Selfie Verification in KYC Onboarding for Better Customer Experience & Digital Security

Selfies could be used for identity verification and change the KYC onboarding process the way it is today, you never imagined it before, right? Many organizations like banks and financial institutions are now implementing the selfie technology to onboard new customers. This method has become a blessing that boosted the rise of neobanks and enabled remote identification. However, selfie verification is now considered a game-changer that smoothes the process. Also, it is more secure while protecting any business against fraud. Imagine you are offering your customers an easy, and trustworthy onboarding experience, Sound exciting?  Selfie verification into digital KYC Onboarding is an innovative way to accelerate business operations and asset security.

Comprehension of Selfie Verification in Identity Authentication

Selfie verification transformed from causal activity to the most demanding act for identity verification. The goal is to prevent your businesses from fraud, enhance customer trust, and ensure regulatory compliance. It is a good initiative for the digital onboarding KYC due to: 

• Onboarding process acceleration 
• Efficiency. 

Taking a selfie is everyone’s interest, therefore businesses are making the customer experience better through this familiar process. 

Selfie verification smooths onboarding facilitates re-authentication, and adheres to remote KYC facial recognition. Now, it is the key element in the KYC process. 

Selfies verification smoothes the KYC onboarding process for identity confirmation which is more challenging than it sounds. Advanced technology and multi-dimensional strategies utilization are crucial to protect against potential fraud that tricks user verification methods with deepfake images and relevant techniques. 

Mechanism of Selfie Verification

Selfie verification is now an influential component of the secure onboarding facial recognition process. It is a legal method that various financial institutions and regulating industries such as gaming, airlines, and real estate are following. It generally involves these processes:

1. Request for a photo of the person or ask for the government-issued ID, passport, and driving license. 
2. After receiving the photo or selfie, you can cross-check the information as opposed to third-party official databases.
3. Then customers will be asked to upload a real-time selfie. 
4. A series of selfies or a video for customer verification is also applicable. 
5. Now, compare the customer’s selfie or video with the government-issued ID. It is part of selfie verification in digital KYC onboarding. 

Various businesses are considering selfie verification challenging in the KYC onboarding process. For example:

• Selfie quality, 
• Algorithm unfairness
• Risks of false positives 

Businesses can match the selfie with another identity solution. Biometric data and automated identity verification are the most suitable identity recognition solutions. 

Pros and Cons of Selfie-Based Online KYC Verification

Now that we discussed the mechanism of selfie verification, we’ll move to debate the pros and cons of selfie verification for KYC onboarding with facial recognition across three different industries.

How are Selfie Verification Algorithms Tested Under NIST Guidelines?

Understanding the complexities of selfie verification in digital KYC onboarding involves: 

Frameworks: 

NIST’s Face Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE):

• Evaluating the potential and verification of facial recognition systems. 
• Enclose scenarios from a person’s matches to large-scale identification by using multimodal methods (face + Iris). 
• This evaluation has included technical tests such as Twin Demonstration between two identical twins. 

Face Analysis Technology Evaluation (FATE):

Increase evaluations by adding morph detection, image quality analysis, and attack detection presentation. 

Performance Benchmarks:

False Non-Match Rate (FNMR):

• Estimating the rate where genuine attempts are mistakenly rejected. 

• False Match Rate (FMR):
  • Estimating the rates where wrong or incorrect matches are accepted.

However, these benchmarks make it difficult to assess the system performance, and checking the strong security measures in the digital environments confirms comprehensive security in facial recognition technologies. 

Regulatory Consideration

KYC onboarding standards are essential for various financial institutions and other modulated industries worldwide. If you run your business only in the United States, you still need to follow the KYC regulations. However, using the secure onboarding KYC verification in real-time helps organizations meet requirements. Furthermore, liveness detection is the substantial component of this process —– most secure verification method. The liveness detection method makes it hard to fake or steal biometric data like selfies. If you think selfie verification is a one-time task in face recognition customer onboarding then you need to change your perspective. Every organization requires constant updates for the KYC methods to stay compliant and perform regular selfie authentication to protect against fraud.

Implementation of Selfie-Verification in KYC Onboarding

Implementation of selfie verification in the KYC onboarding process involves blending facial recognition technology to check the user’s identity. Let’s discuss some of the implementation steps:

• Find and follow the regulatory concerns for KYC. as well as data privacy laws.
• Choose the authentic facial recognition contributor. 
• Incorporate the selected facial recognition technology with your KYC program and confirm the liveness detection is backing. 
• After that user will upload a photo of the ID card, and take a selfie in real time with complete and clear instructions. 
• Now, use the software to compare the selfie with the ID photo, execute the liveness detection, and give quick feedback on the verification status. 

Liveness Detection in Selfie Verification

Liveness detection in selfie verification for KYC onboarding is a system that ensures the person taking a selfie is real. This system confirms that the person taking a photo is a live human instead of a digital manipulator. This process involves different techniques to detect the life signs and confirming the selfie is captured in real time. 

Furthermore, these techniques involve motion detection, the user’s specific action is required such as blinking or smiling. Besides, 3D depth sensors check the face depth to verify its three-dimensional and texture analysis and examine the skin’s texture to check if it’s real or not. 

The role of liveness detection in KYC is extremely significant because it prevents fraud by confirming the person’s physical presence. Liveness detection has three types: 

1. Active Liveness (verifies the user identity by recommending real-time action)
2. Passive Liveness (Person’s identification process by requiring precise movement)
3. Hybrid Liveness (A process that involves multiple methods)

It also increases security by adding an extra layer of verification that helps many organizations follow regulatory requirements. 

Recent Statistics and Trends of Selfie Verification

The total size of the identity verification market was $10.45 billion in 2023. However, it is expected to grow from $11.97 billion in 2024 to $39.82 billion by 2032. Furthermore, the worldwide market for selfie or identity verification was $9.5 billion in 2022 which was expected to grow up to $18.6 billion. As the identity verification market is fastly growing, it becoming a challenge to choose the best solutions that have two major aspects:

• Fraud Proofing
• Spare friction in the process. 

Trends 

KYC onboarding is evolving to provide a better customer experience by using the selfie verification process: 

• Fintech Companies: significantly identifying the importance of streamlining and accuracy of the KYC process to reduce financial risks and enhance user experience. 
• Interestingly, they are rapidly adopting automated selfie verification tools for KYC onboarding and other digital identity platforms to improve accuracy and compliance with cost reduction.
• However, documentation-free verification tools, biometric and AI usage, creating a streamlined onboarding process, and decreasing human error are the major goals of this system.  

Selfie Verification Reliability 

Using technologies like 3D liveness detection can provide the best selfie verification accuracy if implemented correctly. The accuracy of selfie verification is based on the technology you use, user cooperation, and selfie quality. These factors affect identity verification:

• False positives
• Negative reductions, 
• High liveness detection accuracy, 
• Supplementary verification layers 

Besides, low-quality selfies and algorithm unfairness can also be the reason to affect technology accuracy.

Save Your KYC Onboarding Process with Facia

Selfie verification has changed the KYC onboarding method with adaptability and security. Moreover, Facia’s facial recognition system plays a significant role in this transformation by corroborating precise identity verification via the latest facial biometrics. The 3D liveness detection competency protects against spoofing attacks and facilitates strong fraud prevention. Interestingly, Facia also guarantees compliance with regulatory levels by making the onboarding method smooth and safer. Businesses across multiple sectors like finance, healthcare, and fintech are speedily embracing the latest technology for a smooth onboarding. Regardless of its effectiveness, there are many challenges, for instance, deep fake threats demand a strong security estimation. Looking for the best implementation of the latest technology just like 3D liveness detection? The Facia solution is here to provide strapping authenticity and compliance with regulatory excellence.