Let us put you in the picture this week, as we round-up and react to the latest news from the financial crime compliance and technology sectors.

This time, we give our reaction to Finextra’s ‘Future of Personal Identity 2019’ report, which focuses on opportunities for banks to rebuild trust and compete with tech giants.

Elsewhere, the importance of blockchain is high on the agenda, with discussions centring around how the technology is now being driven by real and sustainable value creation, at Money20/20 Asia 2019 in Singapore.

These issues, and more from around the globe, give us plenty to dive into for your Full Picture, This Week…

Click here to get the full picture sent to your inbox every Friday.

digital identity verification

Finextra has released its ‘Future of Personal Identity 2019’ report, pointing to new opportunities for banks to rebuild trust and compete with tech giants.

In the technology-focused and rapidly changing world within which we now live, digital ID verification plays a big part in banking. While social media and mobile phones have provided ways of validating consumers, Finextra reports that there are an estimated one billion people in the world who still cannot prove who they are using traditional means, with governments, regulators, corporate companies and banks attempting to manage authentication, data security and policy issues as a result.

Their report on the issue explores the challenges and opportunities for banks in the current environment and examines the advancing options available to them. Read it in full here.

the encompass view

A number of factors are contributing to a period of significant change when it comes to identity verification (IDV), and how we prove who we are. Increasing fraud and the burgeoning Dark Web trade in Personally Identifiable Information (PII), combined with global initiatives to improve financial inclusion, are driving innovation in digital identity. Advances in technology are facilitating this innovation, with biometrics a prime example.

Biometrics offer a frictionless and secure method to verify the identity of customers. By integrating this, and/or other innovative forms of digital IDV, into their onboarding and KYC processes, banks and other regulated firms can enhance the customer experience and get customers transacting more quickly – a clear business benefit.

By integrating advanced biometric IDV capabilities into the encompass solution, we allow our customers to take full advantage of innovations in digital identity to streamline KYC for onboarding, remediation and refresh for both corporate and individual customers in one single platform. This reduces the overall cost of KYC while improving the consistency and quality of processes and results.

We anticipate that innovation in digital identity will continue to evolve at pace and the flexibility of the encompass platform ensures our customers will always be able to adopt the latest developments to improve their customer journey and experience.

the encompass view

A number of factors are contributing to a period of significant change when it comes to identity verification (IDV), and how we prove who we are. Increasing fraud and the burgeoning Dark Web trade in Personally Identifiable Information (PII), combined with global initiatives to improve financial inclusion, are driving innovation in digital identity. Advances in technology are facilitating this innovation, with biometrics a prime example.

Biometrics offer a frictionless and secure method to verify the identity of customers. By integrating this, and/or other innovative forms of digital IDV, into their onboarding and KYC processes, banks and other regulated firms can enhance the customer experience and get customers transacting more quickly – a clear business benefit.

By integrating advanced biometric IDV capabilities into the encompass solution, we allow our customers to take full advantage of innovations in digital identity to streamline KYC for onboarding, remediation and refresh for both corporate and individual customers in one single platform. This reduces the overall cost of KYC while improving the consistency and quality of processes and results.

We anticipate that innovation in digital identity will continue to evolve at pace and the flexibility of the encompass platform ensures our customers will always be able to adopt the latest developments to improve their customer journey and experience.

Ed Lloyd | Executive Vice President, Global Head of Sales & Marketing, encompass

Brexit

The Brexit “brain drain” is hampering UK financial services firms’ ability to attract top tech talent, according to a report from TheCityUK and Odgers Berndtson and supported by Banco Santander.

The report found that a reduction in the flow of EU tech graduates into the UK is making recruiting and retaining more difficult than before.

Miles Celic, chief executive officer, TheCityUK, commented:

The challenge for financial services is to ensure they are catching and keeping the best tech talent – and enough of it to ensure the sector thrives into the future. We must get smarter about how we attract and train the people we need if the industry is to remain globally competitive.

Read the full report here.

blockchain

Money20/20 Asia 2019 started in Singapore this week, with the importance of blockchain high on the agenda and discussions centring around how the technology is now being driven by real and sustainable value creation.

IDC’s research director James Webster attempted to provide a deep dive into the key points, admitting that he understands that “skepticism is warranted” and that the technology is beyond the stage of hype and has now entered development.

Jeff McDonald, co-founder of the NEM Foundation, also shared his views at the event, commenting that “bitcoin doesn’t have much use” except from the underlying technology being used for timestamping. He went on to say that while bitcoin is “useful as a payment processing network, the value that it has is because of what it does, but this is not intrinsic value.”

Get the latest here.

news in brief

There have been no prosecutions made in the UK since the introduction of stricter Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations in June 2017. According to a recent Freedom of Information request (FoI) made by law firm Eversheds Sutherland, between June 2017 and October 2018, there were no pending or outstanding prosecutions for potential AML breaches that may have led to the proliferation of terrorist financing or financial crimes. The findings come as the UK National Crime Agency and the Home Office remain under scrutiny regarding their perceived inaction when it comes to the regulations. Read more.

A lack of preparedness among Irish firms for GDPR changes and the latest AML directives has led to fines, James Treacy, managing director of Stubbs Gazette, has said. He commented:

With the introduction of GDPR and the new EU anti-money laundering directives, it makes it a lot easier for organizations such as banks and government agencies to share information as long as they have a legitimate purpose. However, almost all of the major banks in Ireland have been slapped with fines, not because they’re aiding money laundering but rather that they haven’t got their documentation in place and they are not seen to do their screening and ID verification checks.

The challenger bank economy is on the rise in Asia. As challengers and neobanks are not burdened with legacy technology, they are able to disrupt the status quo. According to KPMG’s global head of banking and capital markets, Judd Caplain, this phenomenon has expanded greatly and there are now more than 100 challenger banks operating worldwide. Read what he has to say here.

The Canadian government is to unveil a new task force designed to improve money laundering investigations and increase the likelihood of prosecutions. The Vancouver Sun reports the country’s government will announce funding for an Anti-Money Laundering action coordination and enforcement team. The purpose of the team is to bring multiple federal agencies together with a view to tackling the problem.

the latest from encompass

The recently updated Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidance on financial systems and controls (FG18/5) now requires firms to include open source media screening as a part of enhanced due diligence (EDD) programmes. This week, we published a blog that outlined five tips for the successful implementation of open source media checks in light of the updated standards.

On Tuesday 26 March, encompass will host a second webinar in partnership with OCEG and Refinitiv. In this webinar, we will discuss how modern technology uses the artificial intelligence capability of machine learning to streamline the tasks of data identification and analysis in Anti-Money Laundering (AML). You can book your place here.