IBAN fraud is costing UK financial institutions millions
Credit transfer fraud across the EEA reached €2.5 billion in 2024, up 24% year-on-year (EBA-ECB Payment Fraud Report, December 2025). Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams — including IBAN substitution on invoices and payment mandates — represent the fastest-growing fraud vector. Manual IBAN checks take 10-20 minutes per transaction and miss subtle character substitutions that automated validation catches instantly.
How CheckFile verifies IBANs at banking speed
ISO 13616 structural validation
Automatic check of IBAN format, modulo-97 control key, and associated BIC/SWIFT code against ECB and EPC registries. Catches transposition errors and fake IBANs before funds are released.
Document tampering detection
AI analysis of PDF and image metadata, visual consistency checks on bank statements and payment mandates, and detection of digital retouching on IBAN fields.
VoP and FCA compliance alignment
Controls aligned with the EU Instant Payments Regulation (EU 2024/886) Verification of Payee mandate (October 2025 deadline) and FCA PS19/26 on APP fraud mitigation.
Manual IBAN checks vs CheckFile
| Capability | Manual process | CheckFile |
|---|---|---|
| Verification time | 10-20 minutes | < 3 seconds |
| ISO 13616 format check | ||
| Tampering detection on PDFs | ||
| VoP-aligned name matching | ||
| Full audit trail | ||
| Cost per check | £8-14 (staff time) | < £0.45 |