Jumio builds out biometric end-to-end identity verification solution with Beam Solutions’ AML platform acquisition

Jumio is acquiring the anti-money laundering platform from Beam Solutions in an asset purchase to add to the face biometrics and other technologies of the company’s recently-announced KYX platform.

Jumio customers can use the Beam integration to detect suspicious activity, and gain a more holistic view of risk factors through the Jumio KYX platform. The new capabilities help regulated entities that need to comply with AML, know you customer (KYC) and suspicious activity reporting (SAR) requirements, like fintechs, banks, broker-dealers, credit unions, lenders, cryptocurrency providers, and marketplaces.

While there are many vendors that provide AML transaction monitoring, Beam Solutions is one of only a handful with newer, cloud-centric technology, Jumio VP of Global Marketing Dean Nicolls told Biometric Update in an email. Beam gathers data from sources including social media and the U.S. Census to enrich transaction data and flag suspicious activity.

“For example, if a customer is applying for a loan, Beam will ensure that the loan amount isn’t greater than the value of the home, that the customer’s stated income is typical for their profession, and that their stated profession matches their social media profiles,” Nicolls explains. “Beam integrates with third-party services that specialize in identity verification through various channels, such as a customer’s device settings and geolocation, to give you all the information you need to satisfy know-your-customer and customer due diligence requirements.”

The company has also worked hard to develop an effective case management and investigations module, according to Nicolls, to help teams use intelligent data aggregation to investigate transactions more effectively. One click on a given case provides a consolidated view of all relevant information, and allows easy review, note-making, and sharing with other team members, which Nicolls says is unique within the industry.

Legacy AML monitoring systems are not built to support distributed teams, and rely on static rules that do not respond to new patterns, according to a company blog post.

“Financial institutions of all sizes currently rely on a number of point solutions to combat financial crime and mitigate money laundering threats. At the same time, they must satisfy countless government regulations in order to avoid expensive fines and reputational damage,” says Robert Prigge, Jumio’s CEO. “Together, Jumio and Beam’s solutions deliver the first end-to-end compliance solution designed to minimize reputational and regulatory risk, increase operational efficiency and genuinely address harmful activity.”

Customers can implement Jumio’s platform with Beam AML screening integrated to avoid the exorbitant fines associated with AML regulation enforcement by enabling compliance teams to be responsive, adaptable and efficient. Data is ingested to the solution through Beam’s APIs or file server, and compared against a library of standard rules created by the companies’ AML experts. The domain-specific models adapt to changing behavior, and work accurately in a wide range of scenarios, Jumio says.

The integration of Beam’s technology will enable regulated entities to use data captured during onboarding and customer due diligence (CDD) processes for AML and transaction monitoring.

“When financial institutions are compelled to use multiple solutions, efficiencies are lost, both with respect to workforce and data,” states Andreas Bayer, Beam’s co-founder and CTO. “Data gathered during the onboarding and customer due diligence processes should be leveraged going forward as part of the ongoing KYC and transaction monitoring program. That’s the real promise of this partnership.”

Beam was founded in 2016. The company’s U.S. employees will relocate to Jumio headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Jumio has also been recognized in Gartner’s ‘Market Guide for Identity Proofing and Attribution’ as a representative vendor for the third year in a row.

Vendors were selected for the representative vendor list based on offering unique or innovative capabilities to support identity proofing, frequent inquiries from Gartner clients about them, representing particular market segments, and fair representation within space constraints from year to year.

Gartner says that by 2022, 80 percent of organizations will utilize document-based identity proofing within their onboarding processes, up from about 30 percent today. RFPs for these technologies will include requirements for minimizing “demographic bias” in 95 percent of cases, up from less than 15 percent today, and three quarters will be using a single vendor with strong identity orchestration capabilities and connections to third parties, again up from below 15 percent today.

Prigge notes that the launch of the Jumio KYX Platform was based on many of the same observations.

Article Topics

acquisitions  |  AML  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  Jumio  |  KYC  |  regulation  |  secure transactions