WorldRemit chooses Onfido to further automate its account onboarding
WorldRemit has implemented Onfido’s identity verification solution for its account onboarding to further automate its’ Know Your Customer (KYC) decision-making process.
The UK-founded online remittance service, which operates in 6,500 money transfer corridors worldwide, says the integration will make it “easier” and “quicker” for customers to open an account and send money abroad.
WorldRemit believes the integration will help its “mission for financial inclusion”
“Adding Onfido’s functionality to our registration process will ensure that we can put our customers on the happy path of sending money home, while protecting them from fraudsters,” says WorldRemit’s payments director Stephen Moffatt.
Onfido’s solution will also cover the global money transfer service’s anti-money launder (AML) compliance requirements.
WorldRemit believes the integration will help its “mission for financial inclusion”, as Onfido’s technology is supposed to be “optimised” for customers who have lower quality cameras on their smartphones.
Facial recognition technology has been the subject of much debate. The European Commission (EC) has said it is prone to inaccuracy, and a 2018 Stanford University study found that the technology has significant skin-type bias.
“Identity is broken and needs fixing,” says Onfido’s co-founder
Onfido’s solution, designed to overcome some of these biases, gives users “granular feedback” such as ‘facial orientation’ or ‘poor lighting conditions’ as reasons for verification failure, allowing them to try the onboarding process again rather than being rejected outright.
Read more: Inaccuracies of facial recognition: security, prejudice, pollution and fashion
The identity verification fintech landed $100 million in April in a round led by Airbnb and Uber backer TPG Growth, adding to Onfido’s last funding round nearly a year ago of $50 million which saw participation from Microsoft, Salesforce and SoftBank affiliate SBI.
“Identity is broken and needs fixing,” Onfido’s co-founder and CEO, Husayn Kassai, told TechCrunch last month. “That’s been a large part of our focus, and as time goes on, our processes in digitisation, privacy and security, have been proven out in parallel with how the world is shifting.”
The fintech is looking at creating an alternative “identity verification” layer, which would in theory would only have to verify users once across multiple platforms.
Whilst this could avoid storing personal information, some sectors will still have to abide by regulations which require information to be kept on hand.
Investor TPG says it can see Onfido “becoming the new standard for digital access”.
Read next: Biometric authentication to continue gaining ground in next decade
