Fourthline reports 170 percent YoY growth, predicts digital ID trends for 2022

Co-founder and CEO of KYC and compliance firm Fourthline, Krik Gunning, has published two separate articles on the company’s blog, discussing Fourthline growth during 2021, and sharing his predictions in the digital identity solutions space for 2022.

In the first blog post, Gunning said Fourthline achieved a 170 percent year-on-year revenue growth, led by the addition of Xapo as a new customer, and partnerships with Scalable Capital, LYNX, Wish, as well as with Europol and the French National Police.

In 2021, Fourthline also shipped new digital identity and fraud prevention products, including a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, web and mobile software development kits (SDKs), a Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) tool, AML screening and monitoring, and a Proof of Address solution.

In addition, the company recently achieved ISO 27001 certification and secured a spot in LinkedIn’s 2021 Top Startups in The Netherlands.

“In 2022, we aim to have an even bigger impact in the fight against financial crime by growing alongside our existing and new partners, pushing innovative products, building international partnerships, and pushing the boundaries of the positive impact our technology can have on society at large,” Gunning writes.

Expanding on these points, the executive wrote in a separate blog post, explaining how digitalization was ‘turbo-charged’ because of the pandemic.

“The adoption of mobile banking and digital wallets skyrocketed, cryptocurrencies won broader appeal, and the use of physical cash declined,” Gunning explains.

However, alongside the positives of digitalization, digital identity theft and money laundering in Europe grew substantially during the pandemic.

According to Gunning, 2022 will be shaped by these challenges, and by the technological efforts of companies and governments.

“To combat this threat, banks and other financial institutions must go beyond simple document verification and take a holistic approach to data verification – one that combines checks across identity, biometric data, device metadata, watchlists, and so on.”

Adoption of digital identity monitoring technology will therefore be a trend in the year ahead.

Further, Gunning believes GDPR adoption is becoming stricter, so companies will soon be presented with a choice to comply or to delete users’ data, includings biometrics.

Gunning’s third prediction regards cryptocurrency, and particularly its regulation at a time of exponential growth for the industry.

Finally, the executive believes that the use of ‘ethical AI’ will come under more scrutiny, and companies will have to react accordingly.

“Society at large has become increasingly interested in – and vocal about – how personal data is used and stored by technology companies,” comments Gunning.

“There will be more tough questions asked this year and the answers will need to meet a high ethical bar.”

Article Topics

AML  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  financial services  |  Fourthline  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  KYC  |  secure transactions