With digital transactions increasing in India, businesses must prioritize KYC compliance to verify their customer’s identities and prevent financial crime. One crucial aspect of KYC compliance is proof of identity (POI), which involves obtaining valid documents from customers to confirm their identity.
This article explains why POI is crucial for KYC compliance and provides insights into accepted POI documents, best practices for verifying POI, the impact of digital identity verification on KYC, and the future of POI in KYC.
Why Proof of Identity is Crucial for KYC
POI is a critical component of KYC compliance as it helps businesses to verify the identity of their customers and prevent financial crime. Financial institutions, in particular, are required to comply with KYC regulations to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines on KYC that require banks to conduct customer identification procedures and obtain valid POI documents.
POI also plays an important role in preventing identity theft. Fraudsters make illegitimate use of stolen IDs and use them to open bank accounts, apply for credit cards, and conduct other financial transactions. By requiring POI, financial institutions can help prevent identity theft by ensuring that the person conducting the transaction is the legitimate owner of the identity they are using.
Types of Proof of Identity Documents Verification Accepted in KYC
In India, several documents are accepted as POI for KYC compliance. Businesses must verify the authenticity of these documents, which may include checking for security features unique to the document and conducting electronic verification services. Find the list of acceptable POI verification methods mentioned below:
- Passport Verification
- Voter ID Verification
- Aadhaar Verification
- Driver’s License Verification
- PAN Verification
- NREGA Job Card
- Identity Card Issued by Central or State Government Departments
- Pensioner Card
- Aadhaar Enrollment Number
- Certificate of Identity Issued by Consulate or Embassy of India
Other documents that may be accepted as POI include:
- Ration card
- Senior citizen card
- Disability ID card
- Freedom fighter card
- Kisan passbook
- CGHS/ECHS card
- Bank passbook with photograph
When accepting POI documents, financial institutions must be diligent in verifying their authenticity. This may include checking for watermarks, holograms, or other security features that are unique to the document. Electronic verification services must also be utilised to check the document’s validity and ensure that it has not been tampered with.
Best Practices for Verifying Proof of Identity in KYC
To ensure that POI documents are valid, businesses must follow best practices for verifying the identity of their customers. These practices include checking for security features such as holograms and watermarks, verifying the document’s expiration date, and conducting background checks to ensure that the customer is not on any watchlists or sanctions lists. Businesses may also use biometric authentication or facial recognition technology to verify the customer’s identity. Best practices for verifying POI include:
Checking the validity of the document
Check the document for signs of tampering or forgery, and ensure that it is not expired.
Verifying the identity of the customer
Compare the information on the document with other information provided by the customer, such as their name, address, and date of birth.
Conducting background checks
Conduct background checks on customers to ensure that they have no criminal history or ties to terrorism or other illicit activities.
Using electronic verification services
Use electronic verification services to verify the authenticity of the document and ensure that it has not been tampered with.
It’s important for financial institutions to have clear policies and procedures in place for verifying POI, and to provide regular training to staff to ensure that they understand these policies and procedures.
The Future of Proof of Identity in KYC
As technology continues to evolve, the future of POI in KYC is likely to see further advancements. Self-sovereign identity, which enables individuals to control their own digital identity, and decentralized identity, which allows individuals to prove their identity without relying on a centralized authority, are emerging trends in identity verification.
However, as new technologies and approaches to identity verification emerge, it is essential that businesses remain vigilant and continue to follow best practices for verifying POI. The need for businesses to know their customers and comply with KYC regulations is unlikely to diminish, and POI will continue to play a critical role in this process.
How does AuthBridge conduct POI checks?
AuthBridge’s verification and onboarding solutions build on cutting-edge technology i.e. liveness detection, facial recognition, OCR, etc. extract information from the ID documents, check for any tampering, and determine the authenticity of the identity document in real-time. This ensures that businesses are dealing with a real identity document and not a fake one.
Here is how you can optimize your KYC process with AuthBridge:
Data extraction with OCR
AuthBridge OCR APIs help you reduce turnaround time by removing the hassles of manual data entry. Now you can just scan/upload your NID, license or other documents and fetch the details right into your system.
Realtime Database Checks
Verify the authenticity of the uploaded documents by checking the possibility of tampering with the help of our anti-tampering mechanism. Validate the information against our proprietary databases in real-time or opt for thorough offline verification.
Advanced Verification Methods
Leverage state-of-the-art liveness and face-match APIs to make your identity verification process fail-proof. Cross-validation of information against multiple sources with a match logic ensures the validity of the claim of the identity of the individual/entity.
Get AuthBridge’s robust verification and onboarding solutions to meet these technical objectives, while also being scalable and cost-effective. Not only will you meet your verification requirements but also offer a seamless onboarding experience.
