Digital identity verification market set to surpass $17B by 2026, providers partner up

The number of digital identity verification checks conducted globally on an annual basis will more than triple from 1.1 billion in 2021 to 3.8 billion in 2026 according to a new report from Goode Intelligence, bringing in $17.2 billion for identity verification vendors and service providers. A number of fintech firms have renewed their know your customer (KYC)-focused efforts to grow their share of the lucrative market.

New partnerships are separately bringing digital ID verification technologies from Socure, HooYu and Ondato to new customers, while FSS (Financial Software and Systems) and Blinking announced customer wins, and FacePhi extended a contract to cover more transactions. Also, United Arab Emirates-based digital bank Mashreq Neo debuted face biometrics capabilities, and ComplyCube launched a new identity verification tool.

IDV market taking off

The need for organizations to meet KYC, anti-money laundering (AML) and customer due diligence (CDD) requirements will drive 22 percent growth in the identity verification market over the next five years, according to the new ‘Identity Verification (IDV) Market & Technology Analysis & Forecasts 2021-2026’ from Goode Intelligence.

“This is a very buoyant market with hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and intense activity from an M&A point of view,” comments Alan Goode, founder and CEO of Goode Intelligence and author of the report. “It is no exaggeration to say that this industry is currently running red hot with close to $1bn of investment in the first six months of 2021 with signs that this is not abating for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022.”

The shift towards digital onboarding has been accelerated by the pandemic, Goode observes.

The 215-page report analyzes key trends and technologies shaping the market, reviews adoption trends, and profiles seventeen leading biometrics and IDV technology providers. It also includes several recommendations for IDV providers to help them differentiate themselves in the crowded marketplace.

Goode Intelligence is hosting a webinar on October 21 on digital onboarding to coincide with the report’s launch.

Kasasa selects Socure for customer verification

Financial technology and marketing provider Kasasa announced 225 of its INMO clients are now using Socure’s digital identity verification and fraud prevention platform.

“We recognize that most financial institutions struggle with auto-accept rates for hard-to-identify populations, such as the Gen Z, millennial, credit invisible, thin-file, and new-to-country populations that comprise a majority of the applicants at our community bank and credit union clients,” said Kasasa CEO Gabe Krajicek.

“Partnering with a vendor like Socure helps us advance our mission of providing community financial institutions with the technology they need to compete with megabanks,” he added.

Socure has recently revealed it hit a milestone of 750 customers, which also marks a 277 percent increase in new logos and a net retention rate of 177 percent in 2021.

FSS partners with Equicom Savings Bank

The new collaboration will see FSS provide Savings Bank with access to its Secure3D payment authentication solution.

Modeled on EMVCo 3.2 guidelines, the tool will reportedly help Equicom verify customer identity and stop fraudulent transactions before a payment transaction is authorized.

“Fraud is an ever-evolving problem, so we need to ensure that our prevention technology is evolving even better to maximize protection,” said Equicom Savings Vice President and Head for Consumer and Small Business Lending Division Roussel E. Larger.

FSS Secure3D provides various verification check options, including biometrics and one-time passcodes.

“Our partnership with FSS enables us to leverage its experience and technology to mitigate fraud threats and create low-friction trusted experiences that customers expect, providing both protection and opportunities to increase sales and revenue,” Larger concluded.

The move comes months after FSS started a collaboration with Zwipe focusing on biometric payment cards.

Mashreq Neo to offer facial recognition technology

The news was reported by the Khaleej Times, who also confirmed the new initiative was launched in collaboration with the UAE’s Ministry of Interior.

The novel biometric system will now verify citizens’ documents in real-time against government databases to safeguard against fraud and enable them to open bank accounts securely.

“Facial Recognition verification system allows customers to open a bank account instantly, in a secure as well as seamless manner,” commented Sridhar Iyer, EVP, and head of Mashreq Neo.

“As a bank, we strive to continuously offer innovative products and services to our customers to conduct their daily digital financial transactions with complete ease and peace of mind,” he added.

The new service will be available to Mashreq Neo customers starting early next month.

Hargreaves Lansdown and HooYu join forces

As part of the new collaboration, HL has implemented the HooYu and Equifax customer onboarding KYC journey into its own technological ecosystem.

Thanks to the partnership, HL clients will now be able to verify their identity using ID document authentication and face biometrics. Doing so and uploading a proof of address will allow them to complete an onboarding process the companies say takes minutes at most.

“HooYu is dedicated to creating fast and frictionless customer onboarding journeys for every business while meeting KYC compliance obligations,” HooYu Marketing Director David Pope explained.

“The integration of HooYu into Hargreaves Lansdown gives clients a faster-guided path through digital onboarding while helping them complete KYC tasks so they can start investing and saving quicker and easier,” he concluded.

HooYu was selected by Equifax to provide selfie biometrics as part of its customer onboarding solution last year.

ComplyCube adds database checks to CaaS platform

Dubbed Multi-Bureau, the new service will complement the biometrics capabilities of ComplyCube’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Compliance as a Service (CaaS) platform.

Multi-Bureau can reportedly verify a customer’s details, including name, address, date of birth, Tax Identification Number, and Social Security Number (SSN) against more than 20 identity verification sources around the world.

According to the London-based startup, the release of the new solution will help shield businesses from technical complexities and non-core activities they would have to deal with otherwise.

ComplyCube has been growing steadily in the last year and has recently reported substantial financial growth.

Ondato to provide KYC with selfie biometrics for Nexpay

Ondato’s biometric technology is being integrated by Nexpay to support KYC and AML checks for regulatory compliance with a better customer experience, according to a company announcement.

Under the strategic partnership, Nexpay will offer the integrated solution to companies working with cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The customized compliance service includes automated ID verification through the ID document and selfie biometric checks, and an SMS signature.

“I wouldn’t say we’d be dead without Ondato, but basically we’d be dead,” said Nexpay CEO Uldis Teraudkalns. “The combination of robust security and white-label readiness that Ondato provides, as well as the fantastic customer service and ease of use of the platform, all stand out to us as industry-leading. Ondato gives me peace of mind, which allows me to focus on making Nexpay better at what it does best: helping build the next generation of financial technology businesses in the digital assets industry.”

South Korean bank extends use of FacePhi biometrics

Daegu Bank has adopted biometric face authentication and liveness detection technology from FacePhi for account logins and funds transfers, FacePhi President and  CEO Javier Mira announced in a LinkedIn post.

The bank selected FacePhi’s biometrics for remote customer onboarding earlier this year.

DGB Daegu Bank is the first bank in its market to introduce facial authentication for all financial transactions, according to the post.

Blinking wins brokerage customer

Leading Serbian online securities brokerage Tesla Capital has selected Blinking’s selfie biometrics to provide a frictionless customer onboarding process.

Blinking’s ID document and facial verification checks will help the brokerage meet its KYC compliance requirements, and allow customers to complete the registration process in under seven minutes, according to the announcement, including a high-quality live video session.

Article Topics

AML  |  biometrics  |  Blinking  |  ComplyCube  |  digital identity  |  FacePhi  |  facial verification  |  Financial Software and Systems  |  Goode Intelligence  |  HooYu  |  identity verification  |  KYC  |  onboarding  |  Ondato  |  remote verification  |  Socure