The EPC Board approved Swift’s appointment in September 2024, and an agreement was finalised by the end of 2024.
The EDS is a cornerstone of the EPC Verification of Payee (VOP) scheme, enabling compliance with the Instant Payment Regulation (IPR) requirement for payment service providers (PSPs) to offer IBAN-name checks before authorising credit or instant credit transfers. Operating under the guidelines of the VOP rulebook, the EDS facilitates secure data exchange between payer and payee PSPs through application programming interfaces (APIs) developed by the EPC.
The directory service plays a pivotal role in ensuring interoperability and reachability among VOP scheme participants. It securely stores and provides access to data, including participant PSP identification, adherence to the VOP scheme, and API endpoints. The EDS will be available exclusively to VOP scheme participants and their authorised Routing and Verification Mechanisms (RVMs). Importantly, it will not store personal data or IBANs, focusing solely on routing purposes between business entities.
The EDS’s functionality will extend beyond the VOP scheme, supporting other EPC API-based initiatives such as the SEPA Request-to-Pay (SRTP) and SEPA Payment Account Access (SPAA) schemes.
According to the EPC Director General, Swift’s selection marks a reportedly significant milestone in advancing the VOP scheme, ensuring greater security and interoperability in payments across Europe.
The EDS platform is slated to go live on 5 October 2025, coinciding with the enforcement of the EPC VOP Rulebook. The EPC plans to publish technical guidelines for PSPs and RVMs in February 2025 as part of the next phase.
The Head of Western Europe at Swift expressed enthusiasm about the project, declaring that the directory service will streamline the operation of EPC schemes and support PSPs in meeting Instant Payments Regulation compliance ahead of the upcoming deadlines.
According to the official announcement, this initiative underscores the EPC’s commitment to advancing secure, efficient, and interoperable payment systems across Europe.
At the end of October 2024, the European Payments Council released its Verification of Payee (VOP) Application Programming Interface (API) specifications. One month later, the EPC released the five rulebooks for its 2025 payment schemes, along with the associated Implementation Guidelines (IGs). In December 2024, the European Payments Council announced that it published version 4.0 of the SEPA Request-to-Pay (SRTP) scheme rulebook, covering the need to optimise and clarify the scheme while maintaining its stability.
Recently, The Paypers had an exclusive conversation with Giorgio Andreoli from EPC on the SPAA scheme, innovation, opportunities, and the evolution of Open Banking in Europe. Furthermore, as part of the Open Finance Report 2024, Oana Ifrim from The Paypers delved into the SPAA scheme, a game-changer for Europe's Open Banking, making it more accessible and sustainable.
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