Video: 10 Minute IT Jams - GBG exec on digital identity verification tech

Digital identity verification is vital. For today's financial sector, ensuring customers are who they say they are is not just a legal requirement but foundational to how institutions operate in an increasingly online world.

Carol Chris, the regional general manager for ANZ at GBG, returned to the 10 Minute IT Jam podcast to discuss the growth of digital identity verification technology and biometrics. She explained, "Banks, digital payment companies, or any kind of financial institution - large and small - are all required to undertake what we call 'Know Your Customer' or KYC, and anti-money laundering checks as part of their onboarding process."

These checks are mandated by regulators such as AUSTRAC in Australia, and despite the challenges of the pandemic, there has been no let-up in compliance expectations. However, the shift to digital business caused by COVID-19 introduced new challenges. "The pandemic actually highlighted that face-to-face transactions, face-to-face engagement with your bank or financial services organisation just weren't possible," Chris said. "So it really accelerated the need for financial institutions to actually enable digital capability, to keep their business running, acquire new customers and to transact with existing ones."

The race to digitise hasn't been without its pitfalls. With the disappearance of in-branch visits, institutions faced an urgent need to ensure that digital onboarding was not only secure but also seamless for customers unused to online-only experiences. "It's critical that they actually digitalise their identity verification process... Keeping a balance on that eKYC process, making sure the customer experience is actually painless and frictionless for customers, to minimise both abandonment rate and impact to business," Chris explained.

The ease and security of customer onboarding are not just technical or compliance issues - they are business essentials. GBG's recent research demonstrates that customer experience plays a critical role in the success of financial organisations. "A recent study that we undertook showed that seven in ten customers demonstrated deeper loyalty to financial services organisations that heavily invested in customer experience," she said. "It's not just a buzzword - it's actually key for consumers to continue their ongoing business with the financial services organisation."

But there's more at stake than convenience. The rise in digital transactions has also made trust an even more critical component. Digital trust relies on customers' belief that institutions will keep their sensitive data secure. Chris noted, "The trust factor is key - people need to know they can trust the organisation they're dealing with, particularly financial institutions. During the pandemic, people were more exposed to identity theft, fraud, and cyber security issues around the world."

GBG itself plays a role in this new digital ecosystem by providing technology to facilitate both frictionless customer experiences and secure transactions. Its principal product in this domain is GreenID, a home-grown Australian digital identity verification solution. "GreenID is actually a homegrown product - Australia made - and it's a market-leading solution that has supported both large and small businesses in Australia and New Zealand, addressing KYC and AML regulatory and compliance requirements since 2005," she said.

The latest version, the GreenID digital identity verification platform, combines biometric and document verification, data matching, and artificial intelligence to streamline the onboarding process for financial service providers. "The platform enables organisations to automate and complete that end-to-end digital onboarding process in seconds," Chris said. "A really key component for financial institutions in the current environment where digital is key but also the customer experience is critical."

Central to the advances in digital verification is facial biometric technology. Chris described a shift from "active liveness" - where users were required to perform various actions such as turning their face, nodding or frowning - towards a more user-friendly "passive liveness" approach. She explained, "What we're now seeing is that consumers want a less intrusive process - they don't want to go through so much interaction. So we've adopted at GBG what we're calling a passive liveness, single image technology for our facial biometric solution in GreenID".

This passive approach means that consumers need only take a single selfie, a process that is far faster and less demanding of users than previous iterations. But behind that simplicity sits sophisticated neural network-based artificial intelligence, which determines whether the applicant is indeed present and genuine. "Passive liveness facial verification process is ten times faster than active liveness, and less demand for consumers to perform all those gestures I mentioned. It actually means that there are lower abandonment rates - about 50 percent lower," she said.

This reduction in complexity is good for both customers and business. "Financial institutions have found that often they put the biometrics process in place and people just get too confused and drop out. This actually ensures that you've probably got a 50 percent improvement in that adoption and people actually continuing with the transaction," Chris added.

Despite initial reservations from some in the banking sector about the adoption of facial biometrics, the tide has turned as consumers have grown comfortable with taking selfies and using cameras for everyday identification on their devices. "Financial institutions need to take comfort - their consumers are very familiar with this technology today. They're doing it every day, taking selfies with their driver's licence, using a whole load of different technology with their phones and other devices," she said. "I think the adoption rate is really growing very rapidly."

Chris also highlighted that biometric solutions can help open up services to people who may previously have found it difficult to assert their identity, addressing what she called "a market that there's previously been a gap for".

As for businesses hoping to learn more, Chris concluded with an invitation: "We have GBG offices in Australia, in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra, and a dedicated sales and marketing team. If anyone needs to get some information, they can contact me directly. Thank you."