Banking and financial technology professionals came together in a big way at FinovateSpring in San Jose last month. Conversations spanned from payments to security and companies presented many innovative solutions to help the finance services industry address the digital transformation that is impacting the industry in every way imaginable.
For our part, Jumio was proud to have been included among a top-flight list of presenters. We also enjoyed the many vibrant discussions around the latest industry innovations, especially as they relate to fighting identity fraud. Here are some of the key takeaways our team returned with:
1. Identity is now a must-address topic for fintech
We now live in a digital world where most customers are online-first customers. For fintech, this creates a killer problem. Traditional methods of identity verification simply do not translate to a digital environment and often result in customers having to take extra, manual steps to meet verification protocol. Businesses that fail to adapt to today’s reality will be unable to tap into these online-first customers and that means lost business or poor conversions or poor customer experiences.
2. Customers want truly omni-channel solutions
Today’s financial customers are perfectly comfortable navigating between desktop and mobile environments and expect their service providers to be just as comfortable. Omni-channel is a big topic in the industry and was of great concern to Finovate attendees. As this relates to identity verification, you can imagine a process that begins with a desktop application, transfers over to a mobile phone where the customer can submit a selfie or photo ID, and then back to the desktop to finish the onboarding process. All completely seamlessly.
3. Biometric facial recognition is red-hot
Fintech needs a reliable digital way to verify the person behind a transaction is who they say they are. Proving this requires multiple layers of verification. One of those layers must connect the dots between a static ID (whether a photo ID or other identity document) and the live person holding the ID or documentation.
Biometric facial recognition was widely discussed at Finovate as a reliable, fraud-resistant approach that meets the top criteria of businesses and customers alike. Facial recognition can be easily accomplished via a ‘selfie’ taken on the customer’s mobile device or desktop camera. The selfie is compared to the static ID in order to establish a ‘face match.’
4. The financial services industry struggles to connect digital identities to real world identities
Digital identities are meaningless without being able to connect them to real world identities. Still, many companies at Finovate admittedly struggle with how best to achieve this connection. Challenges include:
- How to automate the process without inadvertently turning good customers away
- How to establish the physical presence of the ID- or card-holder
- How to deter fraudsters from “working around” the face match process
- How to achieve identity verification both accurately and at scale
- How to make the process smooth and satisfying to customers
5. Balancing customer experience with fraud prevention incredibly difficult and important
Of course, customers want the most secure experience possible. No one wants to be the victim of identity fraud or financial fraud. At the same time, the convenience of an online or mobile onboarding process is quickly diminished by an identity verification process that is cumbersome or unfairly rejects a good customer. Striking the right balance is something we discussed often with fintech companies at Finovate this year.
At Jumio, we contend that the only practical approach to Know Your Customer (KYC) for fintech is a hybrid approach that combines machine learning, technology, and ID experts. Technology that combines ID Verification, Identity Verification, and Document Verification offers the fintech industry what it needs to finally solve the challenge of KYC in a digital world. At Finovate, we were proud to demonstrate our own Netverify Trusted Identity as a Service. We showed attendees how Netverify works to fight fraud and meet KYC requirements using biometric facial recognition and liveness detection, accomplished simply in an omni-channel environment using the built-in camera of a customer’s chosen device.
If you missed out on Jumio’s presentation with Chief Revenue Officer, Robert Prigge, and Ervinna Lim, Global Head of Customer Success, you can rewatch it here:
Ropert Prigge, Jumio’s Chief Revenue Officer at Finovate Spring San Jose 2017 from Jumio Inc. on Vimeo.
