Digital ID And The Real Me

AML/KYC conventions that rely on paper documents and face-to-face meetings in offices are so last year. In fact, their time may have passed, it seems, as the touchless revolution takes over and remote onboarding becomes routine. But wait? Wasn’t all that “getting to know you” jazz pretty important? Was and is. But the post-pandemic world is digital first, and so are AML (anti-money laundering) and KYC (know your customer) conventions.

“When that process moves online it’s important to leverage biometric-based technology to really prove your customer is who they say they are,” Philipp Pointner, chief product officer at Jumio, recently told PYMNTS. “Taking a single selfie just isn’t enough to ensure your customer’s identity. It leaves banks and financial institutions vulnerable to spoofing attacks as a fraudster can easily find a picture of someone else online and pass that off as genuine. But using solutions that employ biometrics, and specifically 3D face maps and certified liveness detection, ensures the [people] behind a transaction [are] who they say they are.”

In the June 2020 Digital Identity Tracker® done in collaboration with Jumio, biometrics get put through the paces in taking the lead in real liveness detection at the dawn of a digital-first age.

“The mounting need to find new, innovative ways to mitigate cybercrime is driving investments into the development of new anti-money laundering / know your customer (AML/KYC) technologies,” the Tracker states. “Not only have RegTech startups managed to secure impressive amounts of investment funding since the pandemic began, but some studies have predicted that the global AML solutions market could grow 19.5 percent per year to reach $3.6 billion in value by 2024.”

We Can ‘See’ You, RON

Happenings in the Florida are a fascinating use case featured in the latest Digital Identity Tracker®, focusing on how remote online notary (RON) services — the restricted use of which was eased in response to the pandemic —are seeing tangible and scalable results.

The RON use case also serves as a roadmap for where biometric identity is generally headed.

“Florida was ahead of the curve on the legalization of RON services, adopting official guidelines for using biometric technology and videoconferencing to enable remote access to notary services,” the Tracker states. James Schlimmer, managing partner of title company Cottrell Title & Escrow (CT&E), told PYMNTS, “COVID-19 hit and all of a sudden everybody wants to execute their documents in an electronic way — and when I say everybody, [I mean] everybody — the whole entire country, the whole real estate industry essentially was looking for an alternative.”

Biometric authentication has been transformative for CT&E as well, with Schlimmer adding that “… we’ve been able to eliminate two full days from a transaction,” by implementing biometrics.

Using a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to scan, analyze and create a biometric identity database (fingerprints, facial features, voice, device data), AML/KYC is being hardened with authentication that’s getting impossible for hackers to crack.

More States Bet On Bio For AML/KYC

Additional U.S. states are following Florida’s RON services lead by making it widely available, but increasingly protected by AI-powered identity platforms, helping executives sleep at night.

“Biometrics have played a key role in many of the digital AML/KYC requirements states have enacted,” the new Tracker states. “Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf recently granted temporary authorization for remote notary services, for example, on the condition that the technology used meets several stipulations including being able to provide audiovisual recordings of any notaries taking place and being able to verify individuals with biometrics.”

“There are currently 24 states that have enforced some type of AML/KYC guidelines for remote notary services … with most adopting them during the COVID-19 crisis,” the Tracker adds.