The financial verification trends vendors need to know. Source: unsplash.com
The last few years have been an unprecedented one for the digital payments industry, one in which changes what we expected to take place over many years happened within the space of a few months. According to a recent report from Berkshire Hathaway, the digital payments market grew at unprecedented speeds in 2020, reaching a global market value of $5.44 trillion.
What’s more, this figure is expected to continue growing exponentially in the coming years and is on track to reach $11.29 trillion by 2026. As the market has grown to new heights, new challenges have also arisen. Chief among these is security, with hacks and attacks taking place at a ferocious pace that few could have predicted.
As expected, this tech-savvy industry has adapted quickly, utilizing new verification techniques and technologies in the quest to make users more secure. If you work in the digital payments industry, these are the emerging verification trends you need to be paying attention to.
1. Digital identities are becoming the norm
Perhaps the most obvious trend that is reshaping how we identify ourselves and stay secure with online transactions concerns the growing rollout of digital IDs.
Digital IDs, where are usually tied to your social security number or ID number, have long been the norm in the realm of public service provision, with government agencies, medical providers, and transport companies requiring them for years. Digital IDs have become especially well-established and prevalent in Nordic countries, to the point where you can use your official digital ID to securely make any online purchase from just about every private company in countries such as Sweden, Finland, and Denmark.
In the case of Finland, Info Finland explains that you need a digital ID for pretty much everything, including buying anything online, topping up your metro card, going to the doctor, and more. Meanwhile, major private companies such as Adobe are increasingly compelling users to use a Digital ID when accessing their services. When verifying transactions, it is simply one of the most secure approaches possible.
Source: unsplash.com
2. Biometrics is the new password
Another major trend in the world of payment verification concerns biometrics. This concerns the use of a person’s fingerprint or facial recognition to verify and complete payments. The obvious benefit here is that biometrics cannot be stolen and are tied exclusively to the account holder, while also removing the need to remember a complex list of passwords and PIN codes. While many companies are starting to adopt this technology, the one to pay attention to right now is, of course, Amazon. This summer, Amazon announced that it would be offering $10 payments to anyone who would provide a scan of their palm print to the company.
The goal is to use this data to build a biometric payment system where anyone can make a payment simply by waving their palm over an in-store scanner or even a laptop webcam. The future is biometric.
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3. Document uploads are the gold standard
Despite all of the fanfare over fancy emerging technologies, it is becoming increasingly clear which of the more established methods are considered to be reliable and safe.
Chief among these is document uploads, which are increasingly being used as an airtight way of ensuring that account holders are who they say they are. We can see examples of leadership in this area within the online casino industry, which requires 100% secure verification in order to safely process winnings and deposits from customers. Document verification is the norm a modern online casino, the leading brands often require new customers to email personal ID documentation to the casino before they can access the 400 real-money casino games on offer at the platform.
The most commonly accepted forms of documentation at such platforms continue to be everyday documents such as passports, driving licenses, and personal ID cards.
Although this is a form of digital payments verification that requires an extra step in the so-called “user journey”, it remains the most secure option for users and platforms alike.
These are the trends that are currently driving change within the realm of digital payments verification. If you wish to provide the kind of security and user experience that customers are increasingly expecting, these are what you need to be paying attention to.
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