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Strong Authentication

Identity verification and onboarding of new customers online, the lesson of banks

by InfoCert

In the world after the pandemic it’s necessary for banks to enhance online user experience and security by adopting solutions based on identity verification systems and strong authentication.


Today many experts agree that the Covid-19 pandemic is bound to deeply change the way we work and do business in the future.

The lockdown phase, with all its restrictions, has given a new impulse to the digital growth of many countries. For many companies, the possibility to adopt innovative business models, new solutions, and digital channels on which to continue to provide products and services soon became urgent.

Companies that had already invested in the digitization of business and sales processes have suffered fewer negative repercussions. Add to this advantage the benefits already obtained in terms of user experience, flexibility, cost containment, and efficiency.

As for digital innovation, banks represent a model, especially in verifying the identity of new online customers, a crucial process when operating on digital channels. 

However, not all banks, like many companies operating in different markets, have reached full maturity in terms of digitization. Some obstacles remain on the road to digital maturity.

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Fraud and cybercrime risk, the obstacles to the digitization of contract signing processes

For some time now, many banks have successfully invested in digital technologies to reach new customers online and on mobile devices with their products and services.

Today customers are increasingly used to taking for granted the possibility of open a new account, take out a mortgage, apply for financing on the website of their bank, and without the need to visit a branch. However, many banks still struggle to provide these and other complex services through digital channels due to the high risk of fraud and cyber threats.

A research conducted in the United States by the Information Security Media Group and OneSpan, between December and February 2019-2020, showed that 59% of new bank accounts were opened in person, at a branch, to verify the identities of customers in accordance with Know Your Customer and Anti Money Laundering regulations.

A further study produced by the BBVA banking group – “Digital Identity: The Current State of Affairs” – reports that:

Our current systems for managing identity and data security are clearly deficient due to the fact that they are still largely based on the physical world. In the financial services field, for example, most banks are still asking clients to show, at a branch, a physical ID card or a birth certificate to open a bank account.

BBVA report – “Digital Identity: The Current State of Affairs”

And it goes on to state that:

It is necessary for banks to create strong and trustworthy digital identity schemes that can support their current expertise at verifying identities in the physical world.

BBVA report – “Digital Identity: The Current State of Affairs”

Therefore, while there is a clear need to improve levels of user experience through digitization, it is also necessary to make sure you have put in place levels of security and prevention of possible fraud, even higher than those achievable in the physical world, adopting solutions based on identity verification systems and strong authentication.

TOP (Trusted Onboarding Platform): digitization, user experience enhancement, and strong authentication

To set up and manage an entire process of contracting and sales, from identity verification to the subscription of contracts with a digital signature, you can trust on TOP (Trusted Onboarding Platform). The solution consists of several modules that can be purchased and activated in bulk or partially.

In particular, the identity recognition and verification modules make it possible to verify, starting from an identity assertion by the client, that identity exists in the real world and that the individual claiming that identity is its true owner.

A mix of technologies (Optical Character Recognition, Liveness Detection, Face Matching) allows us to verify the correctness of the ID documents, that the person framed in the webcam is a real person, that the person framed is the same to whom the ID document submitted belongs.

The data collected is checked for its validity in real-time by interrogating several databases. Further checks are carried out on user behavior patterns, to verify any anomalies. Sessions reported as high risk can be rejected or subjected to further controls automatically.

To learn more about TOP, visit infocert.digital/solutions/customer-onboarding

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