Plaid introduces a new Identity Verification experience

The primary goal of this new experience is to allow users to fast-track verifications across Plaid-powered apps and services without sacrificing KYC compliance for digital finance. The Identity Verification system was launched in 2022 and was designed to combat fraud, onboard new users, and simplify the overall onboarding experience. 

According to Plaid, the process of signing up for digital finance apps can be cumbersome as it requires repeating the entire identity verification procedure for every single app. This time-consuming process adds friction to the onboarding experience and can result in reduced conversion rates. By leveraging the Plaid network, Plaid Identity Verification allows customers to benefit from faster onboarding experiences for previously verified users while improving sign-up conversion rates for finance apps.

How does the system work? 

Digital finance apps can help users secure loans, buy expensive items, rent houses, or open new accounts. However, before would-be customers can gain access to these features, they need to go through an identity verification procedure. Users can now save their verified identity data securely with Plaid, and when they sign up for additional apps powered by Plaid, the company can accurately detect that they are returning users. 

However, just because a user successfully verified their identity once doesn’t mean they’ll get the same outcome for future verifications with other apps. To improve security, Plaid performs new checks according to the user’s settings against the provided information, device history, data sources such as mobile network operators, and input behaviour.

Primary benefits for companies

By leveraging Plaid’s Identity Verification, companies gain access to an anti-fraud engine that allows them to block stolen or synthetic identities. The company recently added two new risk signals that assess the likelihood that an identity is synthetic or stolen. The system looks at whether the identity data is associated with a deceased individual, and how many identities are tied to a given email or phone number. The history of an SSN and if there are multiple identities associated with it are also considered. 

To help companies verify more users at scale, Plaid has also expanded the ID document types and languages they support. In addition, the company improved its document capture experience by guiding the user’s capture window, optimising image file sizes, and supporting more devices. According to Plaid, these changes were implemented to ensure an improved user experience as well as improved conversion rates.

For more information about Plaid, please check out their detailed profile in our dedicated, industry-specific Company Database.