‘Bank confidence is a fragile reed, and a troubled bank is damaged by any rumours, true or not,’ Irvine Sprague, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

First impressions can make or break a business, and a positive experience can create long-lasting business relationships. For the last decade, The Paypers, a Netherlands-based leading independent source of news and intelligence for professionals in the global payment community, has been closely watching the payments and banking space, and has been reporting about the innovation taking place within the financial services. The Paypers have been witnessing both the welcoming initiatives that the financial industry has been (and is) developing, plus the challenges it is facing and the negative media around them and has gathered some of these ideas within the Digital Onboarding and KYC Report 2020.

Customers accept no less than real-time digital services, around the clock. If a bank creates, in the eyes of the customers, unnecessary hurdles in the process of becoming a customer, they will most probably switch to a digital competitor. In the financial services sector, the level of service offered to customers coupled with the drive to innovate new products, based on the latest technology, plus strong branding, are crucial to attract and retain customers.

Thus, for the last decade modern identification methods have been applied (video streaming, facial recognition, document scans), know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) policies have been established, and ongoing technological developments have opened new opportunities for fintech and regtech providers.

Furthermore, the publication also delves into money laundering scandals (e.g Panama Papers, Danske Bank, and others), presenting law enforcement taking action to fight crime in financial services, and many more. We often hear about drug dealers who convert dirty cash into clean dollar bills, or terrorist groups who launder money to finance their operations. Money laundering is a big problem. According to Europol, despite comprehensive money laundering legislation in EU Member States, the results of asset tracing in terms of confiscations remain at an extremely low level. As a result, USD 1.45 trillion of the global turnover is lost to financial crime, with bribery, corruption, and money laundering being top ‘revenue makers’.

Of the billions of euros generated by the illicit drug trade in Europe, around only 1% is confiscated and more needs to be done to address this situation. The result is an increasing number of criminal groups with significantly higher profits, which can be used to fund other illicit operations and to infiltrate legitimate business structures.

By tapping into technology such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and lately also blockchain, businesses can solve money laundering issues, while improving the security of the onboarding process and reducing compliance costs. 

With the Digital Onboarding and KYC Report 2020, The Paypers aims to help leaders navigate even better the digital onboarding process and decipher what banks and financial institutions need to fight financial crime. Top report contributors include: One world Identity (OWI), Consult Hyperion, SWIFT Registry, Deloitte, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Signicat, Verimi, Web shield, and many more.

You can download your copy here.