Survey: Online identity vetting an obstacle for consumers
01 April, 2016
category: Corporate, Digital ID, Financial
Banks wants to make it easy for consumers to open new accounts online but they have to comply with Know Your Customer and anti-money laundering regulations making online identity vetting crucial. These requirements are at odds as a European consumer survey revealed that 40% abandoned banking application because they were too time consuming and required too much personal information.
There was also an issue with customers having to drive to a bank branch to show government-issued identification. The survey shows that 97% of consumers had access to a driver license, passport or utility bill that could form the basis of a digital identity, yet still had to go to a branch.
Being able to complete the entire application online would go a long way in fixing the process. Some 55% of all respondents would be more likely to apply if the applications could be completed online and that number rises to 64% in those with negative experiences of applying.
Taken as a whole, 93% of all respondents felt either neutral or positive by moving to a complete their identity vetting online. The points to a desire from consumers to move to entirely digital processes and this is reflected in customers’ experiences of in-branch interaction.
A perfect situation would be a universal digital identity scheme, enabling any consumer to prove their identity online. A better solution is for banks to gain access to digital forms of existing identity – for example passports, driving licenses, utility bills or government identities. This would work around the need for consumers to produce paper-based identity and would be relatively simple to implement across multiple geographies. If validated, existing ID is used and no further checks are necessary to determine identity.
Signicat, a Norway-based identity assurance provider, sponsored the survey of 2,000 consumers. The report can be downloaded here.