iProov report shows biometric onboarding gains in financial services, technology pitched to fix social media

Rabobank is currently onboarding 300 customers a day with biometrics through mobile processes, with 80 percent of them using NFC, according to a new report from iProov. The change has increased Rabobank’s channel share from 35 percent to 60 percent in 2020, according to the report.

Top Considerations for Online Onboarding in Financial Services explores how financial institutions can make the onboarding process as simple as possible for customers while still preventing fraud and complying with Know Your Customer regulations.

The partnership with Rabobank is used as a case study, with the creation of a mobile app for onboarding, the integration of ID document checking technology from InnoValor, and iProov’s biometrics, including Genuine Presence Assurance, authenticating the applicant’s identity. Rabobank adopted the new onboarding process after realizing that its legacy branch-based process does not appeal to 18-year old customers signing up for their first adult bank account.

The more recent integration of iProov biometrics by challenger bank Knab is also considered in the report.

iProov Founder and CEO Andrew Bud, CBE, is pitching biometric identity verification with liveness checking as a way to prevent the creation of fake social media accounts and abusive behavior on the platforms, i news reports.

“We have witnessed the mass weaponisation of social networks in an attempt to destabilise society,” Bud told the publication. “The scope for minor key forms of terror that can be injected into social networks if you don’t have good accountability of people’s behaviour is huge, and face verification is the way in which you can identify and stop trolls.”

The company’s technology is used by social media app bloomd, but the large social media platforms generally do not use strong user verification.

Facebook began requiring identity verification of some U.S. users who are observed to show certain behavior patterns with an ID document image, but without authenticating the user against the document. Twitter is reported to be trialing user identity verification.

How to cut down on dishonesty and abusive behavior online without outing whistleblowers and anonymous sources, or further eroding online privacy, is a difficult challenge, Bud acknowledges.

“The problem is that one society’s bad behaviour is another person’s human right,” he says. “I don’t know what the answer is, that’s for social networks and national regulation.”

The company has also reviewed its first half of calendar 2020, noting that the rush for liveness detection, or Genuine Presence Assurance in iProov parlance, was already on before the pandemic struck.

Starting with the company’s U.S. expansion to a new office in Maryland, and continuing with its ongoing work with Mvine on a digital health credential, iProov has had a busy year. Other highlights include an award for Best Authentication Technology 2020 at the SC Awards and the success of the UK’s EU Settlement app.

The company won Best of Show at Finovate Europe for the third year running with its iProov for Kiosk, and supported remote onboarding for NHS services during the pandemic.

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  financial results  |  financial services  |  identity verification  |  iProov  |  KYC  |  social media