Simulating Account Holder Verification

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This page describes the behaviour of version 2 of the endpoint. For the article for version 1, see Simulating Account Holder Verification (v1).

The sandbox environment supports Account Holder Verification (AHV) workflows, allowing you to test your integration before going live, including different match levels, name variations, and fallback conditions, all without involving any real accounts or providers.

The simulator supports:

Confirmation of Payee (CoP - UK): for GBP payments via Faster Payments
Verification of Payee (VoP - EU): for EUR payments via SEPA (SEPA Credit Tranfer, SEPA Instant, SEPA Direct Debit)
Confirmation of Payee (CoP - AU): for AUD payments via the Australian scheme (BSB + Account Number)

Test scenarios in the sandbox

In the sandbox, you can simulate and test how your integration handles:

Exact name matches
Close matches (e.g. spelling differences or mismatched account types)
No matches (e.g. incorrect names, invalid accounts, opt-outs)
Fallback behavior for unknown (non-predefined) inputs
Error responses (e.g. technical error)

All responses follow the same API format as in production — enabling accurate and efficient testing.

How to Simulate Specific Match Scenarios

To trigger a specific match result, submit one of the predefined input combinations as listed below. The sandbox will respond with the corresponding matchLevel, reasonCode, description and detailedDescription.

Predefined CoP - UK Test Cases

Test Case	verificationName	verificationType	financialInstitution	account	country	matchLevel	accountHolder	reasonCode	description	detailedDescription
Match - Personal Account	Samantha Smythe	Personal	999996	00000001	GB	Match
Match - Business Account	Bridgford Gardening	Business	999996	00000011	GB	Match
Close Match - Wrong Name	Sam Smythe	Personal	999996	00000001	GB	Close match	MISS SAMANTHA SMYTHE	MBAM	There may be a match on the Account Name	The CoP Responder has performed the matching and it is a close match
No Match - Wrong Type P2B	Samantha Smythe	Business	999996	00000001	GB	No match		PANM	Personal account, name matches	The CoP Requester indicated a business account, but it is actually a personal account and the name matches
No Match - Wrong Type B2P	Bridgford Gardening	Personal	999996	00000011	GB	No match		BANM	Business account, name matches	The CoP Requester indicated a personal account, but it is actually a business account and the name matches
No Match - Wrong Name	David Smythe	Personal	999996	00000001	GB	No match		ANNM	Account Name does Not Match	The CoP Responder has performed the matching and confirms it is not a match
No Match - Invalid Account	Samantha Smythe	Personal	999996	98989898	GB	No match		AC01	Incorrect Account Number	Account does not exist in the CoP Responder’s books
No Match - Opted Out	Johnson Logistics	Business	999996	00000048	GB	No match		OPTO	Opted out of CoP Scheme	Payee has been opted out of the CoP service by the CoP Responder
No Match -Account Not Supp.	Not Supported	Personal	999996	00000062	GB	No match		ACNS	Account type Not Supported for CoP	Account not supported for CoP by the CoP Responder
Error	Samantha Smythe	Personal	000000	00000001	GB	Error		Error	400 Bad request	Invalid SortCode MI Reference: 474
No match Catch-All – Unknown Input	any	any	any	any	GB	No match		ANNM	Account Name does Not Match	Returned when input doesn't match predefined sandbox cases

Predefined VoP - EU Test Cases

Use the following IBAN-based inputs to simulate VoP responses.

Test Case	verificationName	account	matchLevel	accountHolder	reasonCode	description	detailedDescription
Match – Personal Account	Maria Silva	PT50000100018763312236976	Match
Close Match – Personal Account	Marya Silva	PT50000100018763312236976	Close match	Maria Silva
Match - Business Account	Some Company	NL16RABO7600386364	Match
Error - External	Maria Unknown	PT50000100018763312236976	Error		NOAP	External_Error	Verification Check Not Possible or Validation Check is not applicable.
Error – Internal	Unknown Unknown	PT50000100018763312236976	Error		Error	Internal_Error	An internal error occurred. Please contact support.
No match Catch-All – Unknown Input	any	any	No match

Additional Predefined VoP – EU Test Cases (DE IBAN Pool, unique per scenario)

Some clients require unique IBANs per test case for end-to-end testing with external schemes/platforms.
To support this, we provide an additional set of predefined VoP test cases with unique IBANs per scenario.

Notes

This is additional — the original VoP test cases above remain unchanged.
Each scenario uses a unique DE IBAN to support E2E testing.

Test Case	verificationName	account	matchLevel	accountHolder	reasonCode	description	detailedDescription
Match – Personal Account (DE)	Max Mustermann	DE74100000002234400001	Match
Close Match – Personal (DE)	Max Musterman	DE47100000002234400002	Close match	Max Mustermann
Match – Business Account (DE)	Beispiel GmbH	DE20100000002234400003	Match
Error – Verification Not Possible	Mustermann Unknown	DE90100000002234400004	Error		NOAP	External_Error	Verification Check Not Possible or Validation Check is not applicable.
Error – Internal Server Error	Unknown Unknown	DE63100000002234400005	Error		Error	Internal_Error	An internal error occurred. Please contact support.

Predefined CoP - AU Test Cases

Note on AU responses:

Due to updated regulatory requirements, no accountHolder information is returned in CoP AU responses, regardless of match level or account type.

The response only indicates the matchLevel and, where applicable, a reasonCode.

ReasonCode:

Match / Close match / No match → empty/null.
Error → scheme external/scheme internal codes (e.g., COP.API.9011, COP.API.9021)

Test Case	verificationName	financialInstitution	account	country	matchLevel	reasonCode	description	detailedDescription
Match - Personal Account	Michael Thomas	572507	987456301	AU	Match
Match - Business Account	Lobster Limited	995021	2338015	AU	Match
Close Match - Personal Account	Michal Tomas	572507	987456301	AU	Close match
No Match - Business Account	any business name except Lobster Limited	995021	2338015	AU	No match
Error - External - No Record	Homer Simpson	995021	1000003	AU	Error	COP.API.9011	External_Error	The referenced record cannot be found.
Error - External - Account Closed	Stan Smith	995021	123802300	AU	Error	COP.API.9021	External_Error	Account closed.
Error - Internal	Dean Huijsen	995021	123802401	AU	Error	FIS.API.9503	Internal_Error	An internal error occurred. Please contact support.
No Match Catch-All – Unknown Input	any	any	any	AU	No match

Catch-All Fallback for Unknown Inputs (all schemes)

If your input does not match any predefined sandbox test case, the system returns a default "No Match" response — allowing you to test how your application handles unrecognized or unknown accounts.

Type	Trigger	Fallback Response	Notes
CoP (UK)	Unrecognized sort code, account number, or name	matchLevel: No match reasonCode: ANNM description: Account Name does Not Match detailedDescription: The CoP Responder has performed the matching and confirms it is not a match	Returned when sort code + account number combination is not predefined
VoP (EU)	Unrecognized IBAN or name	matchLevel: No match	Returned when IBAN is not predefined
CoP (AU)	Unrecognized BSB + account number or name	matchLevel: No match	Returned when BSB + account number is not predefined (personal accounts).

Notes

The sandbox is stateless and returns predefined responses only
No real data is accessed or verified
CoP UK, VoP EU, and CoP AU are supported on the same AHV endpoint; selection is based on input fields (see table above).