Exploring the different types of identity verification methods

From accessing government services, applying for a bank loan or receiving a medical benefit, the different types of identity verification technologies are essential to an organisation’s customer onboarding process.

With the majority of customers conducting their business online, organisations must be able to ensure that each customer is who they say they are in order to avoid fraudsters. Identity verification is essential to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and a digital approach provides the best outcomes for both customers and institutions.

Why is identity verification necessary?

Identity verification is essential to establishing that a customer is who they say they are and allows businesses to comply with Anti-Money Laundering standards and Counter-Terrorism Financing. Whilst the previous process of identity verification required physical documents and signatures, identity verification software provides a digital alternative that improves the overall customer experience.

What benefits does online identity verification provide for businesses?

Reduces reliance on manual verification

An effective online identity verification system allows businesses to reduce their reliance on manual verification and offers a more streamlined process with fewer errors and false results. This frees up businesses to focus their resources on improving the customer experience.

Allows businesses to make informed decisions about customers

Online identity verification allows businesses to make more informed decisions on which customers to serve. Institutions need to be confident that they are making decisions based on the most accurate and complete information available to them.

Aids in regulatory compliance

Compliance is essential to prevent legal and financial repercussions in a variety of sectors, including finance and healthcare, where regulations are stringent. Through online identity verification, these industries can ensure they comply with regulations and verify that they are dealing with legitimate customers or patients. Verifying an individual’s identity through AML screening and KYC checks prevents businesses from unknowingly facilitating illegal activities.

Helps businesses face evolving fraud threats

The use of online identity verification helps businesses face evolving and increasingly sophisticated fraud threats. Types of fraud, including synthetic ID, impersonation and stolen ID, can be mitigated through the use of biometric verification during the identity verification process.

Types of identity verification methods

Identity data verification

Identity data verification, also known as a database or KYC data checks, involves corroborating personal customer information, such as name, date of birth, address, and SSN, against authoritative data sources. The sources may include consumer reporting agencies, credit bureaus, utility data (e.g., phone, electricity), and government databases.

Document verification

Document verification involves detecting and capturing a document image and then checking it against a document template library to verify authenticity. Data from the document is extracted using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and discrepancies are flagged for human intervention. OCR is designed to overcome problems related to old or damaged documents.

During the customer onboarding process, document validation helps organisations verify new customers quickly and securely, which is particularly important for businesses that deal with high-value transactions regularly, such as banks and financial institutions. While documents are being verified, personal information such as name, date of birth, and address can be checked and validated against third-party data sources. This is particularly important for organisations that offer age-restricted services or products.

Biometric verification

Biometric verification involves the comparison of a customer’s facial biometric data extracted from their uploaded selfie to their presented ID photograph. Biometric verification may also include a passive liveness check in which it can be identified whether the selfie is of a real person taken in real-time or a fraudster using an existing photograph.

This method of verification is more secure than knowledge-based authentication methods such as passwords or secret questions, as although biometrics can be copied; they can’t be stolen. Additionally, users can’t lose or misplace their biometric information in the same way they could with a mobile phone or credit card.

Consumers are increasingly embracing biometric verification, with a minimum of 50% of consumers now saying that they are comfortable using biometrics for identification purposes for financial products. This proportion increased to almost 80% among Gen Z and Millenials.

Watchlist screening

Watchlist screening is an essential part of AML compliance. To ensure compliance with anti-money laundering regulations, companies must ensure they know whether the names of their customers or business partners appear on specific databases. These databases record the names of criminals, suspected terrorists, sanctioned individuals, and politically exposed persons – the latter of which are considered more likely to be targeted for bribes and corruption.

Business verification

Business verification involves verifying a business with whom an organisation is transacting against a wide range of trusted sources and identifying key interested parties. It simplifies the process of verifying the identities of everyone involved and streamlines reporting requirements to regulators and stakeholders to help ensure compliance and minimise risk. Business verification allows organisations to determine the authenticity of a company and ensure that the individuals running the company aren’t involved in fraud.

A single platform for different types of identity verification

A single platform for identity verification allows organisations to protect themselves against financial crime while delivering a frictionless customer experience. Our identity solution is an end-to-end identity verification system that allows organisations to quickly identify financial crime, effectively improving the efficiency of compliance teams while providing a frictionless customer experience.

Discover the power of our complete verification system by delving into our comprehensive identity verification solutions.