What is the implementation feasibility of VoP and instant payments?

Securing payment transactions

The first panel, moderated by Lu Zurawski, payment specialist, Payment System Regulator, was made up of Jacques Vanhautere, director general, SEPAmail.eu; Kannan Rasappan, CEO, Banfico; Nicolas Trimbour, head of fraud prevention BNP Paribas Cash Management and CDO, BNP Paribas; Olivier Julou, payment fraud expert and crédit agricole representative in French and European fraud workgroup, Crédit Agricole, and Sheri Brandon, global head of new business, Worldline Financial Services.

The conversation opened by Zurawski outlining the October 2025 Verification of Payee (VoP) go-live date, asking the panellists for their concerns on implementation feasibility and delivery risks.

Rasappan noted, “it’s the implementation. It’s a big bang. We’re building the infrastructure, and we’re going live, and that’s where the delivery risk to comply on the day is very high… in EPC we are doing a big bang approach for 3500 institutions. It’s what I see is a big risk there, and an important risk.”

Vanhautere agreed, also emphasising how the deeper challenge lies in preparing end users, both individuals and corporates. “It’s about the final goal, the customers, this process is not only for banks, and we will have an issue if they are not well organised to follow what will be in place in October. We need communication, we need information,” said Vanhautere.

Trimbour highlighted difficulties in harmonising existing and new systems to ensure a seamless customer experience: “we have challenges about interoperability of existing schemes, and new schemes to curate everyone to be ready for.”

Julou echoed those concerns, also focusing on the necessity of accurate data management: “data is key, because we are not starting from nothing. We already have data registered by consumers, which is beneficiary. So we have to manage that.” Julou added that VoP is not a ‘silver bullet’ for fraud, emphasising the importance of maintaining trust through consistent communication and system performance.

Brandon noted that bulk payments – especially those involving multiple banking relationships – present a unique operational hurdle. Without consistent rules, corporates could face chaos: “if one bank sends the whole file back because VOP fails, or the other banks have only the only individual cases the corporate is going to go crazy.”

Towards the end of the session, panelists looked to the future. Julou emphasised the importance of multi-sector collaboration to outpace fraudsters, who now operate across digital platforms, not just banking systems: “fraud doesn’t go beyond PSPs today, they are using WhatsApp, they are using social media… so we have to collaborate across all these technologies.”

Vanhautere closed with the reminder that while the technology is essential, clear communication to the public is even more critical. “The launch is in four months. We have a huge need for information and communication for end users. The main message to all those end users is to say, please clean up your database, please clean up your work ethic.”

The real-time (r)evolution

The following panel, moderated by Elena Casal, chief client officer, The Clearing House, was made up of David Voss, head of global payments services EMEA, Bank of America; Esther Galiana, head of cross-border payments and cash management solutions, BBVA; Dr Hubertus Von Poser, head of sales and consulting payments, PPI, and Simone Del Guerra, head of central institutions & international sales, Nexi.

Opening the panel, Castell framed the conversation by asking: “what do we see today, and what will we look forward to in the next six to twelve months?”

Del Guerra, emphasised that Europe’s rollout of instant payments has been shaped by uneven adoption, commenting, “we’ve had various different requests from various commercial banks, because, irrespective of the fact we all live in Europe, each country has different levels of implementation and usage. The Nordics and Italy are far not only from a geographical standpoint, but also from a consumer behavior standpoint.”

Galiana echoed this sentiment while underscoring the demand for real-time treasury solutions: “this trend of real time treasury trying to provide corporates with the availability of real time information of their balances, their position, the traceability of the payments, is something we’ve been very much involved in.”

Von Poser offered a balanced view, highlighting both incremental progress and transformative change, “my perspective is long run. It’s an evolutionary past, but there will be some revolutions in every steps, especially when it comes to adapting the infrastructure. We probably also need some revolutionary steps or revolutionary products, to be more successful on the client side.”

From Voss’ perspective, “2025 probably feels like the year of instant payments,” whilst cautioning that the evolution is not only about infrastructure. “There are obviously other things to deliver beyond just the payment rails around complying with the other parts of the IPR,” Voss explained.

Voss added further that request-to-pay integration with invoicing could unlock significant value: “if corporates send invoices to the bank, and the bank is then generating request-to-pay and booting it to the payer, it really helps corporates with reconciling payments and invoice data.”

The conversation also acknowledged the looming October 2025 regulation deadline and the risk of delay in adoption. Galiana emphasised the need for harmonised regulation to ensure a consistent experience across providers and borders, with Voss pointing to SEPA as a regulation-led success: “we need regulation for fostering instant payments… SEPA is a success story, and it was driven by regulation.”

Looking ahead, all panelists agreed on one thing: the next 6–12 months will be critical. “There’s a lot of uncertainty right now,” said del Guerra. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be put not only on the front side… but clearly on software and delivery of service.”