The Challenge
An international payments company was rapidly growing and expanding into multiple developing markets. Lack of information regarding available identity verification (IDV) solutions in these new markets, and the ability to scale customer onboarding processes were roadblocks standing in the way of continued expansion. Liminal was engaged to provide the client’s compliance leadership team with a repeatable framework for IDV services and solutions across South East Asia and recommendations for improving their customer onboarding operating model.
The Action
- Increased traction of payments processing and alternative banking products and services
- Nuanced government regulations and unique risk behaviors
- Lack of coverage of capabilities in emerging markets by U.S.-based tech companies and financial institutions
In the first phase of our engagement, Liminal provided actionable recommendations on launching in each market, including user experience design flows, technical architecture documentation, and policy guidelines for regulatory compliance. In the second phase of our engagement, Liminal developed a detailed vendor assessment to identify IDV partners for international expansion. Our team created a proprietary vendor ranking methodology to help empirically score survey responses and establish suitable IDV vendors for pilot testing. Utilizing VPN geo-spoofing techniques to perform remote testing of onboarding workflows for non-US customers, in-country surveys, and open commentary from industry peers, we were able to adequately assess each vendor, selecting 4 vendors for pilot.
Our client has an aggressive market expansion strategy that requires fast, detailed, and accurate intelligence on each country/region. Our approach included conducting a market risk assessment for each new territory being considered, which uncovered major players, opportunities, negative news, consumer privacy concerns, regulatory pressures, and user adoption trends in each nation. Identity in the selected countries required enhanced due diligence due to:
The Outcome
As a result of our engagement, our client secured an additional $5 million in funding to begin market expansion into 3 of the 8 markets analyzed. Our client also piloted 4 IDV solutions providers, selecting one, which is now integrated into their stack. The project improved their IDV rates by over 15% and reduced verification costs by $3M/month.
