When it comes to optimizing customer experience in banking, challengers and incumbents are both converging on the same target — a perfect combination of trust and convenience.
Challengers like N26 and Revolut lead with convenience, and they are gaining in popularity, particularly with millennial and Generation Z consumers. Their service delivery demonstrates how much attention challengers pay to customer experience, industry shorthand for how people feel when they are interacting with a business. The under-38 cohort values ease, immediacy and control, which mobile apps have made ubiquitous in other aspects of daily life.
The design of a user interface, the colour of a bank card, the diversity of advertising images — when done well, these aren’t just window-dressing. They signal a customer-centric approach that is built into a bank’s offerings. Challengers are oriented around solving people’s problems with managing their money, not just providing a slate of financial products.
Meanwhile, on the high street, incumbents such as HSBC and Barclays have built on centuries of history to establish their reputation as the most trusted global banks. They manage their exposure to fraud and money laundering by prioritizing customer due diligence. Traditional banks are considered safe and reliable money repositories, as well as protectors of personal data, thanks in part to their licenses and regulatory compliance.
Recognising the imperative to reduce risk and friction
Incumbents understand the need to adapt to the real-time self-serve mobile world, and they are adding digital offerings by acquiring or partnering with fintech providers. The process can be slow — these are, after all, enormous global enterprises with complex organisational structures and many layers of legacy tech and processes. However, the benefits they can gain from digital transformation are in proportion to their size.
Challengers also recognize that they haven’t yet earned the full trust of consumers. Almost half of Brits who use digital-only banks keep less than GBP 1,000 with them. Customers are still hesitant to have their salaries deposited with challengers. Instead, they transfer money from their primary current account and use digital accounts as piggy banks for daily spending. Others download apps for checking balances but don’t use them for payments.
A verification solution for everyone
Trust and convenience are especially key during the onboarding process, and identity verification plays a role in facilitating both. On the one hand, identity verification satisfies regulators that banking customers are legitimate. It also reduces the risk of money laundering and fraud, which can sink a challenger’s reputation before it’s gained the necessary trust.
On the other hand, automated digital identity verification speeds up the origination journey. Verification can happen in minutes or seconds instead of hours or days, without compromising safety. A low-friction experience is key for landing new customers. For example, a FICO survey found that 74% of customers expect same-day access when opening a bank account online, and 40% of customers will abandon an application after spending more than 30 minutes on it.
Trulioo’s identity verification solution reduces both risk and friction. GlobalGateway is speedy enough for challengers such as the Canadian firm Koho, whose CEO and Founder Daniel Eberhard said, “We found a direct correlation between using Trulioo to help us reduce the complexity of onboarding — and getting more users and customers.” Other Trulioo fintech clients include the digital-first challenger STACK and a new digital brand, Brightside, launched by established firm ATB Financial.
GlobalGateway is also trustworthy enough for incumbents. The platform taps into the same data sources that traditional banks have relied on for years, providing transparency and expert support on optimizing match rates. GlobalGateway provides robust identity verification services for several top global banks.
The consortium approach to identity verification
The GlobalGateway platform is a robust identity verification solution for both digital challengers and long-established banks, as it employs a consortium approach by bringing together multiple services and data sources.
First, GlobalGateway offers several types of verification to cover most use cases with a single solution:
Electronic Identity Verification validates personal customer information against trusted data sources;
ID Document Verification determines whether identity documents are authentic based on scans or photos;
Business Verification pulls company vitals, including ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO), from global registrars.
Together, these services can help fulfil Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), and Know Your Business (KYB) requirements that a bank needs to comply with.
Second, GlobalGateway amalgamates over 400 global data sources, including credit agencies, governments, and mobile network operators (MNO). This single touchpoint gives organizations a quick and easy way to verify 5 billion people and 250 million businesses. The reach and diversity of these data sources result in better match rates and allows companies to scale more quickly into new markets.
Finally, GlobalGateway’s services can be employed to accomplish progressive identity verification to minimize friction. Initial minimal checks can be performed for instant onboarding, letting new customers try out apps without needing to log in with a bank card number. Then more rigorous checks can be done when the customer is ready to carry out transactions. A progressive approach helps strike that coveted balance between ease for customers and security for the business.
For both new and established banks that want to increase trust and convenience, Trulioo has authored a white paper that explores the options and trade-offs. Download your copy of Frictionless Compliance: The New Paradigm for Onboarding Global Customers Online to learn more.
About Zac Cohen
Zac Cohen is a versatile leader experienced in managing and scaling high-growth companies. Zac is currently the general manager at Trulioo — a hyper-growth Vancouver startup solving global identity challenges associated with international regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, and trust and safety online. He is passionate about fostering changemakers who want to make an impact and are engaged in building ground-breaking solutions to solve our world’s most pressing problems.
About Trulioo
Trulioo is a global identity verification company providing advanced analytics from traditional and alternative data sources to verify identities in real time. With GlobalGateway, Trulioo’s electronic verification platform, clients can streamline their cross-border compliance needs, helping them meet Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer requirements, while simultaneously mitigating fraud and reducing risk.
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