Regula, a verification solutions provider, has revealed that in the past year, 80% of financial companies have experienced an increase in verification cases involving foreign documents. This increase can be attributed to the growth of digital nomads globally. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated remote working, leading many to search for new destinations to work and travel. Citizen workers become customers of financial institutions where they are based. As a result, banks, FinTech businesses, crypto brokers, and insurance companies are grappling with the surge in foreign document verification cases while maintaining robust fraud prevention measures.
A survey conducted by Regula in March 2023 highlighted the readiness of financial services companies to address new challenges. It showed that banks and FinTech firms are struggling with a surge in foreign document verification cases in countries like France (86%), Turkey (86%), and the USA (85%), which is the most visited country by digital nomads. Shockingly, 44% of these businesses are experiencing a 25% increase in volume over the past year, while 62% have been forced to verify foreign documents manually, which is a time-consuming process.
The most important consideration for financial services companies in choosing identity verification solutions is accuracy, with 38% and 31% of respondents from FinTech and banking, respectively. The increased number of manual checks should be a red flag for the industry. Business representatives also note the problem of incomplete databases of document templates, as 48% of companies say they face challenges in the customer onboarding process because they do not have all the needed document templates at hand.
Regula’s EVP of Identity Verification Solutions, Henry Patishman, emphasized the need for businesses to work with extended databases with a wide range of document templates. He notes that failure to do so may lead to less accurate and thorough document verification checks, increasing the risk of fraud. Regula has consistently updated its database, which has now reached over 12,000 document templates from 247 countries and territories, to boost the capabilities of Regula Document Reader SDK. As Regula experts have extensive knowledge of what security elements should look like based on present documents, all possible IDs can be easily verified, and even the most sophisticated fraud can be promptly detected with their products.
With the current growth of digital nomads, implementing the right identity verification solution can have a significant impact on productivity and efficiency. Financial institutions should consider various criteria while selecting a tool, such as the size and diversity of the document template database provided by the solution, availability of liveness checks in the document verification flow, and face comparison and matching of a selfie to the photo in an ID document.
In conclusion, financial companies need to be equipped to handle the shift towards digital nomads and their need for foreign document verification. It is crucial that financial institutions maintain robust fraud prevention measures while meeting the needs of the booming digital nomad community. Therefore, implementing the right identity verification solution which includes extended databases with a wide range of document templates, liveness checks, and face comparison, can help detect even the most sophisticated fraud promptly. By doing so, financial institutions can ensure productivity and efficiency in the digital nomad era.