Company News

Regula and Contactable Collaborate in Africa

South African company, Contactable, has announced its adoption of Regula’s ID verification technology to further combat identity fraud across the continent.

According to a survey conducted by FICO in 2022, every seventh person experienced an identity fraud incident in South Africa. This, along with the growing demand for online services, has led companies to realize they need to strengthen the digital identity verification processes within their business.

Supported by Regula’s technology, Contactable’s solution recognizes an identity document type, automatically reads data, and performs cross-checks of all information from all document zones. This verification process helps spot any possible inconsistencies and detect illegal alterations and forgery.

In another layer of security, the ID photo image is digitally extracted and compared to the facial biometric image of the person on a trusted source, such as a Home Affairs biometric image.

The solution is backed up with Regula’s proprietary extensive document template database. It contains more than 12,000 templates of IDs from 247 countries and territories and is the standard by which a document’s authenticity is proved.

Convego® AUTH-U for Financial Institutions

In a recent marketing blog, secure identity and document company, Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), set out the reasons why customer authentication with Convego® AUTH-U feels invisible but is actually very secure.

According to G+D, the thought of migrating to a unified authentication solution may seem daunting but the risks of non-compliance and exposure to phishing attacks are greater. The ultimate objective is to provide customers with a seamless, hassle-free way to authenticate their accounts, without sacrificing security and without password resets or one-time pins to worry about.

Convego® AUTH-U is based on the global FIDO standard, meaning migration to a password less authentication process that strikes a balance between security, risk management, and convenience. Strong customer authentication is guaranteed by finger or face recognition.

The system works on the following principles:

• Smooth registration: Biometric authentication not only speeds up the time it takes to access mobile banking, but it also enhances the usage, providing consumers with instant added value.

• Secure transaction authorisations: Many transaction types, such as money transfers and high-value payments which are perceived as high-risk by customers, can be approved quickly and seamlessly using biometric options.

• Convenient logins: Accessing accounts via native mobile applications and browser-based web apps is even easier with no passwords to remember.

• Improved eCommerce experience: Biometric authentication minimises Card-Not-Present fraud while reducing cart abandonment rates compared to traditional 3D Secure passwords.

Sales Up for Behavioural Biometrics Firm

Behavioural biometrics firm BioCatch has announced its second consecutive record growth quarter fuelled by the continuing rise of digital ID fraud targeting the global banking industry.

The company posted its best-ever quarter in terms of gross new sales, with new sales increasing 130% compared to Q1 2022. Additionally, BioCatch grew annual recurring revenue (ARR) 50% from Q1 2022 and has doubled ARR over the past year-and-a-half. The rapid growth is fuelled by the need for financial institutions to detect and stop ever-evolving social engineering scams and money laundering activities.

As of the first fiscal quarter of 2023, BioCatch was processing more than 6 billion user sessions per month, driven by new and existing customers expanding their use of behavioural-based solutions globally. The company added 18 new customers in the first quarter and continues to expand its footprint with existing customers as well, with 40% of ARR growth over the past year coming from current customer expansions. BioCatch has seen the fastest growth across Central and South America, driven by rapid digital transformation by financial institutions in the region and their need to protect consumers against evolving mobile banking ID fraud threats.

To support its increasing new customer base, BioCatch added 22 new employees in Q1 2023, bringing total headcount to more than 260. The company plans to continue hiring for more than 40 new positions over the remainder of 2023 as it continues to expand its global market.

India Allows Finance Companies to Use Aadhaar Biometric Authentication

The Finance Ministry will allow 22 financial companies, including Amazon Pay (India) and Hero FinCorp, to undertake Aadhaar-based authentication of clients.

The ministry, through a notification, said that the 22 companies concerned, which are already reporting entities under the country’s anti-money laundering regulations, will be able to verify the identity of clients and beneficial owners’ details using their Aadhaar numbers.

Nangia Andersen LLP Partner Sandeep Jhunjhunwala said that while Aadhaar authentication of clients is made available as one of the modes of verification for banking companies, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provides that Aadhaar authentication can also be adopted by reporting entities other than banking companies as may be notified by the central government.

‘Accordingly, the central government has notified a list of 22 financial institutions/intermediaries, which are permitted to use Aadhaar authentication to verify the identity of clients/beneficial owners,’ Jhunjhunwala said.

The other modes of verification prescribed under the PMLA include offline verification under the Aadhaar Act, use of a passport and any other officially valid document or modes of identification as may be notified by the central government, and the client has a choice to opt for their preferred mode of verification.

To allay privacy fears, and in the interest of safeguarding the identity information and authentication records of individuals, the PMLA prohibits reporting entities from storing the Aadhaar number or core biometric information of the client any longer than is warranted by the purpose for which it was provided.