Best practices for implementing a digital identity verification platform
Secure
By Design
Fast Reliable
Checks
Simple
Integration
In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses are faced with the challenge of verifying customers’ identities while ensuring a seamless user experience.
Implementing a digital identity verification platform offers an effective solution, allowing businesses to protect themselves from financial crime, stay compliant with KYC and AML regulations, and offer a smooth customer experience.
This article will cover useful insights into how businesses can successfully implement an identity verification platform and face evolving fraud threats.
The importance of identity verification
Identity verification is the process of proving that a person is who they say they are, and that there’s a real person behind their actions. This allows businesses to know who they are dealing with before engaging in any transactions that could cause harm or loss to either party. It also allows businesses to comply with Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism regulations.
Many businesses have successfully integrated identity verification into their onboarding process, providing multi-level defence against fraud and a streamlined onboarding process for users.
What is identity verification?
Identity verification involves extracting personal data from a provided source and comparing it against a verified data set such as credit reporting agencies, bank data, and government databases. Depending on the method of identity verification, this data can be extracted from documents, such as passports or driving licences, or selfie images or videos.
The main types of identity verification are:
-
Beneficial Owner Checks
Choosing the right verification methods for your business
Choosing the right verification methods for your business involves considering the right risks. Businesses within regulated sectors such as financial services can face significant fines for failing to apply the right level of customer due diligence. All businesses must also consider the prevalence of fraud in their industry and the costs associated with permitting high-risk transactions without a high level of identity assurance.
Balancing compliance with user experience
Businesses must stay up to date with regulations relevant to online identity verification, such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML). Staying up to date with the latest regulations helps businesses stay compliant and protects against losses resulting from legal penalties. However, they must also meet the need for compliance without introducing too much friction into their onboarding process and dissuading customers.
Data storage and privacy
Since online identity verification uses a customer’s personally identifiable information (PII), businesses must ensure that this information is properly protected. Identity verification solutions vary in how they are configured to purge or store PII after the verification process is complete. If possible, customer data should be removed as soon as possible after the verification session is complete. This will limit businesses’ liability for data protection via a third-party solution provider.
Conducting a thorough needs assessment
Before implementing an identity verification platform, businesses should conduct a thorough needs analysis to decide which identity verification solution is the best fit for their needs. Some businesses may only require simple verification checks, while businesses that deal with critical data, such as financial institutions, will require a comprehensive identity verification solution.
Selecting the right identity verification provider
When selecting an identity verification solution, it’s important to consider how it will integrate with your existing systems and processes and how it will meet the needs of your business. Your chosen provider should offer a full spectrum of deployment options that can meet your channel requirements and integrate with your existing systems.
Testing and quality assurance
Online identity verification technologies are continuously evolving and it’s critical for businesses to keep up. Businesses should constantly monitor the effectiveness of their identity verification methods, consider user feedback, and implement new technologies where possible. This will ensure that their identity verification methods are evolving and improving over time.
Training staff and end-users
Completing the identity verification process can be complex for customers, and businesses should offer support and assistance where possible. Assisting customers will help them move through the process more quickly and increase their trust in the business. Staff training is also crucial to equip staff with the skills to manage the platform, keep it running smoothly, and troubleshoot any issues.
A reliable digital identity verification platform can help protect businesses from increasingly advanced financial crime. To discover how our tailored identity verification solutions can help your business act against fraud and stay ahead in the digital landscape, contact us today.