1 The Challenge

For the successful delivery of digital services, a user must be known. Some services require that customers be verified according to specific guidelines like Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), or in relation to age-restricted goods. Other services or industries may be prone to fraud attempts, posing among other risks the threat of revenue loss, customer data compromise, and poor service quality, and reputation damage.

These two challenges of preventing fraud and identifying users – including customers, employees, and suppliers – lead to a third challenge of facilitating a smooth and delightful user experience without decreasing the security or cutting corners on fulfilling regulatory requirements.

These challenges described more fully are stated in the following sections.

1.1 Know Your Customer (KYC) and related measures

Know Your Customer (KYC) is a requirement in financial services and is increasingly important in many other industries. KYC processes typically include identity verification, what still often relies on manual processes. KYC requirements have prevented many industries from onboarding customers with all-digital flows, which made for choppy and lengthy onboarding experiences, and increased drop-offs. Related measures are Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulation and customer due diligence.