eKYC (Electronic KYC)

Completing Know Your Customer checks entirely online, using a smartphone camera and an ID document, instead of visiting a branch in person.

A new customer photographs their ID, takes a selfie, and gets a decision within minutes, without leaving home.

Digital execution of KYC requirements via remote document capture, biometric verification, and data checks against authoritative sources, rather than in-person review of physical documents by a human. An authoritative source is an official record, such as a government database.

An eKYC flow typically works like this:

1. The customer captures an ID document with their phone.
2. The system reads and verifies the document.
3. The customer takes a selfie, and the system matches it to the ID photo and checks that a live person is present.
4. The system checks the details against records and screens the customer against watchlists.
5. It assigns a risk level and approves, declines, or sends the case for review.

The approach relies on several technologies:

• Document verification, to check that the ID is genuine.
• Face match and liveness detection, to tie the document to a live person.
• Data checks, to confirm details against official or bureau records.
• Screening, to check sanctions and politically exposed person lists.

Regulators in many countries now accept remote verification. In 2020, the Financial Action Task Force published guidance on using digital identity for customer due diligence.

eKYC sits next to terms that are easy to mix up:

• Know your customer (KYC) is the legal duty, and eKYC is a way of carrying it out digitally.
• Identity verification (IDV) is the step inside eKYC that confirms who the person is.
• Onboarding is the full flow, which eKYC powers.

For more, see the white paper Download: Three Best Practices for Implementing an Electronic Know Your Customer Solution.