How Live Assisted Video KYC Compares with Traditional Identity Verification

Published by Merryl Dusaran on

How Live Assisted Video KYC Compares with Traditional Identity Verification feature image - man holding up a card

Financial services now have a new approach to ID verification, a digital one. The traditional process is undergoing a slow death now as the digital method provides a better solution to the Know Your Customer (KYC) process and it’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliant, too. As businesses strive to offer an excellent and convenient experience to customers, they’re upgrading the process to fully accommodate all customer needs.

The onboarding process is the most critical part because that’s where a customer may change his or her mind and choose the competitor because they had a bad customer  experience. The KYC protocol makes use of two methods: traditional identity verification and live assisted video. Comparing the two processes, indeed, one leads by a mile over the other.

Time-Consuming Process

Traditional ID verification generally consumes the customer’s time — an inefficiency that can destroy a bank’s or lender’s reliability and consistency in service delivery. The amount of time spent onboarding alone exasperates the customers. From the time the customer is put on queue to the moment they pass their identification documents, a huge amount of time has already been snatched away.

A study has found that 1 out of 3 financial institutions have lost their customers due to slow onboarding, and 81% believe that poor data management lengthens onboarding and negatively affects the customer experience. With the ongoing difficulty and time-consuming transaction in the traditional process, consumers that visit retail bank branches are set to drop 36 percent between 2017 and 2022.

Seamless Approach

Compared to the traditional approach, the digital process is tenfold better, much reliable, and convenient. With the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the new era of KYC with live assisted video KYC will be a success in onboarding people for a quick and smooth transaction. This online identity verification uses an agent-assisted video process that is compliant with the Anti-Money Laundering Act and allows customers to complete their transaction without ever setting foot in the bank. They can do it completely online.

With live assisted video KYC, a customer would only need a computer with a webcam or a smartphone, internet access, and their valid identity document. In a live assisted  video KYC, an identification employee will guide a customer through the process. Then he/she will be asked with identification questions such as first name, last name, and date of birth. The employee will then ask the customer to hold up his or her identity card to the camera.

Why is it beneficial?

It clearly shows that the digital process, the live assisted video KYC, is advantageous compared to the traditional identity verification. The former can be accessible at any time and anywhere as long as the customer has internet access. It is more effective in terms of fraud reduction since the AI has been programmed to identify fake documents. The live assisted video KYC also reduces cost as a business will no longer send an employee to remote locations for physical customer identification and verification.

The identification and verification process that the live assisted video KYC provides is indeed fast. This decreases the number of customers backing away from the onboarding process. Moreover, live assisted video KYC prevents document loss and enhances the digital user experience.


If you’re concerned about the security of your KYC process while keeping the human touch intact, then click the button below to set an appointment with our outsourcing consultant. Learn the many ways that a team of customer service agents can help you.