Main changes
- Enhances payment security: helps reduce fraud risks when making payments
- Checks Payee details: compares payee’s name and account with EU bank's records
- Mismatch alerts: notifies you if there's a name and account mismatch
- Set instant payment limits: set a daily or single payment limit for instant payments
- Options: if payment exceeds instant payment limit, select SEPA or European express payment type
Why changes are made?
To follow EU regulations on instant transfers and make your payments safer by reducing the risk of fraud, we will make some changes to payment initiation and execution as of October 5, 2025.
What is Verification of Payee service?
The Verification of Payee service is designed to check beneficiary banking details such as name and IBAN (International Bank Account Number) prior to approving and executing a payment.
How it will work?
When you initiate intra-bank or European payment (instant, SEPA and express), the system will compare the name of the payee and the details held by the payee’s bank. It is important to note that VoP is a pre-payment check. Once the name has been checked, you still need to confirm the payment as the final step.
If there is a mismatch, we will notify you, helping you avoid potential fraud or errors. You will be able to confirm payment even if payee’s name does not match, but in that case, you will not be able to recover losses if payment is sent to wrong payee.
The VoP check will generate one of four responses:
- Match – You will receive confirmation that all the payment details match.
- Close match – This means that the name on the account does not exactly match what you have provided. You will be provided with a suggested name, so please verify if the suggested name is correct. If it doesn’t look right, or you're unsure, contact the person or business you are trying to pay to confirm their details.
- No match – We will inform you that it is not a match and advise you to contact the person or business you are trying to pay, to obtain the correct account name and number before proceeding with any payments.
- Verification check not possible – We will notify you if the Verification of Payee service is unavailable at the time of checking or if there is another issue causing the failure.
Questions and answers
Answers provided below are relevant from the 5th of October 2025.
Verification of payee
Verification of Payee, to be introduced in October 2025, aims to give customers greater confidence when making payments, to ensure that they are paying the correct beneficiary. Finally, the VoP service is mandated by the EU Instant Payment Regulation, so all banks in the eurozone area will need to comply with it and offer the service to their customers.
VoP will be provided for intra-bank or European payment (instant, SEPA) to eurozone countries.
This service is free of charge for all customers.
Verification of Payee, when introduced, will be available in SEB internet bank, mobile app, branch as well as in Baltic Gateway channel.
If you are paying to a private person, please use their first name and last name. If you are paying to a legal person, please use the legal or business name. You may need to contact the beneficiary to obtain the correct name held on the account.
- Payments made to you
Make sure the name you provide to payers or use on your invoices matches the name registered to your bank account. - Payments you make
It is important that you review and verify the beneficiaries information in your accounting systems. The beneficiary’s name must match the name held by the beneficiary's bank.
Only business customers who are uploading payments via file in internet bank or Baltic Gateway channel may opt-out from VoP service.
The payment service provider (usually the bank) of the beneficiary will check, if the name sent to them for the VoP check is a match. The beneficiary’s bank will send their response to SEB, and this will be shown to you before confirming the payment.
We will show you VoP result in few seconds after you provide beneficiary’s name and account number.
This means that the beneficiary’s name does not exactly match what you have entered. You will be provided with an account holder’s name, so please check if the provided name is correct. If it doesn’t look right, or you’re not sure, contact the beneficiary to check their details.
If you receive a no match, first check you have entered the details correctly. If you have, we advise you to contact the beneficiary to obtain the correct account holder’s name and account number before making any payments. If, after checking with the beneficiary, they inform you that the details are correct, we recommend that you request beneficiary to contact their bank to confirm that the bank account details are correct.
If the payment details still don’t come back as a match when using the service, it could indicate a scam. Fraudsters will attempt to trick you into sending money by posing as an individual or company that you trust, such as your bank or a trusted supplier. To help you avoid this, you should carefully consider whether the payment request is genuine, or you may lose your money.
This means that the service is unavailable at the time of checking or there is another possible reason to request failure. We advise you to try later. If the situation continues despite many attempts, we advise you to contact beneficiaryyou are trying to pay, to clear with their bank what might be the reason for this response.
When you are initiating single payment it is mandatory to perform the VoP check. You can always proceed with the payment, independent of the VoP result.
If you are a business customer sending multiple payment transactions in one file, you will have the option to opt-out from the service.
No. Only beneficiary‘s name can be checked.
No. Beneficiary‘s bank can reject payment due to incorrect beneficiary‘s name or any other reasons.
Clients which use Baltic Gateway service will be informed individually.
VoP service will be provided when standing order agreement is created. VoP will not be repeated when standing order payments are executed.
VoP service will not be provided when beneficiary’s name is not entered by payer (for example, in e-invoice payment or payment’s using mobile phone number).
Instant payment limits
You will be able to set daily or one payment limit for instant payments. Default 15 000 EUR limit will be applied for one instant payment till you set your own limit. If European payment’s amount is below that limit and beneficiary’s bank accepts instant payment, it will be executed as instant payment. When limit is exceeded, you will be able to increase your instant payment limit or choose between SEPA and European express payment.
Your instant payment limit cannot exceed your general Internet bank limit. If it does, then payment cannot be confirmed.
Yes. You can adjust your instant payment limits at any time, as often as needed, without requiring bank approval.
There is no amount limitation.
No. The limit applies only to outgoing instant payments. Incoming instant payments do not affect it.
You can manage your instant payment limits in internet bank and branch.
The limit is customer-based. If you have multiple accounts, the same type of limit (daily or per transaction) applies across all of them.
No. The limit is customer-based, so all users will share the same instant payment limit setup.
No. In case you will not set your instant payment limit, bank will apply default 15 000 Eur limit per one instant payment. You can change default limit at any time.
This is a regulatory requirement under the Instant Payments Regulation. It allows you to choose which payments to execute as instant.
A default limit of 15,000 EUR per payment will apply. Payments above this amount will be processed as SEPA or European express payments.
Yes. Payments exceeding 10 million EUR must be agreed upon or notified to the bank in advance. This should be considered when planning large payments.
Instant payment execution in 10 seconds
Any time when instant payment will require additional checks or for some other reason it will not be possible to execute it in 10 seconds, we will reject that payment and refund money back to your account. You will be able to give us instructions to automatically repeat that payment as SEPA payment while initiating instant payment.
You should ask beneficiary to contact its payment service provider and clarify regarding payment status.
Yes, fee will be returned.
No, rejected instant payments will not be counted in the number of payments used within the Service plan.
