Selfie biometrics providers score partnerships, customer wins and fundraising

Veratad and GBG have each formed partnerships to distribute their selfie biometrics technologies to new customers. Customer wins in the remote identity verification market have been announced by OneSpan, Onfido and Trulioo meanwhile, iProov technology has reached public beta testing for Australia’s online government services app, and A.ID and WebID have each completed successful fundraises.

Partnerships extend selfie biometrics reach

Veratad Technologies has formed a partnership with Kernel Edge Technologies Ltd, integrating its biometric digital identity verification solutions for KYC and AML-compliance onboarding with the Bank Kernel Fintech Development Kit (FDK) to help fintech clients go to market quickly and securely.

The identity verification solutions Veratad is integrating with Bank Kernel include selfie biometrics with liveness checks and two-factor authentication.

“Veratad is thrilled to work with Bank Kernel on this revolutionary bank-in-a-box concept,” says John E. Ahrens, CEO, Veratad Technologies. “Bank Kernel gives fintechs everything they need to create and market a full-scale product, from mobile and web apps to extensive banking capabilities and risk management tools. Digital identity verification is a must-have as the financial industry seeks to modernize onboarding and provide a smooth customer experience, and we are eager for our solutions to continue playing a part in that innovation.”

GBG has partnered with Seon to provide new customer onboarding and fraud prevention through data validation to fintechs and digital banks in the Asia Pacific region, Fintechnews Singapore reports.

The partnership makes GBG’s Intelligence Center available through Seon to customers in Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. GBG says the integration can reduce the use of fake and malicious email addresses to 0 percent, and increase the detection of applications and transactions from suspicious IPs by 80 percent.

“To effectively address the rise in digital financial crime simply means that fraud detection and prevention measures need to be constantly modernised,” GBG APAC Managing Director Dev Dhiman says.

“This partnership with SEON continues to expand GBG’s datasets to better combat against identity crime, in particular synthetic ID, impersonation, identity theft, account takeover, money muling, and SIM swap fraud typologies.”

GBG launched a new identity document verification tool with passive biometric liveness checking from ID R&D in August.

Customer wins

OneSpan has announced a customer win, with Belgian neobank NewB signing on to use OneSpan Cloud Authentication and Mobile Security Suite for seamless, secure, and compliant customer services.

Both of the OneSpan products above utilize biometrics. Through their use NewB plans to grow its customer base by 300 percent this year, according to the announcement.

“We were very impressed with the 25 years of experience OneSpan has as a leader in mitigating fraud and helping banks meet regulatory compliance requirements,” states NewB Product Manager Adrien Liénard. “We partnered with OneSpan for its expertise and ease of implementation, which helped us successfully obtain our banking license and go to market. From the launch of our services, we were able to offer our customers an easy-to-use and secure digital banking experience.”

Similarly, Onfido has extended a deal with European neobroker Bux to integrate document and selfie biometric verification for onboarding compliant with KYC regulations.

The integration will help simplify the onboarding process commission-free investment app Bux Zero, enabling secure identity verification within minutes.

“Organizations today face the challenge of offering a seamless onboarding experience while integrating strong fraud detection and upholding privacy,” says Michael van Gestel, global head of Fraud and GM of Onfido Netherlands. “With Onfido BUX can achieve just that, putting usability, security and trust at the forefront. Onfido’s hybrid approach combines the speed and scalability of AI with expert identity analysts so fast-growing fintechs, such as BUX, can onboard more users quickly with world-class fraud detection capabilities.”

Trulioo has been chosen by neobank Zolve to provide real-time biometric identity checks through its GlobalGateway.

Zolve enables access to financial services for people facing barriers due to a lack of local credit history, like immigrants, and focussing to begin with on “the India-U.S. corridor.” The company provides a full-stack financial services app with an FDIC-insured bank account and a high-limit credit card. Zolve will use Trulioo’s technology for secure customer onboarding and account creation.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Zolve as its aim closely aligns with Trulioo’s mission of ensuring that thin-file individuals and underbanked communities can access critical financial services and participate in the global economy,” comments Steve Munford, president and CEO, Trulioo. “This partnership speaks to Trulioo’s acumen in supporting innovative financial services providers and providing secure and reliable identity verification services in an increasingly digital-only and borderless world.”

iProov Genuine Presence Detection reaches public beta for ATO app

A public beta trial of iProov’s liveness solution for selfie biometrics with the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO’s) myGovID app has begun, writes iTnews.

The integration of liveness checks increases the strength of myGovID identity proofing to level 3 (IP3), based on the country’s trusted digital identity framework. The technology has been in private testing by ATO since July.

Users can establish a strong myGovID by verifying their identity with a passport, a birth certificate or citizenship certificate, and a driver’s license or Medicare card. The three document checks plus selfie biometric matching with presentation attack detection (PAD) meets the ‘strong’ digital ID standard. Other myGovID accounts are considered to have ‘standard’ or ‘basic’ identity proofing.

There have been more than 2.7 million myGovID accounts created so far, and they can be used to access 78 services from federal and state government agencies.

A.ID and WebID raise funds

Compliance-as-a-service provider A.ID, a partner of Shufti Pro and FaceTec, has closed a pre-seed funding round for its digital ID verification platform aimed at allowing fintechs to onboard high-risk customers.

The company raised $500,000 from angel investors, some of whom are former employees of RobinHood, Square and Snap, TechCrunch reports.

A.ID allows clients to perform standard and enhanced due diligence, watchlist screening, payment monitoring, compliance case creation and resolution, and regulatory notifications through an API or SDK. Its early clients include digital bank Arival and social network Clos.

WebID has closed a majority investment from AnaCap Financial Partners to provide growth capital and reach markets beyond financial services and telecoms.

Over 15,000 users a day verify their identities with the Germany-based WebID’s Video Ident for AML-compliance, and more use its fully automated ID verification products. The company’s AI Ident solution uses selfie biometrics.

Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Santander use WebID’s KYC solutions, according to the announcement.

WebID Founder Frank S. Jorga says the company booked sales of over €20 million (US$23.7 million) in 2020 and is growing fast.

The amount AnaCap is investing was not disclosed.

Article Topics

A.ID  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  funding  |  GBG  |  identity verification  |  iProov  |  KYC  |  mobile biometrics  |  onboarding  |  OneSpan  |  Onfido  |  selfie biometrics  |  Trulioo  |  Veratad