The term “Digital Identity” has been popularized to link a consumer to his or her transactions online. The definition itself varies by generation, signifying the important evolution taking place. Millennials tend to associate their digital identity to online activities, social media data or biometric information while their predecessors tend to classify personally identifiable information such as a Social Security number, Driver’s License information and banking identity information as the core elements that make up their identity credentials. In truth, a consumer’s digital identity has evolved to encompass all of these things and more.
Financial Institutions (FIs) are progressively relying on a more robust form of digital identity to validate that the consumer is who they say they are both at the point of new account opening as well as when authenticating that consumer to authorize transactions. According to a recent Aite Group report titled “Application Fraud Rising as Breaches Fan the Flames,” FIs are continuing to grow their reach through online and mobile account acquisitions. However, they are also experiencing online fraud rates eight times higher than that of the branch, spotlighting risk assessment as a key priority.1
It is estimated that 38 percent of the population is unbanked and underserved, and often these individuals don’t have a digital financial identity, making it harder for them to gain access to the traditional banking system.2 As FIs work to foster financial inclusion, the use of the most current, accurate and collaborative data sets has never been more important.
Accurately authenticating and validating a consumer’s identity information in what is often a faceless environment is vital as data breaches continue to degrade the ability of banks and government entities to rely on traditional identity credentials. Furthermore, many traditional identity validation solutions do not account for the unbanked and underserved.
As the physical and digital worlds merge, Early Warning is leading the industry in the use of more advanced verification solutions. By leveraging mobile network operator data, advancements in out-of-band authentication, behavioral and biometric technologies layered with collaborative identity verification solutions, and advanced risk scoring, financial institutions are increasingly better positioned to optimize growth and adapt to the evolving nature of fraud.
Early Warning Ranked #1 for Digital Identity Assessment Solutions
PYMNTS.com - a leading payments publication in the United States - just ranked Early Warning #1 for Digital Identity Assessment Solutions in its July Digital Identity Tracker™.
The report consults with industry experts who describe the importance of establishing a comprehensive identity verification solution that leaves no identity behind. PYMNTS.com’s Digital Identity Tracker is a highly respected forum for discussing and addressing identity authentication issues and trends.
Early Warning was awarded the top spot based on four key criteria including channels, relying parties, authentication use cases and technology.
Sources:
1"Application Fraud Rising as Breaches Fan the Flames," Aite Group 2016.