Bank account verification

Confirming that a bank account is real and belongs to the person or business that claims it.

Before sending money to an account or accepting it for a payout, a service checks that the account exists and that the name on it matches the customer.

Validation that a bank account exists, is active, and is owned by the declared holder, usually by checking account details and the account holder's name with the bank or through a data connection. An account holder is the person or company in whose name the account is registered.

Services use several methods:

• Micro-deposits, in which the service sends small test amounts to the account and the customer confirms the amounts, which proves they can see the account.
• Instant account verification, in which the customer signs in to their bank through a secure connection and authorizes the service to confirm account details.
• Name matching, in which the paying bank checks the payee name against the name on the account before the payment goes out.

Name matching is now mandated in some places:

1. European Union. The Instant Payments Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/886, requires payment providers in euro-area countries to offer Verification of Payee, a check of the payee name against the account, since October 9, 2025. Providers in non-euro EU countries follow in July 2027.
2. United Kingdom. The equivalent scheme is called Confirmation of Payee.

A check can answer different questions:

• Existence, meaning the account number is valid and the account is open.
• Ownership, meaning the name matches the person or business.
• Status, meaning the account can receive funds.

Bank account verification sits next to terms that are easy to mix up:

• Identity verification (IDV) confirms who a person is, which is separate from confirming a bank account.
• Non-document verification checks details against records, and an account check is one such record check.
• Money mule is an account used to move illicit money, which ownership checks help detect.