Last Article Update 20.10.2025
George helps you keep an eye on your money. With the Verification of Payee service, he can now check if your recipient details match. This protects you from scammers and gives you extra peace of mind during transfers. Here's how the service works and what to do for each verification result.
What it is:
Before every SEPA transfer in Euro, George Business checks with the recipient bank if the recipient's IBAN & the recipient's name match. This is to make sure you’re sending money to the right account.
Why it helps:
The Verification of Payee service provides reassurance that your money is going where it should. It helps you catch small mistakes, like entering a valid IBAN that actually belongs to someone else. It also protects your business against fraud - for example, in case someone is using a fake company name. George can now check directly if an account really belongs to your intended recipient.
How it works:
When you enter the recipient details, George Business automatically checks with the recipient bank if name and IBAN match. George Business will notify you of the outcome with one of the following messages. Here's what to do in each case:
Name and IBAN match.
The IBAN is registered to the exact name you entered. No further action is required.
The IBAN is registered to ...
The name you entered almost matches the IBAN. You may get this result if you made a typo, e.g. "Weber Consul" instead of "Weber Consult", or if part of the name is missing, e.g. "D. Erik" instead of "Dag Erik". George will reveal the full name registered to the IBAN and recommend that you update your entry. If the recipient is saved under Contacts, George can also update your Address Book entry for you.
The IBAN is registered to a different name.
This is where you need to be extra careful. George will inform you that the name you entered does not match the name registered to the IBAN. It could be something harmless like the commercial name of a company (e.g. "Gruber Brew" instead of "Franz Gruber Coffee"), or, in the worst case, you are about to send money to the wrong account. Due to banking confidentiality regulations, George cannot reveal the name registered to the IBAN you entered. If you get this result, here is what you should do:
→ Check IBAN and name for errors and completeness.
→ Ask the recipient to confirm their details.
→ If something doesn't feel right, cancel the payment. The bank may not provide a refund if your transfer goes to the wrong account.
The recipient bank cannot check if name and IBAN match.
George checked with the recipient bank but they couldn't confirm the recipient's verification status. For the kind of transfer you’re making, the Verification of Payee service is not supported. This can happen for a few reasons:
→ The recipient bank is not registered for the verification service.
→ You're making a non-SEPA transfer, e.g. in a different currency, to/from a country outside the SEPA area.
Please double-check the recipient’s details manually.
Sorry, I cannot check if name and IBAN match.
You'd see this message if the Verification of Payee service is temporarily unavailable. This can happen for a few reasons:
→ The recipient account is closed.
→ You're sending money to a savings account (or another account not used for payments).
→ The verification service is temporarily down.
→ There’s a technical issue on the recipient bank's side.
Please try again later, or double-check the recipient’s details manually.
The Verification of Payee service is also available for transfers with a large number or receipients. However, for these transfer types, the service is optional. When you create a bulk transfer or make a data import, you can decide if you'd like to activate the Verification of Payee service.
Bulk transfers
When you create a new bulk transfer, you can decide to activate the Verification of Payee service for the transfer. You can only activate the verification for the whole transfer, not for individual orders or recipients.
As a George Business admin, you can activate or deactivate verification for all bulk transfers in your account settings. Under "Accounts", select the account for which you would like to activate or deactivate the verification service. Then, select "Account Details" and look for the "Verification of Payee" section.
Data imports
Data imports let you create many orders in one go. As a George Business admin, you can activate the verification service for all data imports in your account settings. Alternatively, your ERP software may have an option to activate the verification service. The information that George should perform a verification check will then be contained in the datacarrier that you upload. The datacarrier needs to be created in the newest pain.001 version (ISO-2019). If you want to check if your datacarrier contains the request for verification or not, you can look for the following values in your file:
VoPOptin: George will perform a Verification of Payee check on your imported orders.
VoPOptOut: George will not perform a Verification of Payee check on your imported orders.
You can activate the verification for individual bulk transfers inside the datacarrier, so that George will not check all imported orders.
If you'd like to request a verification check on individual orders, that option is available for some orders in the order list. Simply click on the three dots on the right side of the order, and select "Verify". After verification, you can also check the verification status of any order in the order list.
The Verification of Payee service also applies when you receive a euro transfer. To make sure that payments from customers and business partners arrive smoothly, it’s best to do a quick check: Do your invoices, payment instructions, QR codes, or website show your full account holder name? You can find your recipient name, as registered with the bank, in George Business under “Account details” → “Account owner”. Always give the sender your full recipient name as listed here.
The Verification of Payee check is a legal requirement. It's not possible to opt out of the service completely or to deactivate warnings for trusted recipients. However, George Business does have a small exception for order types with a larger number of recipients: orders via data import and bulk orders. For these order types, you can decide not to activate the Verification of Payee service.
The Verification of Payee service is available from 09 October 2025, in line with the "Instant Payment Regulation". From then on, George will start checking recipient details with every SEPA transfer. If you see a warning, it doesn't always mean that something is wrong with the transfer. However, it's recommended that you check the recipient details (name & IBAN).
You can complete the transfer despite the warning if you're sure the IBAN belongs to the right person or business. To be safe, ask the recipient to confirm their details.
George will perform a Verification of Payee check when you create the order for the first time. You will also be able to see the order's verification status in the order list and in the order detail view. However, after order creation, you won't receive a new, separate warning every time the standing order is executed. George will execute the standing order as usual, regardless of its verification status.
For EBICS orders, you can request verification via George Business. The bank that holds your account(s) will handle the verification process. George will then display the results from your EBICS connections.
Author: Rebecca Stoll