Identity Verification for FinTechs: Ensuring Security and Compliance

For Neo banks in the financial industry, digital onboarding is becoming more crucial. Neo banking is the name given to a new breed of digital-only banks that provide a broad variety of financial services via online and mobile platforms.

By – Vivek Sridhar, Chief Business Officer at Neokred

These financial institutions frequently build on top of the already-existing infrastructure, and they significantly rely on technology to give customers a smooth and effective experience. The procedure for signing up for and creating a new account with a neo bank is known as digital onboarding. It is a crucial part of the customer experience and has the power to build or break a person’s relationship with a new bank.

For modern banks, identity verification is a vital step in the customer onboarding procedure. Since it serves as the first point of interaction between the bank and the customer, digital onboarding is crucial for neo banks. It establishes the tone for the customer’s entire banking experience. A quick and easy digital onboarding procedure can provide consumers with a good first impression and persuade them to keep using the bank’s services. On the other hand, a lengthy and onerous onboarding procedure can deter clients from joining up or even cause them to give up completely.

Digital onboarding is essential for neo banks because it enables them to gather vital data about their clients, such as their details, income, and financial objectives. Initially, it is vital to prevent fraud and safeguard the bank and its clients from financial losses. Identity verification is the first line of security against attacks when criminals try to open phoney accounts using stolen identities.

Second, regulations seek identification verification. Anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) guidelines oblige financial institutions to verify their customers’ identities. Compliance with these standards is crucial if you want to avoid large fines and reputational harm.

Furthermore, identity verification is key for neobanks because it allows them to collect critical information about the consumer, such as personal information, income, and financial goals. A major use of this data is for offering specialized financial products and services.

Who Needs Technology for Identity Verification?

Financial institutions are a popular target for criminals attempting to conceal the proceeds of their illegal activities, Insurance companies, gaming organizations, and cryptocurrency dealers are just a few of the other industries that run the risk of moving money from and to online accounts.

Large amounts of personal data are transferred, processed, and stored by healthcare organisations. As a result, they are a prime target for cybercriminals looking for this valuable data and may also consider using identity verification software to protect their business and customers.

Given the harmful effect, any association with money laundering and financial crime can have on an institution, groups that engage with customers online rather than in person require a KYC plan to protect their clients, build trust and protect their business from fraud and data breaches.

As part of the onboarding process, these organisations must identify and verify users. But it does not end there. They must continuously repeat the process throughout the customer relationship to ensure that they do not pose any risk to the organisation at any time. The verification process should not impede providing an excellent customer experience, but rather should efficiently and securely connect a user’s physical and digital identities.

Identity verification software will be of interest to the teams and individuals responsible for designing, deploying, and managing the efforts required to protect the organisation from the risk of financial crime.

How to Find the Best Identity Verification Software in 3 Easy Steps:

Identity verification is critical for ensuring that the financial institution only deals with legitimate customers and follows compliance regulations. When selecting identity verification software for business, several factors must be considered to ensure that the organization’s decision is the best one.

Step 1: Analyze the Requirements

The decision must also be motivated by the specific needs of the business. The industry, customer profile, nature of online engagements, and user experience all impacts the role of identity verification as well as its correct function.

Step 2: Gauging the Features and Functionality

With a definite knowledge of the necessities for identity verification software, the emphasis moved to what providers choose to offer. Some features are critical to a solution and knowing what they are and how they are presented are critical to deciding on it with knowledge.

Step 3: Gauging Fit

As suggested solutions are considered, the choice of the safest alternative for the organisation should remain focused on meeting the needs of the business. Although there may be cost savings, some solutions require the vendor or in-house engineers to modify systems and do not give the team the flexibility to tailor the solution to the organization’s need

Using Neokred’s ProfileX Product by organizations to eliminate fraud. Organizations that use ProfileX automate the validation, screening, and decision-making processes required to approve good customers faster, stay compliant and reduce the risk of fraud.

AML teams can manage identity and document verification, including non-documentary verifications (name, address, DOB, SSN), watchlist screening, and monitoring using independent and reliable data sources — scanning against different lists and databases to validate identity and checking against known or suspected criminals to defend against fraud with better data.

The no-code flag and review platform provided by ProfileX enables teams to create workflows tailored to their specific use cases. These include synthetic checks that use spoofed or falsified personal information to identify entities.