time transfers” (BaFin – FAQs). In these FAQs, BaFin also comments on the topic of “bulks with only one transfer order.” After reviewing the FAQs, we would like to inform you of the following:
As of October 5, 2025, Hamburg Commercial Bank AG will not perform verification of payee if a customer who is not a consumer (e.g., a corporate customer) submits an opt-out EBICS collector with only one transfer order to the EBICS bank computer (TCU).
Verification of Payee – What is behind it?
As part of the VoP process, the payer’s bank sends a corresponding request to the recipient’s bank before authorizing a payment transaction. The recipient’s bank checks whether the IBAN and the recipient’s name match the account holder data on file and communicates the result back to the payer.
As a corporate client, when you submit payment files as a collector, you can choose how the VoP check should be performed:
Opt-in: The recipient verification is performed before approval
Opt-out: You choose not to perform the recipient verification
Procedure for the opt-in check
- Your payment is sent to the bank with a transport signature. At this point, your signature is used only to transmit your payment order.
- The bank carries out the IBAN name comparison.
- You will receive one of the following results within a few seconds:
| Check Result | Code in pain.002 | Explanation of the Result |
| Match | RCVC | Recipient name and IBAN match the data at the recipient’s bank. |
| Close Match | RVMC | The provided recipient name partially matches the name on file at the recipient’s bank. The name associated with the IBAN is returned. |
| No Match | RVNM | The provided recipient name does not match the name on file at the recipient’s bank. |
| Not Applicable | RVNA | Check not possible. |
What happens next?
The payment must be released in the EDS (Electronic Distributed Signature) after the VoP check. Otherwise, the payment will not be executed. We recommend retrieving the protocol (pain.002 VoP) before releasing the payment and reviewing the additional information provided along with the VoP check result. If you do not wish to execute the payment (e.g., due to the result of the VoP check), you can cancel the payment.
What does the introduction of VoP mean for your company?
Your company can decide whether to use the IBAN name reconciliation (opt-in) or decline its use (opt-out).
- Opt-in: The bank assumes liability for the IBAN name comparison.
- Opt-out: You remain fully liable for the accuracy of the recipient data.
The VoP check requires changes in EBICS communication. The following adjustments are expected:
- The inspection result is included in the signature folder (VEU folder).
- New EBICS order types are introduced:
| Order Type Overview | SCT Opt-out | IP* Opt-out | SCT Opt-in | IP* Opt-in |
| Transfer and real-time transfer | CCT | CIP | CTV | CIV |
| Service Data Center (SRZ)-EDS | CCX | CIX | VCX | VIX |
| Payment Status Report VoP (pain.002) | – | – | VPZ | VPZ |
- We have automatically provided you with the new order types.
Please consider the following points when using the opt-in option:
Further processing: If you use treasury systems, check whether the new pain.002 VoP file can be processed.
Correct company name: Make sure that the debtors use their exact company name as stated in the account agreement. This will help to avoid delays in receiving payments.
For you as a payment recipient, this means: If you receive payments from your customer or business partner, a VoP check will be carried out using the data you have provided to us, provided your business partner has instructed their bank accordingly. All transfers from private individuals will always undergo a VoP check in the future. The VoP check cannot be disabled for consumers.
You should therefore consider the following: If you do not appear to your customers and business partners exclusively under the name registered with us as the account holder, it may happen that your customers or business partners use a different or shortened name when making the payment. If the name differs from the registered account holder name, your customers or business partners will see a “No Match” or “Close Match” result when executing the payment. This may lead to inquiries and possibly to payment cancellations.
For further information, please visit https://www.ebics.de/de/ebics-standard/hinweise-hersteller-kunden