The rise of digitalisation has led to the growth of new services such as telehealth, digital banking, and ecommerce marketplaces. Most industries and sectors we forced in recent years to accelerate their digital transformation to serve customers remotely via digital channels when they could no longer meet in-person. However when planning to serve these customers online, it is critical to securely verify an individual’s identity that wishes to engage with you if your business is obliged to be anti-money laundering (AML) compliant. With more sophisticated fraud types and identity theft in operation than ever before, it’s clear companies need to future-proof this identity verification process or face penalties for non-compliance or, even worse, becoming victims of fraud. Losing customers, their reputation and money as a result.
As the saying goes, prevention is better than a cure.
Document Identification & Verification (ID&V)
The key way for an individual to prove that they are who they saw they are is by verifying their identity documents.
The standard method is often called “1+1” – Where an individual’s name and one piece of identifiable information (Address or Date of Birth) is verified against 1 database/data point. Standard “2+2” – Where an individual’s Name and two pieces of identifiable information (Address & Date of Birth) are verified against 2 separate databases/data points.
Many companies use either document checks or database checks as their method of identity verification. ID-Pal provides a deeper level of verification by combining both of these methods and validating the result against the end customer using industry-leading biometric analysis.
The journey is still seamless for the customer, but the business benefits from stronger, multi-layered verification of an individual’s identity.
Without an Identity verification solution built with the latest technologies to tackle all types of fraud efficiently and using AI-powered decisioning , the sophisticated methods of fraud developed by fraudsters succeed in their work , especially when there is a part of the process that is manual or human-assisted without the proper compliance in place to prevent fraud at source.
Let’s look in more detail at why that matters.
5 Trends Impacting the Identity Verification Industry
1. The Move to Mobile
The global pandemic changed the digital landscape forever. It accelerated the move to digital, as more people stayed home and stayed online on their mobile phones. Consumers are now very comfortable with signing up to a financial service on their phones and providing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to do so. This can even be seen in industries like gaming, healthcare, government and retail. But as more people get accustomed to signing up online, the expectations of the onboarding journey with your business also rise.
2. Delivering Onboarding Efficiencies
Pre-pandemic, meeting customers in-person to verify their identity documents provided was the norm. Faced with empty offices and branches globally and customers only reachable via digital channels, financial service providers were soon aware of potential losses that could be incurred by the “new norm”. Businesses adopted a more digital approach to still serve customers but also offer them more products than ever at a range of prices.
Having a friction-free solution to verify an identity when opening an account means customers are onboarded sooner. Acquisition is maximised when ID&V takes place in minutes and the AML/KYC component is completed seamlessly without inefficiencies like having a compliance team to check each document manually. This allows enterprises to offer all their financial services digitally as the process of ID&V is simple, easy and quick and meets all compliance regulation2.
3. Competition highlights Complacency
Advanced AI-powered solutions have challenged not only traditional providers but the first-generation platforms that initially disrupted identity verification. Latest market entrants like ID-Pal serve to highlight the static nature of many market players and platforms. Given the advances in types of fraud and changing compliance landscape, it essential that businesses opt for a solution using the most secure and agile technologies. This will ensure they are have a competitive edge to adapt to changing regulatory needs quickly and adjust their AML/KYC solutions to provide a seamless journey at all times.
4. Responding to Evolving Fraud
Fraudsters are tech-savvy and committed, so it is absolutely critical for business to always stay far ahead of their attempts by using the latest fraud-prevention technologies to avoid them. With data breaches and data leaks occurring more frequently in the past year business must be forever vigilant to the risk of identity theft and implementing a robust AML/KYC process is part of this.
ID–Pal’s Enhanced “2+2” means an individual’s Name and D.O.B are verified against a government–backed ID Document, biometric analysis then confirms that the person providing the document is the true owner of that document. The individual’s Name and Address is then extracted and verified against multiple databases looking for one clear, Full Address Match.
Not only does this Enhanced Verification provide stronger fraud protection for your business, but the customer journey becomes even simpler as they no longer need to submit a Proof of Address document.
5. Being Secure and Compliant
The focus on data protection and privacy has intensified in recent years and will continue to dominate conversations around ID&V as fraudsters continue to get access to people’s personal data. Regulators are concerned with protecting people’s data and are implementing stricter regulation for companies as seen with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) . Companies must keep up to date and be thoroughly informed about all regulations because compliance is vital for companies to operate successfully.
ID-Pal was created at a time when the GDPR was implemented and so we designed our solution to support it natively, rather than as an afterthought making our solution compliant, by-design.
In our pursuit of Data Protection and Information security excellence, we implement world-class information security systems. We are very proud to have achieved certification in the leading international standard in Information Security, ISO-27001 to give our customers and users peace of mind.
D-Pal’s Passive Liveness software is iBeta Level 1 and Level 2 quality assured. Liveness tests are susceptible to “Presentation Attacks”. In order to pass iBeta Certification you have to beat all known Presentation Attacks. iBeta Quality Assurance is a uniquely accredited third-party biometrics testing lab and works with a wide variety of biometric technology companies to ensure their products function to the highest standards.
Choosing the Right Identity Verification Vendor
Choosing an identity verification vendor with the right technologies to fight fraud and keep data secure not only today but tomorrow is key for businesses to comply with essential AML/KYC regulations and stop fraud before it starts.
ID-Pal completes four technical checks in seconds when verifying:
- Document verification
- Facial matching
- Passive liveness testing
- Address verification
The unique blend of technical checks provides businesses with strong, multi-layered verification of an individual’s identity, whilst keeping the journey seamless for customers.
This robust approach results customers being verified in real-time, with flagged submissions diverted to a dedicated Alerts section of the business portal.
ID-Pal’s customer on-boarding journey is not only seamless, but it delivers industry-leading accuracy in identity verification outcome
Contact us today for a live demo of how the ID-Pal service can be easily integrated with your business.
ID-Pal will secure your information and will never contact you without your consent.