Synergizing NFC technology and biometrics for mobile ID verification

By Sarah Amundsson, Customer Success Manager at Shufti Pro.

2021 is bringing new technological innovations in the digital world, providing opportunities to skip the hurdles in paper-based systems and develop a robust verification infrastructure. According to the World Bank’s estimation, more than 1.1. Billion individuals lack official proof of their identity. It represents an alarming situation since if they don’t have their own identity proof then which proof will they present to officials? The answer is simple! Either it’s going to be fake or stolen.

To combat such scenarios and identify troublemakers, countries are increasingly adopting digital verification programs and leveraging advanced technologies in various sectors to streamline the customer onboarding process. And successfully fulfill KYC/AML obligations. The synergised use of biometrics and NFC-based identity verification is one such way facilitating the industries to face up to the ID verification challenges.

Technology landscape for digital identification

Digital identification has been there since the advent of computing devices. Traditionally, credentials were designed for computing devices, where username and passwords were used for identity authentication to access the system and services. However, with the emergence of newer generation of smart devices and advanced engineering tactics, use of binary credentials proved to be quite challenging. This is where developments in biometrics and near-field communication (NFC) are unfolding, enabling consumers to authenticate their identities digitally using phones with NFC capabilities having integrated biometric sensors.

Such integrated features of smartphones are readily used by tech companies to come up with smart solutions for instant verification and onboarding. As the days are passing, the digital ID verification using mobile technology is improving and new features are being incorporated for customer convenience. To say NFC-based identity verification is shaping the landscape of the verification market won’t be an understatement.

NFC-based identification – Stepping towards the digital age transformations

Living in the digital era, customers have become more demanding than ever. Time-consuming products are a big no for consumers, real-time digital services are what they want. If an organization, let’s say a bank, is unable to deliver fast and convenient services, then abandoning the process is not difficult, with digital competitors all set to capture the market. Similarly, the stringent KYC/AML regulations and increasing pressure from regulators have already resulted in hefty penalties across various industries, especially the finance.

The need for high-quality KYC processes is vital. Physical visits to branch offices – that too limited to office hours, time-consuming, and hectic – are not an option anymore. Advanced digital solutions such as online document verification, face verification and video KYC, are already in the market efficiently fulfilling businesses’ onboarding needs. The question arises here: Why fix them when they aren’t broken? It’s simple! To prepare for upcoming tech trends.

Another noteworthy factor here is the trust dilemma businesses face in onboarding new customers and re-verification of existing users. Not just banks but other firms such as insurance, P2P, travel and healthcare also need to verify their customers to comply with changing regulations while creating a smooth and secure customer experience. Fortunately, the NFC technology along with biometrics is facilitating industries to overcome this dilemma. The NFC technology in mobiles that enables contactless payments can be used for mobile identity verification.

When combined with biometric verification, NFC-based identification can be used to enhance user experience while ensuring a high level of trust at a lower cost and in real-time. All the users need is NFC-enabled ID Document and a smartphone with NFC Capabilities and biometric sensors.

Mobile onboarding in a go

The rapid escalation of smart devices, improved wireless network capabilities and adoption of cloud technologies are resulting in convenient and quick mobile identity solutions. Smartphone penetration is at the peak. With 3.4 billion active smartphones already in use today, almost 2 billion devices are NFC-enabled, and most of them are mobile phones. This increasing number highlights how users are readily adopting self-verification services.

Mobile onboarding is becoming the most innovative solution in the IDV market due to its capability to enhance the customer experience while allowing businesses to verify and onboard legitimate users in real-time with reduced operational costs.

Mobile Identity Verification – Secure and Convenient

Stolen ID documents are readily available on the darknet. With new editing tools in place, tampering with documents and changing some elements isn’t difficult. Imposters used such falsified documents to surpass the identity checks and in case of inefficient checks, they are successful. Modern ID documents and passports are great since they are equipped with biometric chips following data security standards. These chips contain similar information as on the document but just in a more secure way that makes modification nearly impossible. All the information on the chip is encrypted and digitally signed, hence, can’t be manipulated.

Identity verification through information extracted from chips is safe, secure and reliable. It eliminates identity frauds and can identify spoofed documents in real-time. NFC-based identity verification is error-free due to the fact that the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) on the identity document is matched against the data extracted from the chip. When combined with facial biometric verification, the live selfie captured can be matched with the image extracted from the chip. This ensures the remote presence of authorized users at the time of verification.

The best part is users can verify their identities from the comfort of their home, all they need is smartphone and identity documents.

About the author

Sarah Amundsson is the Customer Success Manager at Shufti Pro. As an expert in digital identity verification, Sarah helps businesses deploy solutions globally to solve their problems for Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Business (KYB), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) both for individuals and businesses, and fraud detection.

DISCLAIMER: Biometric Update’s Industry Insights are submitted content. The views expressed in this post are that of the author, and don’t necessarily reflect the views of Biometric Update.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometric sensors  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  identity document  |  identity verification  |  KYC  |  NFC  |  onboarding  |  Shufti Pro  |  smartphones