The Irish identity solutions provider ID-Pal is expanding to the United Kingdom. ID-Pal’s solution uses document recognition to confirm that an identity document is authentic, as well as facial recognition (with liveness detection) to ensure that it is in the hands of the proper owner.

In the UK, ID-Pal will be looking to pitch its product to private brokers to help them combat increased rates of mortgage fraud. The company noted that there is often an information imbalance between lending companies and the individual brokers that interact with businesses and consumers. Large financial institutions can afford powerful fraud prevention technology to spot forgeries and analyze risk levels. Brokers, on the other hand, still rely on manual document checks, and often cannot tell the difference between a real ID card and a fake.

ID-Pal is able to provide smaller brokers with the same fraud prevention capabilities as their lending counterparts. In doing so, it lowers the likelihood that a broker will recommend a fraudster for a loan inadvertently. The solution itself is geared primarily toward mortgage brokers, though it can ultimately be of use to brokers engaged in any kind of lending.

“The way in which identity verification has been done historically is just not sustainable in our digital-first mobile-ready world,” said ID-Pal Founder and CEO Colum Lyons. “Verifying identity documents manually is inefficient and insecure, and the risk of data flight and simple human error can make businesses vulnerable to fraud.”

ID-Pal’s offering can be deployed as an “off-the-shelf” product, or integrated into a broker’s existing digital workflow through the use of an API. The solution is compliant with the ISO 27001 standard, and with Europe’s latest GDPR data privacy regulations. As a result, brokers can use it to fulfill their Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer obligations.

According to ID-Pal, its solution only needs a few seconds to perform an identity check and verify someone’s information. The company already offers services in Ireland, the US, and other parts of Europe.

Source: FT Advisor