Daon, Veriff, and FacePhi Developments Show Ascent and Expansion of Selfie Onboarding

A trio of announcements concerning selfie-based onboarding suggest the technology continues to enjoy substantial momentum and expand into newer application areas.

The facial recognition-based approach to remote onboarding, which entails the use of biometrics to match an end user’s selfie to a photo of their physical ID, is already extremely popular in the financial services sector. On that note, GoTyme Bank, a newly-launched digital bank serving the Philippines, had announced that it is using Daon’s IdentityX platform for customer onboarding. While IdentityX supports multiple biometric modalities, GoTyme has opted for a selfie-based approach.

An announcement from Akia, meanwhile, speaks to the versatility of selfie-based identity verification beyond the financial services sector. The company is the developer of a hospitality-focused guest messaging platform, and has teamed up with Veriff to enable biometric guest verification, using the latter’s facial recognition technology to match an end user’s selfie photo to their physical ID.

“By integrating with Veriff, we’re enabling hosts to automate peace of mind,” explained Akia Chief Operating Officer Ryan Kanoknukulchai.

Finally, one of the pioneers of selfie-based identity verification has won an award that could further boost the advancement of this technology in financial services and beyond.

Facephi has been named one of the four winners of the UK Government’s Tech Rocketship Awards, which are aimed at identifying promising tech companies and helping to fuel their growth by connecting them with UK-based investors and accelerator programs. All of the award winners were from outside of the UK, with Facephi joined on the podium by Turkey’s Enbiosis (which won in the ‘Digital Health’ category), The Netherlands’ Jungle AI (‘Artificial Intelligence’), and Finland’s Resistomap (‘Promoting Diversity in Tech’). Facephi, for its part, won in the ‘Cyber Security’ category, and may now find itself establishing some useful connections in London’s prestigious high finance hub.