Why did you choose Dublin to setup Trulioo’s satellite office?

With Dublin continuing to emerge as a financial and technological hub with international gravitas, it made perfect sense to set up our satellite office there. In fact, 80 percent of global technology firms have a presence in Dublin so it’s no surprise that the city is emerging as a RegTech hub. In addition, the location allows us to develop a more personal working relationship with our partners and customers in Europe and the wider Eastern Hemisphere.

With the company penetrating into the European market, how will it reinforce the compliance systems and prevent fraud on the global front?

We help organisations prevent fraud by building a framework of trust on a global scale. We serve hundreds of global clients, enabling them to verify five billion individuals and 250 million businesses, and we are continuing to scale into new markets, adding new countries each month. In just the last few months, we have broadened our coverage to include the Philippines, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bangladesh and Poland. In an online and borderless economy, cross-border compliance can become an impediment to business on account of regulatory differences between markets. Our solution has solved this problem by allowing organisations to meet regulatory requirements across these markets through a single solution.

You said your physical presence in Dublin will allow you to work more personally with partners and customers in Europe. Can you elaborate?

As mentioned, we serve hundreds of clients all over the world. Our teams in Vancouver and San Francisco work closely with our clients in the Americas. However, as it happens, a large number of our customers are actually based in Europe. Dublin’s proximity to Europe and the abundance of great tech talent in the city guided our decision to open an office there. As a result of our expansion into Dublin, we now have team members on the ground who are able to work more closely with partners and customers based in Dublin and the EU.

Is the city’s financial and technological climate attractive enough to bring more business opportunities?

Dublin has become a gateway to the European market. Major North American tech companies are expanding their presence in Dublin at a rapid pace. Dublin offers quality talent, a fantastic ecosystem, and a business-friendly environment. Seeing Ireland become the fastest-growing economy in the EU for four consecutive years now, Dublin seemed like a natural choice for us.

What are the plans in the pipeline for the next three years—with Trulioo expanding its operations into Europe?

We champion the harmonisation and centralisation of data across the industry, globally, to promote identity verification, while still ensuring we address privacy, interoperability, infrastructure and security. In an effort to keep momentum and exceed our current pace of growth, we will continue to focus on R&D to improve our existing product and, in turn, expand our product offerings based on customer and market demand. The world’s population is at seven billion people and counting; currently, we verify five billion individuals around the world, which means we are already past the halfway point. Our mission for the future is to be able to verify each and every individual on the planet.

We will also continue to leverage the power of mobile data, from device IDs to GPS location, biometrics and mobile number identification, to cover populations which aren’t currently in the global financial system but have access to mobile phones.

GlobalGateway is Trulioo’s marketplace of identity data and services. By integrating with GlobalGateway, organisations can instantly verify the identity of five billion people and 250 million businesses in 195 countries through more than 400 unique, trusted data sources. Developed for the international market, the solution helps businesses comply with a wide range of both local and cross-border regulatory requirements such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).

GlobalGateway allows our clients to scale into new markets around the world in minutes, through a single touchpoint, under a single contract. In a world without GlobalGateway, organisations would have to build multiple integrations and sign multiple contracts to enter a new market and fulfil regulatory requirements there – a process which can take years.

Additionally, GlobalGateway offers the widest coverage in the market; not only are we able to verify individuals, we can verify businesses through our Global Business Verification service; we also offer Mobile ID and ID Document Verification.

It’s also important to be aware that GlobalGateway plays an instrumental role in fraud prevention and risk mitigation. Prevention is the operative word here because, too often, fraud is only caught after the act. By enabling organisations to verify individuals and businesses during the signup process itself, we enable organisations to keep bad actors at bay and asses risk levels posed by customers before they are onboarded.

GlobalGateway was recently ranked the number one identity verification tool for the third year running in the 2018 RegTech Supplier Performance Report. How did you achieve this?

The RegTech Supplier Performance Report, which is published annually by Market Fintech, provides a clear view of the RegTech sector and focuses on the solutions gaining market traction, the scope of these solutions and the areas of compliance they address. We are really proud that, in addition to ranking Trulioo as a top ID verification tool, the 2018 report also ranked Trulioo number three in the Overall RegTech Supplier Rankings.

Echoing what we said at the time, the report showcases a highly complex, yet burgeoning, area of financial technology and in the process, brings attention to the regulatory solutions that are making a real impact in today’s digital world. It’s clear that automated eKYC tools offer more reliable, customer-centric solutions for financial institutions dedicated to delivering a seamless, digital-first experience. As a result, businesses are able to abandon problematic, manual processes and implement more reliable, cross-functional solutions.

Trulioo supports over 500 clients worldwide to verify five billion customers and 250 million enterprises in more than 100 countries. What is the chief reason behind its swift growth?

Trulioo was founded to solve the one problem that had been considered unsolvable: Identity verification. If there are any takeaways from our journey, it’s the importance of building a diverse and talented team that genuinely cares about the product and, indeed, the problems that the product is trying to solve. Having a team driven by a purpose to carry out a mission because of its sheer importance is one of the most significant factors behind our success.

The online, borderless economy is growing exponentially. As it matures, there is a tremendous need for securing greater trust online and making the internet a safer place to do business; our data expertise and technological advances put us at the forefront of meeting those needs. Identity verification is integral to our global business ecosystem. Our customers choose our service because we deliver real-time access to secure and reliable data sources. In today’s fast-moving digital and mobile world, companies are no longer restricted to doing business locally. With our technology, which enables faster global reach and fulfilment, it is no surprise that many of our customers are based locally, with a global footprint.

The development and evolution of our API has been another turning point: Over the course of countless iterations, we have perfected our API to the extent that any client of Trulioo can essentially verify two-thirds of the world’s population with only a few lines of code.

The post Trulioo builds a universal verification system for the borderless world appeared first on International Finance.

“Expanding our solution to both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is critical,” said Stephen Ufford, CEO and founder of Trulioo. “Not only are they two of the fastest growing economies in Europe, but they’re also home to some of the fastest growing tech companies in Central Europe,” said Ufford.

Keeping pace with new regulations and technologies in growing markets, however, is an ongoing process. As technology, consumer behaviors, laws and international standards continue to evolve, so do fraud schemes. Today’s fraudsters are well-funded, skilled and equipped with the latest technology, which makes staying ahead of them more difficult than ever before. In fact, according to National Check and Currency, money launderers now employ complex networks and covers and use modern accounting and financial tools to defraud both the traditional and alternative financial industries. These evolving methods have enabled criminals to conceal their identities in a new way, which presents a huge challenge for financial institutions and law enforcement agencies.

“Both member states will be required by the EU’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) to implement new provisions that close loopholes, consider new technologies and improve transparency while still protecting personal data and adhering to international agreements,” Ufford continued.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia are both taking steps to thwart rising fraud and money laundering. According to the U.S. Department of State’s report on the Czech Republic, the country’s central European location and openness as a market economy leave it vulnerable to money laundering. In recent years, its government has put legislation in place to combat this high level of fraud and continues searching for solutions to the large scale of fraud faced today. The country also recently became a party to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) as well as the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

Meanwhile, the Slovakian government recently approved a proposal that amends an existing act to increase the transparency of ownership of legal entities and the preservation of information. Under the amended act, all legal entities and special purpose asset arrangements are obligated to register and maintain documentation on ultimate beneficiary owners (UBOs). The UBO’s identification details must be recorded by a legal entity each year and for a period of five years after the termination of the UBO’s status, according to Cechova and Partners.

Developed to help businesses automate their customer onboarding processes and comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, GlobalGateway powers fraud prevention and compliance systems for hundreds of financial institutions, payments, banks and online marketplaces worldwide.

The post Trulioo extends global identity verification solution to the Czech Republic and Slovakia appeared first on International Finance.

Named as a CNBC Tech Disruptor 2017, Trulioo provides secure access to alternative and traditional data sources worldwide to instantly verify consumers and businesses online. Its online verification platform GlobalGateway helps companies comply with Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) by automating Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) workflows. Trulioo supports over 500 global clients to instantly verify 5 billion customers and 250 million business entities in over 100 countries—all through a single API integration. The company accesses data from leading mobile network operator (MNOs), credit bureaus, utility companies, government-approved ID documents and public records to digitally verify an individual. Some notable clients include PayPal, Stripe and World Remit.

Asia—the world’s most promising FinTech region

RRecently Trulioo made its foray into the Southeast Asian nation of the Philippines, and now offers instant identity verification for consumers in the country. Philippines is a big remittance market—last year, the country recorded inflows of approximately US$33 billion, an all-time high. In January, cash remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) reached US$2.4 billion—a 9.7 percent increase on the previous year. A large portion of remittance flow into the Philippines comes from the UK, positioning it as a lead driver, second only to the US. This month, remittances from the UK were valued at 1.6 percentage points, making it a substantial catalyst of growth.

According to World Bank, the Philippines is one of the world’s largest recipients of remittances, third only to India and China. Remittances are the country’s largest source of foreign exchange income and account for approximately 10 percent of GDP in 2017.

A step into the country’s booming remittance market with global identity verification would afeguard against nefarious activities, as well as keep remittance costs low for senders and recipients, said CEO Stephen Ufford.

Trulioo’s General manager Zac Cohen is bullish on their expansion plans in Asia, “It is one of our strongest markets, owing to the density of population, growth of mobile phones and the immense number of expats they have. Be it China, the Philippines, or India, there are plenty of expats who play a crucial role in driving the ecommerce and remittance markets. We continue to expand our presence owing to the density of population, growth of mobile

phones and the immense number of expats they have. Be it China, the Philippines, or India, there are plenty of expats who play a crucial role in driving the ecommerce and remittance markets. We continue to expand our presence across the region.”

Trulioo, which launched in 2011, has remained very positive about the payments market, but has expanded its remit to include ecommerce/online marketplaces and financial services—both of which have volumes of customer information that need to be verified. However, global banking remains the biggest market for the company, says Cohen.

Challenge of digital verification in age of cyber-threat

The danger of cyberattacks is a very real one being faced by companies all over the world today. While there are some constantly recurring countries on the list, such as Russia, China, Vietnam, India and Iran, cyber threats loom large across almost every corner of the digital world. However, Trulioo verifies user data using multiple credible sources and is constantly updating its marketplace of identity data and services.

“As businesses continue to become more digitized the world is facing a very real threat,” says Cohen. “What helps drive our use-case is that we don’t retain or store any customer data, and are constantly working with industry forces to keep the verification process free of threat or sabotage of any kind.”

The emphasis on data privacy has been resonating across economies and governments, following which regulations like GDPR have been implemented with the threat of strict fines for non-compliance.

These measures are beneficial for a data-driven economy. Cohen says, “The reinforcement of data protection, privacy and transparency through regulations indicates an evolved approach to managing data. Being in the ID verification space, we have upheld user privacy to the highest possible levels from the beginning. Moreover, being in Canada where data protection has been upheld by private companies and governments to the highest standards, gave us a thorough understanding of its critical role.”

Cohen believes GDPR is just the start. “We’re seeing multiple jurisdictions across the world being implemented to safeguard user privacy, and this is the only way to standardise business practices in today’s times.”

The success of a company like Trulioo is reflective of the changing needs of businesses today across the world.

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