Another lender yesterday announced it has gone live with a digital verification of identity (VOI) solution to make the lending process easier for brokers given current events.
Heritage Bank has partnered with technology company InfoTrack to provide the service, effective immediately.
“Where possible, we still prefer borrowers to have their identity verified face-to-face by their broker, Heritage staff member, solicitor or accountant,” said Heritage head of broker distribution Stewart Saunders
“However, we know that in the COVID environment, face-to-face VOI is not always possible. Having the new digital VOI process as an option is great news for brokers and their clients. It gets rid of a major potential hurdle in the application process and helps ensure a simpler and easier lending experience for all.”
“The digital VOI process is extremely simple for customers to complete by securely uploading photos of their ID documents and taking a quick video selfie. The platform then verifies the documents via DVS services, completes facial recognition and two-factor authentication, and provides the completed VOI certificate back to Heritage Bank.”
Over the last couple of months, lenders and aggregators of all sizes have taken a variety of approaches to making digital VOI available to their brokers, as facilitated through a range of tech companies such as InfoTrack, MaxID, and MSA National’s IDyou app.
In its recent submission to government, FinTech Australia highlighted the possibility that the adoption of open banking could help standardise digital VOI across financial services.
“Currently, through tailored [anti-money laundering] programs, bespoke technology solutions and a handful of aggregators, entities largely design their own ways of dealing with ID verification issues,” FinTech Australia explained.
Looking ahead, open banking could enable standardised tools for identity verification, acting as an enabling technology which would deliver a material benefit to both existing and emerging financial institutions.
