Selfie biometrics ID check partnerships address costly onboarding security concerns

A new Signicat report highlights the overall trend of financial application abandonment due to complex and lengthy onboarding coupled with COVID lockdown-related restrictions. Providing a safe and seamless digital customer experience with biometrics is accordingly the focus of several new partnerships that seek to address the security risks surrounding digital onboarding. GBG and iDenfy are building new partnerships to provide digital firms with the necessary tools to tackle fraud and comply with regulations.

European companies lose $6.8B a year due to complex and lengthy onboarding

Signicat has published the findings of a new P.A. ID Strategies report that shows financial losses due to inadequate onboarding and abandonment are continuing to mount. According to the report, these shortcomings are costing European financial institutions more than $6.8 billion annually.

The report further finds that 63 percent of European consumers abandoned financial applications due to the length and complexity of the onboarding process, showing a 23 percent spike compared to 2019. In addition to this, COVID lockdown restrictions and the lack of adequate digital alternatives have closed the door to 41 percent of European consumers trying to access financial services. The 2020 survey was conducted over two months and compares data to pre-COVID market conditions in 2019.

“As a result of the pandemic, onboarding customers digitally, securely, and seamlessly is vital for organizations to continue doing business,” said Asger Hattel, CEO, Signicat. “Billions are spent on clever marketing and compelling products every year by the smartest people in the business—and it works, with millions of potential customers starting applications for financial products. Yet it is vital that the industry takes note of where they can improve the onboarding experience, in order to turn these applicants into actual customers.”

Identity verification with ID document checks and selfie biometrics, whether in single image or video form, which can be combined with electronic signing, is the tools financial institutions should use to lower their risk, Signicat advises.

iDenfy and Verifo partner to secure international payment platform

iDenfy will provide its automated biometric identity checks to optimized and secure digital banking platform Verifo‘s customer onboarding experience against international payments fraud.

ID document and selfie biometric comparisons from iDenfy will provide a smooth user experience for new Verifo users while ensuring regulatory compliance, according to a company announcement. Verifo further hopes that the automated onboarding process will ease the overall administrative burden.

iDenfy Co-owner Domantlas Ciudle said, “iDenfy specializes in real-time ID verification. In today’s world with ID fraud continuing to rise, this service is critical. ID theft is particularly troublesome in financial markets.”

Behavioral biometrics are also entering iDenfy’s identity verification stack through a recently-formed partnership with Manu.

GBG and Revolut deepen ties to combat digital identity fraud

Challenger bank Revolut announced that it will deepen its partnership with GBG to improve onboarding and combat digital fraud. Focusing on KYC and AML compliance, the two firms will expand the bank’s onboarding platform using GBG’s ID3Global global identity verification solution.

The ID3Global solution references external datasets and creates customer journeys through a suite of automated technologies. The combination of dataset checks and biometrics provides regulatory compliance.

GBG’s partnership expansion with Revolut follows a series of similar collaborations in the past, in which the firm aided fintech and financial services businesses in their digitization efforts.

GBG Identity Fraud GM Gus Tomlinson said: “The internet was built without ‘identity’ in mind, but as COVID-19 has pushed swathes of consumers online, businesses have had to adapt to keep pace, while also protecting users from scammers and fraudsters who continue to take advantage of the situation. Our recent research showed that not only is identity fraud already affecting one in five consumers, the ‘trust gap’ it creates poses a risk to industries, which will depend on digital trust if they are to thrive in 2021 and beyond. Over a third of consumers are more worried about fraud in banking, as a result of COVID-19 (36 percent).”

Tomlinson added, “That’s why we’re thrilled to be working more closely with Revolut – one of the world’s largest challenger names – to make finance accessible and enjoyable for consumers, without compromising on security and safety.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  financial services  |  GBG  |  iDenfy  |  onboarding  |  secure transactions  |  selfie biometrics  |  Signicat