Identity verification has become an indispensable part of businesses, especially financial services. Knowing who is on the other side of the screen is crucial to protect your business and your existing customers.
While you can manually review and verify customer information with the help of open-source databases, the verification process can become tedious and time-consuming. It also increases the possibilities of human errors, identity theft, document forgery, slow customer onboarding, and so on. Hence, utilizing an intuitive identity verification solution becomes the need of the hour.
Leveraging an automated identity verification provider can reduce operational costs by approximately 70%. However, with the plethora of software solutions available today, businesses are finding it difficult to choose the right solution for authenticating their customer data and verifying their identities.
In this post, we will share a list of the top 10 identity verification providers your business can consider in 2024.
What is Identity Verification?
Identity verification is proving that a person is really who they say they are. It is done by comparing the claimed identity of a person with the supporting data he/she possesses. Some examples of these supporting documents are a passport, driving license, election commission ID card, and more.
With identity fraud, phishing, credit card fraud, identity cloning, and other fraudulent activities becoming a growing concern, there is an urgent need to invest in sophisticated identity verification techniques to combat these activities. Did you know there were over 1 million reported identity theft cases in 2023 alone?
A survey conducted by U.S. News on individuals who experienced identity theft revealed that over 34% of the respondents faced financial losses between $100-$500 due to identity fraud while about 15% admitted to losses greater than $1000. Identity fraud can be indeed devastating.
Whether opening a bank account, applying for a loan, remote onboarding, or any other financial process, identity verification is a must to confirm the authenticity of the details provided by a person. It plays a crucial role in Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) efforts, thereby helping you monitor and assess customer risks.
What are the common Identity Verification methods?
Navigating the world of identity verification can be complex, yet crucial. Let's dive into some common methods used to confirm individuals' identities, from presenting official documents to leveraging unique physical characteristics and innovative online technologies.
1. Document-based Verification
Document-based verification uses officially issued documents, such as national identification cards, passports, driving licenses, or any other document for verifying personal identity.
2. Knowledge-based Verification
Knowledge-based verification prompts the customers to answer certain security questions within a limited time frame to confirm their identities. For example, what is the name of your pet? What is your mother's maiden name?
3. Biometric Verification
Biometric verification leverages a customer's unique physical characteristics, such as facial recognition, fingerprints, iris/retina scanning, and voice recognition to confirm a customer's identity.
4. Online Verification
Online verification is an extension of the document-based verification method. It involves asking your customers to take their pictures while holding a valid ID. The online verification engine then utilizes artificial intelligence, computer vision, and manual review to verify your customers' identities.
5. Liveness Detection
Liveness detection asks customers to take a live video selfie while performing certain gestures. The liveness detection technology then compares this video with that of the ID document to check it for a deep fake video or pre-recorded one, thereby confirming the authenticity of the shared information.
Top 10 Best Identity Verification Providers to Consider
Identity verification tools help you achieve KYC, comply with business regulations, and mitigate digital fraud. Here is the list of the top 10 identity verification providers you may consider for your business.
#1. Arya.ai
Arya.ai stands out as a top choice for identity verification providers this year. Providing a robust suite of AI-powered applications, it accelerates verification procedures and enhances customer journeys for businesses. The identity verification APIs minimize identity theft and image fraud, along with providing a smooth onboarding process.
With 10M+ Monthly Verifications and <1 Minute for Detection and Verification, Arya APIs helps you verify over thousands of document types from around the globe with industry-leading accuracy.
Arya.ai boasts ready-to-use APIs, eliminating the necessity for customizations, and extends its applications beyond the finance sector to include recruitment, health, and customer service industries.
Key Features-
- Verify customer identities using deep fake detection, face verification, passive face liveness detection, and virtual verification tools.
- Automate Identity Verification workflows accross different industries using Arya APIs
- Information retrieval in real-time to ensure data accuracy and reduce fraud risk
- Supports 2000+ document formats and works efficiently for any type of digital manipulation
Pricing-
- Pricing based on usage, charged per verification
- With no upfront costs, the APIs are easy to set up
- Seamless integration with your workflow
#2. ID.me
ID.me is an identity verification platform that helps customers to prove their identities online. It offers a secured digital identity network having over 116M members with active partnerships with 31 states, various federal agencies, and 600+ brand retailers.
Key Features-
- Authenticate customers with various identity verification tools via online, virtual, and in-person verification methods.
- Supports machine vision, biometric matching, and facial recognition for identity proofing and authentication.
#3. Onfido
Onfido is an AI-powered identity verification platform that helps businesses identify fraud, spot compliance-related issues, and more with its comprehensive tools. Powered by Atlas AI, Onfido's proprietary AI technology, it offers a powerful document verification feature that supports over 2500 documents from over 195 countries.
Key Features-
Offers a suite of tools that facilitate document verification, biometric verification, and data verification.
- Identify suspicious devices, deep fakes, organized fraud rings, and more with its AI-powered fraud detection capabilities.
- Simplify customer onboarding with Onfido Studio, a drag-and-drop workflow builder for creating custom verification journeys.
- Ensure regulatory compliance in all regions and satisfy evolving global compliance requirements.
#4. Veriff
Veriff is another AI-powered identity verification platform for preventing fraud, building trust, and getting more verified customers for your business. It ensures a smooth identity verification process by supporting 11K identity documents from over 230 countries and in 48 languages including Arabic and Cyrillic scripts.
Key Features-
- Streamline your identity verification process with document verification, proof of address, database verification checks, and age validation tools.
- Simplify your customer onboarding with KYC procedures and AML screening.
- Conduct biometric verification with fully automated facial biometrics analysis and age estimation.
- Fight identity fraud and mitigate the risks with advanced intelligence.
#5. Sumsub
Sumsub is an identity verification service that is designed to handle all your identity verification needs from a centralized dashboard. It offers innovative tools to verify your customers and business transactions while deterring fraud.
Key Features-
- Verify your customers worldwide using rapid user verification tools like ID, biometrics, address, database, and other non-documentary verification.
- Deter financial fraud using transaction monitoring tools and safeguard your revenue.
- Leverage liveness and deep fake detection technology to instantly check spoofing frauds.
- Scale your business with its business verification service with AML screening, automated KYC checks for beneficiaries, and more.
#6. iDenfy
iDenfy is an all-in-one identity verification platform with advanced capabilities to authenticate users and tackle security-related challenges. It is equipped to process over 3000 ID documents from 200+ countries thus helping you onboard more users worldwide.
Key Features -
- Verify your customers with an AI-powered biometric and face recognition tool.
- Recognize fraud patterns early on with AML screening, proxy detection, phone number verification, and fraud scoring solutions.
#7. HyperVerge
HyperVerge offers an end-to-end identity verification platform that leverages advanced AI, machine learning, and data science algorithms to verify and onboard customers seamlessly. This platform aims to reduce customer drop-off rates during their onboarding by verifying liveness through selfies rather than via complex gestures or videos.
Key Features -
- Streamline your customer onboarding process with no-code workflows and passive liveness technology.
- Defend your business against fraudulent activities with AML screening and video KYC capabilities.
- Authenticate repeat customers and their transactions with face verification tools.
#8. DocuSign
DocuSign is well known for its eSignatures and contract management solution. However, it offers an outstanding identity verification tool called DocuSign Identify for verifying the signer's identity before signing any important agreements.
Key Features -
- Authenticate your customers before signing any important documents as per your regional requirements.
- Utilize biometric checks and facial feature recognition to confirm the authenticity of the IDs.
#9. Plaid
Plaid offers a suite of products for building financial applications that allow businesses to authenticate user identities using bank data. The Plaid Identity tool is proven to improve signup conversion rates, comply with KYC regulations, and reduce fraud occurrences.
Key Features -
- Verify customer data using different verification checks, such as document verification, ID verification, selfie check, SMS verification, and AML screening.
- Plaid's anti-fraud engine helps prevent financial losses due to account takeovers, identity theft, synthetic ID fraud, and more.
- Leverage an ML-powered predictive scoring engine to conduct 360° risk analysis, spot risky transactions, and stop fraud.
#10. Persona
Persona is the last one in this list of top 10 identity verification providers. It offers a secured identity infrastructure to automate the entire identity verification process for businesses. Persona is a product of LinkedIn, the world's best professional networking platform.
Key Features -
- Convert more customers using end-to-end identity flow and simplify business operations.
- Choose from various verification methods, such as digital documents, biometrics, databases, and more.
- Identify fraudsters by consolidating risk signals and streamline your fraud investigations.
What are the essential features to look out for in Identity Verification providers?
Selecting the right identity verification provider ensures better operational efficiency and fraud prevention. Here is a list of features your ID verification solution must possess.
- Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) - To introduce an extra layer of security by asking customers to enter information from other categories and their passwords before accessing their accounts. For instance, entering code sent to phone or email, entering code generated by another application.
- Document Verification - To verify various identification documents like passports, driver's licenses, national identity cards, and more. This feature will ensure that the submitted documents are genuine and have never been tampered with.
- Facial Recognition Technology - This feature analyzes your customer's facial features and compares them with the picture on the submitted identification document. It runs on an advanced AI engine that accurately matches the faces, even in low-light conditions.
- Biometric Verification - To analyze the customer's unique physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, iris/retina scans, voice recognition, and more. This verification method is considered the most secure as it is difficult to forge the physical attributes of customers.
- AI-powered Fraud Detection - To recognize irregular patterns, fraudulent behavior, or anomalies that signal possible fraud. This feature assesses risky situations, and activities, and prevents fraud to protect the privacy and security of your customers' data.
- Real-time Verification - To ensure that the verification check results are instantly generated. This feature will help you enhance customer experiences and reduce drop-off rates.
Choosing the right Identity Verification provider for your business
Now that you know the must-have features in your identity verification solution, let us explore how to choose the best verification provider for your business. Here are a few key factors to consider.
1. Supported Documents -
Ensure your identity verification tool covers a diverse range of identification types. It must be able to verify different identification documents regardless of which countries your customers belong to. For instance, if a customer does not have a passport to verify his identity, he must be able to submit a local government-approved identity card to proceed with verification.
Further, your identity verification provider must be able to examine all document types and find out the ones that are largely used for fraud attacks.
2. Quality Data Sources -
The databases your identity verification provider leverages must be legitimate and validated regularly. Some of the best data sources for identity verification include government electoral records, motor vehicle department records, credit files, tax registries, and more. Choose a partner that refers to multiple databases when validating identities.
3. Verification Speed -
Prioritize partners offering quick and efficient verification processes. Most identity verification providers leverage AI-powered automation to verify the identities which means you can generate the results of your verification checks in just a few minutes. Choose a provider that also shares approval rates for these verifications. As the name suggests, these rates give you insights into how many genuine customers you receive and how many you turn away.
4. Integration -
Look for an all-in-one vendor that can integrate the identity verification solution with your existing systems without any hassles. Most vendors offer low-code implementation solutions via APIs for browser implementation and SDK for mobile app implementation.
5. Global Reach -
If your customer base is spread across different countries, looking for identity verification software that supports all those countries is important. Opt for a partner with an international presence to cater to a broader customer base. Ensure that the software offers the feature to block customers from certain areas with a high risk of fraudulent activities.
6. Compliance Standards -
Look for a partner with an outstanding record of fulfilling compliance standards and regulations. The vendor must deeply understand the relevant regulations and best practices. Further, this partner must offer guidance and support for compliance issues.
7. Pricing -
Choose a partner with pricing models that align with your budget while maintaining quality. The pricing must balance the value it brings to your business.
