Verification of Payee

Frequently asked questions about verification of payee

Why am I always shown a verification of payee message before I confirm payments?

The EU Instant Payments Regulation requires banks to perform a check on the recipient’s name and account number and to inform their customers making payments whether these match. This helps the customer to spot errors in the recipient information and to detect scams.

How should I write the recipient’s name?

Enter the recipient’s full name the way it is shown in the invoice’s recipient details. If you are making a payment to a private individual, use their full official name. Short names and nicknames may result in you being shown that the recipient name and the account holder name don’t match.

Note: We will check the account holder’s details from the recipient’s bank. The spelling of the recipient’s name may vary from bank to bank, as different banks may have recorded the account holder’s official name differently in their systems.

A large organisation as a recipient

• When the recipient of an invoice is a large organisation, such as the government, the Tax Administration, a government agency, a hospital or a city, the recipient’s name on the invoice may differ from the account holder’s name recorded in the bank’s system. If this is the case, you may see a message that says the recipient name differs from the account holder name. In some cases, you may see a message that says we were unable to verify the recipient details.
• This means that you should check the name and account number on the invoice or by contacting the invoicer directly. If you are sure that the payment details are correct, you can proceed to confirm the payment. Please note that we will always transmit the payment based on the account number provided regardless of the recipient’s name.

Order of first and last name

• When a recipient’s name is similar to the account holder’s name, you may see a message saying that the recipient name differs from the account holder name. You will also be shown the account holder’s official name. This may be the case when you enter John Doe as the recipient name but the recipient’s bank has recorded the recipient’s name as Doe John.
• If you want, you can update the recipient name to match their official name but your payment will be made based on the account number provided regardless of the recipient name.

A joint account

• If there are two account holders for one joint account, the correct spelling of the recipient’s name depends on their bank.
• If the joint account is a Nordea account, we record both account holders’ names in our system. This means that, as a rule, you should enter both recipients’ names in the payment details.

Where does Nordea check the recipient’s information from?

We check the recipient’s information from the recipient’s bank.

If I’m shown the message that the “recipient name is not the same as the account holder name”, can Nordea tell me the real account holder name?

In this case you must check the recipient’s information directly from the person or company to whom you are making the payment. Usually you can check the details from the invoice or ask the sender of the invoice directly.

I was shown the message “Recipient name is not the same as the account holder name”. Should I confirm the payment?

Nordea can’t make the decision on your behalf – it’s always your decision whether to confirm a payment or not. If you decide to confirm the payment despite the warning, there is a risk that your payment will be sent to an account not held by the intended recipient.

The risk is higher if you haven’t sent payments to this recipient before. If you suspect a scam, don’t confirm the payment.

If you know the recipient and they have received your previous payments, the risk is smaller.

Important to note: If you confirm a payment and it turns out to be a scam, Nordea will not be liable for your lost money.

I have made payments to this recipient with the same details for years without any issues. Why do you now claim that the recipient name is not the same as the account holder name?

We introduced a verification of payee service on 8 October 2025. Before this, there was no verification of the recipient’s name and account number.  

It may be that the invoicer has used its commercial name on the invoice, not the official name of the account holder as recorded in the Trade Register. We compare the recipient’s name against their official name, and that’s why the answer may indicate that the details do not match. The name may also be written in English or Swedish. If you are transferring money to a private individual, it may be that their name is officially spelt differently than the name you have entered into the recipient field.

However, please note that we will transmit the payment based on the account number provided as before regardless of the recipient name.

I was making a payment and got a message saying that you could not compare recipient name with the account holder name. What does this mean?

There are several reasons why you may have seen this message:

• We were unable to check the account holder’s name for technical reasons.
• The recipient’s account is in a non-euro country (such as Sweden). We can only verify the recipient details for euro-denominated payments within the eurozone.
• The recipient’s account has been created recently or there have been no outgoing payments from the account.

If you see this message, you should check the name and account number on the invoice or by contacting the invoicer directly. If you are sure that the payment details are correct, you can proceed to confirm the payment. Please note that we will always transmit the payment based on the account number provided regardless of the recipient’s name.

Why is the account holder’s name verified even though the payments are transmitted solely based on the account number?

This verification provides the payer with a higher degree of certainty that the payment will end up going to the intended recipient.