In a digital world, your clients expect to be able to sign up instantly, anywhere at any time, in any case, so not being able to meet face-to-face shouldn’t be an issue. Regulated firms, who generally rely on face-to-face meetings, are facing a particularly tough time and we are seeing a surge in demand for remote client onboarding tools.
Yet, many of you are struggling with the efficiencies and security of remote verification, often relying on manual and inefficient processes.
In this blog, we will address the verification challenges that regulated firms face and how it can make the most of the opportunity that remote onboarding creates.
Concerns around fraud for regulated firms
The increase of remote client onboarding has raised concerns about security and fraud during the onboarding process. This can make the onboarding of companies, in particular, quite a challenge.
In today’s regulatory environment, firms are obliged to perform increased levels of background verifications, of an increasing number of people within an organisation. Not only does identity verification need to be performed for each director and beneficial owner of the organisation, but additional validations of whether the organisation is on any financial sanctions lists and whether the individuals associated with that organisation are classified as a “politically exposed person” (PEP). Firms need to balance delivering a straightforward onboarding experience to their clients, whilst meeting stringent anti-money laundering (AML) or other regulatory compliance checks (e.g. the Client Appropriateness guidelines issued under MiFID II).
Facial or biometric recognition software is some of the latest technology to be applied to the client onboarding toolkit, making it easier for businesses to perform essential Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) procedures, but remotely and in real-time.
The challenge to regulatory compliance
The increase of remote client onboarding has raised concerns about security and fraud during the onboarding process. This can make the onboarding of companies, in particular, quite a challenge.
In today’s regulatory environment, firms are obliged to perform increased levels of background verifications, of an increasing number of people within an organisation. Not only does identity verification need to be performed for each director and beneficial owner of the organisation, but additional validations of whether the organisation is on any financial sanctions lists and whether the individuals associated with that organisation are classified as a “politically exposed person” (PEP). Firms need to balance delivering a straightforward onboarding experience to their clients, whilst meeting stringent anti-money laundering (AML) or other regulatory compliance checks (e.g. the Client Appropriateness guidelines issued under MiFID II).
Facial or biometric recognition software is some of the latest technology to be applied to the client onboarding toolkit, making it easier for businesses to perform essential Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) procedures, but remotely and in real-time.
How ‘Liveness Checks’ can combat fraud
Cybercriminals are increasingly trying to spoof these remote processes by using photos or videos of an individual’s authorised face. To ensure that these spoofing attacks are prevented, certified liveness detection has become a vital feature for modern biometric-based authentication solutions.
Checking for “liveness” verifies that the person attempting to confirm their identity is a living subject and not a copy or imitation. Liveness detection techniques reduce the chances of a spoofing attempt being successful.
NorthRow’s liveness detection in our RemoteVerify solution, combines facial recognition, voice recording and a video-based process, to verify that a client is legitimate and flags any suspicious accounts or potential spoof attempts.
These advanced liveness detection technologies, provide regulated firms with a significant competitive advantage in terms of speed, accuracy and anti-fraud capabilities.
Making Remote a Reality
In these unusual times, asking your clients to come into an office or branch just to verify their identity before using your product or service is a massive barrier to your business. Not only do today’s clients desire the convenience of signing up to a product or service in minutes from a mobile phone, but with “social distancing” imperatives, it has become key and property firms need to efficiently respond to this increasingly preferred and socially-acceptable demand for remote onboarding.
