Simulating Account Holder Verification

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

This simulator supports both:

Confirmation of Payee (CoP): for GBP payments via Faster Payments
Verification of Payee (VoP): for EUR payments via SEPA (SCT, SCT Inst, SDD)

Supported Features

In the sandbox, you can simulate:

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 CoP vs. VoP is Determined from Payload

There is no explicit field in the request to select CoP or VoP. Instead, the verification type is automatically inferred from the contents of the request:

Field Present in verification Object	Interpreted As	Use Case
bban (e.g. sortCode, accountNumber)	CoP	GBP – Faster Payments
iban	VoP	EUR – SEPA SCT, SDD

Note: You must provide either bban or iban, but not both. If both fields are present, the API will return an error.

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, and description.

Predefined CoP Test Cases

Test Case	individualFullName	CompanyName	Country	BranchCode	AccountNumber	MatchLevel	AccountHolder	ReasonCode	ReasonId	Description	DetailedDescription
Match - Personal Account	Samantha Smythe		GB	999996	00000001	Match
Match - Business Account		Bridgford Gardening	GB	999996	00000011	Match
Close Match - Wrong Name	Sam Smythe		GB	999996	00000001	Close match	MISS SAMANTHA SMYTHE	MBAM	2	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	GB	999996	00000001	No match		PANM	4	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		GB	999996	00000011	No match		BANM	3	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		GB	999996	00000001	No match		ANNM	1	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		GB	999996	98989898	No match		AC01	7	Incorrect Account Number	Account does not exist in the CoP Responder's books
No Match Opted Out		Johnson Logistics	GB	999996	00000048	No match		OPTO	10	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		GB	999996	00000062	No match		ACNS	9	Account type Not Supported for CoP	Account not supported for CoP by the CoP Responder
Error	any non ASCII name		GB	any	any	Error		ValidationError		400 Bad request	Search criteria is invalid.\nName: 'Name' is empty or has invalid data.
Catch-All – Any other input	any	any	GB	any	any	No match		ANNM	1	Account Name does Not Match	Returned when input doesn't match predefined sandbox cases

Predefined VoP Test Cases

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

Test Case	IndividualFullName	CompanyName	IBAN	MatchLevel	AccountHolder	ReasonCode	Description	DetailedDescription
Match – Exact	Maria Silva		PT50000100018763312236976	Match
Match – Close	Marya Silva		PT50000100018763312236976	Close match	Maria Silva
Match - Exact		Some Company	NL16RABO7600386364	Match
Verification Not Possible	Maria Unknown		PT50000100018763312236976	Error		NOAP	Verification check not possible.	Verification Check Not Possible or Validation Check is not applicable.
Error – Internal Server Error	Unknown Unknown		PT50000100018763312236976	Error		Error	Technical Error	Unexpected technical error. An exception occurs during code execution and the request cannot be further processed.
No match Catch-All – Unknown Input	Any Name	Any Name	Any SEPA IBAN	No match

Catch-All Fallback for Unknown Inputs

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	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	Unrecognized IBAN or name	`matchLevel: No match`	Returned when IBAN is not predefined

Notes

The sandbox is stateless and returns predefined responses only
No real data is accessed or verified
CoP and VoP are both supported on the same AHV endpoint, selection is based on input fields