Note
From October 9, 2025, new EU requirements for SEPA payments come into effect — with the aim of making transfers more secure and faster.
Instant Transfer Becomes Standard
All SEPA transfers within the EU (including Germany) must in future be processed around the clock in real time — at no additional cost.
Payee Verification ("Verification of Payee") Becomes Mandatory
Before a transfer is initiated, your bank automatically checks whether the payee name you entered matches the IBAN.
Depending on the result, you receive a notification (from your bank):
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Name matches: transfer proceeds as usual
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Minor discrepancy: warning notice, you can still proceed
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No match: clear warning, possible payment cancellation
This new check protects you from accidental misdirected transfers or fraudulent payees — especially with new payment partners.
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From autumn onwards, pay particular attention to the correct spelling of the payee name when making transfers
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If you have any questions or uncertainties, your bank will assist you as usual
Tip
If you receive payments yourself, make sure that your name and IBAN are stored correctly and consistently — for example in invoices, online shops, or payment forms.
From October 2025, banks must match the payee name against the IBAN for transfers and direct debits (Verification of Payee). To ensure your payments are not rejected or delayed, you should check your address data.
What You Can Do Now:
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Open the address data of your customers and suppliers — especially for all those for whom you make payments or direct debits: Address > Details > Bank Account > Field: Account Holder.
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Check the Name field (address master data): The company name stored there should match the official account holder name at the bank.
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Check for discrepancies: If the usual company name differs from the account holder designation (e.g. due to additions such as "GmbH & Co. KG"), you can add the correct bank payee name in the Account Holder field.
Tip
Use the Account Holder field to avoid technical discrepancies between trade names and bank entries — this ensures the smooth execution of your payments.
Note
Permitted special characters in the transfer name are spaces, hyphens (-), periods (.), ampersand (&).
If your bank has issues with umlauts, they are often replaced by the following substitutions: "ae", "oe", "ue" and "ss".
If your bank rejects the SEPA XML file or reports an error, this is usually due to bank-side checks (e.g. incorrect account data or format deviations).
Nothing happens in Xentral itself — Xentral only creates the SEPA file, but does not check whether the bank accepts it.
How to resolve the problem:
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Check the bank’s error message: Read the exact message (e.g. incorrect IBAN, invalid format).
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Edit the SEPA file: Open the XML in an editor, correct any obvious data errors (e.g. name, IBAN), and save it again.
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Alternative: Regenerate the SEPA file: Open the Payment transactions section in Xentral. Create the file again and download it.
Note
How quickly and when the bank rejects the file depends on the internal processes of your bank. Xentral has no influence on this.