The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of UK Finance or its members.

What’s the solution?

Step one: Ensure the collection of high-quality, verified contact data 

Having quality customer data is the cornerstone of financial compliance with global regulations. Specifically access to accurate and reliable contact data for every customer. Therefore, using data quality tools that standardise, parse and validate addresses worldwide is the way forward.

However, it’s not enough to simply check whether an address exists or is valid, for example. There needs to be a direct connection to a verified individual or business. Names and addresses must be linked in real-time, to identify mismatches that could be red flags for fraud or compliance failures. 

Step two: Use eIDV services for real-time verification

Electronic identity verification (eIDV) platforms eliminate labour-intensive manual ID checks by connecting billions of data records from trusted global sources to perform real-time cross-checks of names, addresses, emails and phone numbers. Using these platforms helps ensure customer onboarding remains fast and smooth, whilst ensuring that those that use them seamlessly defend themselves against fraud.

Step three: Undertake mobile identity verification

The majority of the world’s population has access to a smartphone, which has led to mobile numbers gaining traction as an important way of confirming identity as part of a secure and frictionless customer onboarding experience. By obtaining global mobile network operator data (MNO) for identity authentication financial institutions can deliver a faster, more convenient mobile first process when it comes to identity verification. 

Step four: Comprehensive KYB checks are vital

Undertaking know your business (KYB) checks aids financial institutions to identify fraudulent shell companies that can often hide in plain sight. By integrating a KYB solution it’s straightforward to confirm the legitimacy of businesses and suppliers, while aligning a bank’s systems with international regulations for AML and combatting the financing of terrorism.

Step five: Deliver sanctions and PEP screening

Effective compliance necessitates screening against always-on global watchlists of sanctioned and politically exposed persons (PEPs). This requires obtaining solutions that have access to authoritative sources of such data worldwide, and can deliver them in real-time.

In summary

With a large number of financial crime and fraud prevention regulations worldwide, delivering compliance against them can be daunting. Particularly for those with patchwork solutions or outdated identity verification tools that leave critical security gaps. 

The answer is to have verified, high quality contact data as the foundation of their compliance efforts, combined with access to eIDV tools, mobile ID services, KYB data, and global sanctions and PEP data. By taking such an approach financial institutions can build systems that not only meet global compliance regulations to prevent financial crime and fraud, but deliver a good customer experience and inspire trust.