The identity verification specialist Melissa is hoping to simplify the onboarding process with a new selfie-based Know Your Customer solution. Appropriately dubbed Melissa KYC, the mobile app combines document reading with liveness detection and facial biometrics to confirm the identities of new customers during registration.

“Whether verifying an address or working to prevent online fraud, the business process must be easily implemented and meet customer expectations for convenience and speed,” said Melissa Global Marketing VP Greg Brown. “Melissa KYC ensures that compliance activities are seamless for the business and create a straightforward, friction-free experience for end-users.”

To use Melissa KYC, prospective customers must first scan an official document like a passport or a national ID card. The app then matches the ID photo against a selfie of the user to confirm that it is indeed the same person. For liveness detection, Melissa KYC will take note when the subject blinks to verify the presence of a live individual. 

Melissa KYC is the second selfie-based onboarding solution the company has released in the past year, after bringing eIDV to Money20/20 in October. That particular solution was realized through a partnership with Scanovate, which in turn came about because Melissa was looking to move beyond simple contact information like addresses and phone numbers and modernize its identity verification services. Melissa KYC seems to represent the next stage of that transformation.