The European Payments Council (EPC), the body that manages European payment schemes, has released version 2.0 of its recommendations on matching processes under the Verification Of Payee (VOP) scheme. The new guidance aims to reduce unnecessary failed matches and smooth payment initiation for users.
The revised document follows the 2026 change management cycle for the VOP scheme rulebook and a related public consultation. A central addition is more detailed direction on the character sets permitted in VOP requests and responses.
As a general rule, API messages exchanged between payment service providers (PSPs) are expected to rely on the limited Latin character set, carried via UTF-8 encoding.
The guidance also sets out how PSPs and Routing and/or Verification Mechanisms (RVMs) should handle character conversion, along with messages that include characters falling outside the permitted set. Parties may adopt alternative arrangements where these have been agreed contractually between them.
Beyond character handling, the recommendations describe how a Responding PSP can prepare payee names, compare them and decide whether a verification outcome qualifies as a Match, Close Match or No Match.
The guidance applies to both natural persons and legal persons. It addresses a range of common discrepancies, including misspellings, swapped letters, initials, names that sound alike, trading names and widely recognised abbreviations.
According to the EPC, the goal is to encourage a consistent and accessible rollout of the VOP scheme across the market. By limiting avoidable No Match or Close Match results, the council hopes to prevent unnecessary obstacles when users initiate payments.
Responsibility for the final matching decision, however, still rests with each Responding PSP, which retains the freedom to apply its own criteria.
The EPC oversees the rulebooks that govern European payment schemes, including the VOP scheme.
The updated recommendations sit alongside version 1.1 of the VOP scheme rulebook, which came into force on 20 September 2026.
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
