Are you doing enough to prepare your clients for their digital identity checks? 

As a professional services firm, you may have moved to carrying out your KYC and AML checks remotely, which is saving you time and reducing risk.  However, in our experience, the firms that prepare their clients by letting them know what to expect during the process have much higher engagement and success rates than those that don’t.  When we looked at the data of two of our law firm clients’ activity, the one that had built end user guidance into its processes, was benefitting from an 11%  higher completion rate compared to one that simply sent out a basic instruction to complete a check and did not offer any additional information.

Incomplete checks can happen for a number of reasons, but the causes are usually easy to address. 

We’ve put together a few suggestions to help you and your clients – and hopefully reduce the amount of unnecessary work involved in chasing or re-sending requests.

1. Let the client know exactly what to expect, for example they might receive an email with a link to the ID process or need to download an app – and what entity will be carrying out the check on your behalf.  People can be very wary of doing an ID check if they are not sure who is asking for it or why.
   
   
2. Check they ensure the name provided to you matches exactly what appears on their ID document.
   
   
3. Opt for corporate branding if possible, or integrate the check within your firm’s own web journey as familiarity and trust in the sender will offer them further re-assurance.
   
   
4. Advise them what mobile device type they will need such as the iOS version number. 
   
   
5. Using the right browser may make a difference, for example VSiD checks require Chrome or Safari for smart phones.
   
   
6. Remind them to have their current passport or driving licence to hand.
   
   
7. Tell them to capture the whole photo page of the passport when asked to scan it.  If the page is partially covered by a finger, or if the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) is not clear, then the data may not be scanned properly and result in a fail.
   
   
8. As the holograms on the photo page of the passport can reflect light which can cause problems, it is generally better to let the device camera automatically adjust, rather than use bright artificial lighting.
   
   
9. When using a smart phone to read the chip within an ePassport, the phone should be facing down and hovering over the middle area of the back cover of the document.  The NFC reader within the phone is usually in the area around the camera, but this can vary.
   
   
10. Passport covers should be removed before attempting to read the chip.

Investing in the technology to streamline your processes can be a big step, so it’s not only important to make sure you get the best out of that resource, but that your clients feel you are offering the right assistance to avoid any frustrations they might encounter – especially those who are not so tech-savvy or naturally sceptical about sharing personal information online.

VSiD is certified as conforming to the Digital Identity and Atributes Trust Framework and is listed on Gov.UK as a Digital Verification Service (DVS), specialising in eSignature and ID verification solutions that assist professional services firms carry out KYC and AML checks.  If you would like to know more, please get in touch on 0333 335 5176 or complete the contact us form.