• When you initiate a transfer order, your bank will verify with the beneficiary's bank if the account number (IBAN) and the name of the beneficiary match. As a customer, you do not need to take any additional steps, as this is done automatically.

• If the name and account number do not match (completely), your bank will notify you.

• After receiving a notification, you decide whether to proceed with the transfer with or without changes. In this respect, nothing changes and, as is already the case today, you are responsible for the transfers you make. In other words, the verification serves as a warning and a tool. If the details do not match (completely), we recommend you to always check the beneficiary to avoid fraud and incorrect transfers.

• The name you entered matches the name of the beneficiary.

• The name you entered almost matches the name of the beneficiary. For example, you might have made a typo or the name you entered is slightly different from the correct name. In that case, the bank will always report the registered name of the beneficiary.

• The name entered does not match the name of the beneficiary. If you decide to continue without making any changes, the amount may end up with the wrong beneficiary. If the beneficiary is a legal entity, the bank will also report the registered name in this case.

• In exceptional cases, verification may not be possible due to a technical malfunction or because the beneficiary's bank was unable to respond (in time). Your bank will inform you if this is the case.

• Enter the fully correct name (first and last name) of the beneficiary, otherwise you will receive an error message.

• If you receive an error message, always check the payment details and contact the beneficiary if necessary. You may have received a fraudulent invoice.

• Update the name in your list of trusted beneficiaries in case of an error message to avoid this error message in the future. For example: change a transfer to the beneficiary “dad” to your father's official name. If you do not do this, you will continue to receive an error message every time.

• First of all, it provides you with greater confidence that your money will reach the correct beneficiary.

• Since the bank performs the check automatically, you do not lose any time and errors are avoided. All of this contributes to the efficiency of transfers.

• In addition, verification helps to combat forms of fraud in the context of transfers, such as invoice fraud, which increases security.

"The introduction of verification of the beneficiary’s name is an important step forward. It gives bank customers extra confidence that their money will reach the right beneficiary and contributes to the efficiency of payment transactions. Thanks to this automatic verification, we can limit errors in transfers and at the same time better combat certain forms of fraud," says Karel Baert, CEO of Febelfin.

"The introduction of the verification of the beneficiary's name is an important step forward in the fight against certain forms of bank fraud. Thanks to this free service, consumers will have an extra safety net for their payments, which should increase confidence in digital banking. Together with the banks, I will evaluate whether this new system actually has a positive effect for consumers in practice and whether any improvements are needed at a later stage.", Rob Beenders, Minister for Consumer Protection, Equal Opportunities, Persons with Disabilities & Social Fraud Prevention

We realise that the notifications in case of an incorrect name will take some getting used to, but if the reported tips are applied, the proportion of verifications that do not match can be limited as much as possible to genuine cases of fraud. The banks are therefore making every effort to make this as smooth as possible for customers.

Companies will also have to make an effort: banks are therefore calling on beneficiary legal entities and companies to correctly state their names on invoices, at their bank and in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises. We ask them to register their legal names, trade names and/or abbreviations with the CBE via their business counter, at the latest by the legal start date, in order to avoid error messages during transfers as much as possible.

Belgian banks are starting to gradually introduce the ‘verification of the beneficiary’s name’ and are among the first in Europe to do so.

This means that the introduction of verification will be gradual, and may vary from bank to bank. Each bank will decide for itself how the verification of the beneficiary's name will be introduced between now and the legal start date of 9 October. During this period, it is possible, for example, that a particular bank will only offer verification via one banking channel (e.g. mobile banking or internet banking) and only for beneficiaries at banks in Belgium.

The complete roll-out of this verification to all banks in the eurozone and across all banking channels will be finalised by 9 October 2025 at the latest. This is in line with Europe's objective of moving towards safer payment transactions.

To answer frequently asked questions regarding the verification of the beneficiary's name, we have compiled a list of FAQs.