#kyc authentication

The eKYC service has proven to be beneficial especially to the financial industry. The standard KYC (Know Your Customer) process is lengthy, manual and very expensive. Electric Know Your Customer (eKYC) is a new mechanism to facilitate the KYC process by using an electronic means. It bridges the gap between financial institutions and clients by providing a more efficient, seamless and faster process.

The eKYC service enables financial institutions to electronically authenticate customer identity and retrieve KYC data for both individual and corporate clients, in a secure as well as transparent manner. The provider would facilitate the member’s inquiries of their customer’s KYC authentication information through various authentication and retrieval processes. The processes include highly secured consent by the customer via biometric fingerprint, e-key, or written/electronic consent.

The eKYC service allows members to view, verify, and store personal records for safety and security reasons. The service could be distributed to other sectors such as insurance institutes, exchange companies, and others in the future.

The main advantages and benefits of introducing the service to the financial sector include safe and secure method to share confidential information, easier compliance with the regulator’s requirements, and instant verification against fraud. With this technology, information and personal details are relayed timely and efficiently, and it also makes it easier to facilitate the KYC process.

The eKYC process is a paperless system of collecting customer data, it is co-friendly and reduces costs. A reliable official government source verifies customer’s information, and it enhances customers’ due diligence.

For the regulators, eKYC provides maintenance help in updating customers’ personal information records. It also provides a single source of personal information in providing all members with valid, authenticated, comprehensive and updated KYC data.

KYC authentication is a process that is used to verify the identity and other credentials of a financial services user. Know Your Client (KYC) is a regulatory process of ascertaining the identity and other information of a financial services user. This process helps against money laundering and prevents the financing of terrorist activities. It is a mandatory process that is needed by many countries to make sure that the customers are actually who they claim to be.

To be mandated by the law, KYC authentication also helps the financial institutions in various ways. It helps lenders perform risk assessment by identifying the previous financial history and assets owned, it prevents money laundering and other anti-social activities, it limits fraud that result mainly due to hiding of identity, and it also brings stability and investment to the country, because it makes the financial framework more trustworthy and less risky. Decreased uncertainty resulting from the use of this method allows institutions to lend more to customers and increase their profits.

A number of countries and economic regions across the world oversee financial anti-money laundering agencies or regulators that overview financial transactions to prevent terrorism financing, tax evasion, and other anti-social activities. All the agencies are a part of the Global Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is responsible for overviewing financial transactions globally.

The KYC authentication process is carried out for both individuals as well as organizations. KYC authentication is based on verification of identity as well as place of residence. There are various documents required for the KYC process for individuals, including the usual documents that individuals generally use, like a driver’s license, passport, social security card/number, and documents issued by the state or the federal government.