Verification of Payee (VOP) is an EU regulatory scheme that aims to protect users from fraud and payment errors during bank wire transfers. The regulation impacts wire payments made in EUR in SEPA’s local schemes, meaning SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) or SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst).
Note – Impacts platforms using vIBANs and User-Owned AccountsThe VOP-related changes only impact:
  • Platforms using the Virtual Account or Banking Alias feature
  • Platforms whose users hold User-Owned Virtual Accounts
Furthermore, VOP only applies to EUR payments and recipients in SCT or SCT Inst.Other platforms are not impacted by the changes, but the VOP data returned on Recipients will be available to them in future for anti-fraud purposes.
A bank wire transfer involves two payment service providers (PSPs) or banks:
  • The Requesting PSP, making the payment request on behalf of their customer, the Payer. Mangopay is a Requesting PSP in a payout scenario, requesting and receiving the results of the VOP check.
  • The Responding PSP, who’s customer, the Payee, will receive the funds. Mangopay is a Responding PSP in a pay-in scenario, responding with the VOP data.

What Verification of Payee checks

Verification of Payee checks whether the IBAN and account holder name sent by the Requesting PSP correspond to the combination of that data held by the Responding PSP. The account holder name can be an individual (John Doe) or a business (Acme Corp.). There are 4 possible outcomes:
ResultExplanationImpact
MatchThe IBAN and account holder name correspond.Payment made to this account will reach its intended counterparty.
Close MatchThere are minor discrepancies (such as typos) between the name requested and the one registered.Payment made to this account may not reach its intended counterparty.
No MatchThe details do not match, indicating a possible error or fraudulent attempt.Payment made to this account may not reach its intended counterparty.
Match Not PossibleA technical issue prevents verification from being carried out, such as formatting errors or the responding service being unreachable.Payment made to this account may not reach its intended counterparty.

Account holder name with Mangopay

Because Verification of Payee checks the account holder name, the identity of the account holder is important. Mangopay offers platforms the ability to create two types of virtual IBANs: Collection Accounts and User-Owned Accounts. User-Owned Accounts are created in the name of the platform’ss end user who owns the wallet, while Collection Accounts are created in the name of Mangopay on behalf of the platform. Both types of account exist as Banking Alias and Virtual Account objects, as indicated by the VirtualAccountPurpose property, with values of COLLECTION or USER_OWNED. The table below summarizes the differences, including the impact on the account holder name which is analyzed during the Verification of Payee check.
Collection accountUser-owned account
PurposeCollection and reconciliation of funds by the platformUser’s acceptance and storing of funds
Account ownerMangopay S.A. or Mangopay UK Ltd.Wallet owner
Account holder name example”MGP PlatformTradingName” *FirstName LastName” (Natural user) or “Name” (Legal user)
Allowed user categoryOwner or PayerOwner
KYC verificationNot requiredRequired
PayoutsProhibited from the associated wallet, except for refunds returning funds to their originAuthorized from the associated wallet
* In all cases except the Marketplace Payment Extension workflow, where the value “Mangopay” is used. All the API values in the table above refer to properties of the User object except the PlatformTradingName, which is held by Mangopay. Your platform can retrieve it via the GET View a Client endpoint, where it is the Name property, but it is not visible in the Dashboard. Contact Mangopay via the Dashboard to change it.

Impact for your platform