KYC Verification APIs for Startups in 2022

KYC, which stands for ‘Know Your Customer’ is not just a typical digital verification method but also a preferred way to record & analyze the individual identity of customers. As the need for identity verification gained prominence in the banking & finance industry, the demand for KYC verification APIs surged rapidly in no time.

KYC needs no introduction for those who belong to the banking & fintech sector. But it definitely makes sense if you get a better understanding of KYC & its importance to get clarity on the subject we’re going to discuss next.?

Let’s first begin with a quick brief on KYC verification & its APIs.

What is KYC Verification API?

KYC software & APIs are designed to help companies in fulfilling their 'Know Your Customer (KYC)' legal needs. Such requirements are significantly leveraged with finance & banking products.?

Such businesses depend on KYC software to get familiar with the customer behavior & preferences. Besides this, fraud prevention & eliminating the risks of criminal activities,? money laundering, unauthorized access, assisting terrorism, & more.?

Moreover, KYC software will guide you to record a user’s first and last name along with an address & a valid ID document.

Popular KYC Verification APIs for startups

We know that the use cases of KYC verification APIs are beyond the Fintech segment. No wonder if your startup business needs a KYC solution for some obvious reasons.

So, here are the best 8 KYC software or APIs that you can use with your project.

1. SEON – Best for Pre-KYC Checks
2. Onfido – AI Liveness Verification
3. Trulioo – Global Document Verification
4. Refinitiv – Financial Data Analysts
5. KYC-Chain – Blockchain Technology for KYC
6. Not Token of Trust – Electronic ID Verification
7. ?AI and machine learning

#1 SEON- Developed for Pre-KYC checks

If we talk about digital footprint analysis SEON stands at first in the row. It's an amazing KYC verification API that comes with an exclusive tool to get you insights on what your target customers are looking for.?

Note that SEON doesn't provide full KYC functionality but it can save you a lot of time & money spent on KYC practices by sorting out fraudulent applicants before they pass the final stage of the onboarding process.

As a result, you don't not need to spend extra money on running KYC checks on suspicious actors who deserve to be blacklisted. Moreover, this KYC verification API empowers businesses to save resources &, upscale your strength against fraud prevention efforts.

SEON’s tools give you insightful data points with following benefits:?

• Its Reverse phone lockup feature checks whether the given contact number exists or not?
• Its Reverse email analysis feature inspects if the shared email address exists & identify suspicious remarks.
• Its Device fingerprinting feature finds the configuration of software & hardware used by a user to connect their websites or apps.
• Again its Reverse digital profiling lookup analyzes over 35+ platforms & networks to record user data.?

#2 Onfido

Have you ever thought about why Fintech apps like Revolut, Bitsmap, & Remitly have a common KYC verification setup based on Onfido?

This KYC verification API & software can verify around 2,500 IDs from 195 countries using its AI-driven models.??

Onfido brings a bundle of useful features for biometrics & liveness analysis for KYC verification & an AI-powered system that will automatically accept or reject apps.

Also, this KYC verification API comes with an important feature to manually review the selective cases.? Last but not least, Onfido goes well with both KYC & AML checks.

Onfido benefits:

Onfido can verify around 2,500 types of ID documents from worldwide nations.?

Can conduct KYC, AML, & anti-fraud operations all in one go.?

Onfido drawbacks:

As most of its setups are automated, the chances of getting false results via AI-driven KYC checks. After all, it's frustrating when legitimate customers get odd errors repeatedly on this KYC verification software.?

The possibility of false positives remains with the liveness verification function of Onfido's KYC verification API as well. There are chances of getting more friction due to poor quality results are there to further affect the overall user experience.?

#3. Trulioo

Trulioo is pronounced as truly-you, another exclusive KYC verification API tool to use for ID document verification purposes.?

It comprises a long list of ID document verification data derived from approximately 5 billion identities across 195 nations. Furthermore, the company presents around 4,200 categories of documents inclusive of driving licenses & residential permits.?

It’s an ideal KYC verification software that also allows you to keep a check on AML watchlists. The benefit of using Trulio is its KYC verification APIs that are readily available with other featured products. It’s an open-source tool & hence, anyone can use this tool for free.?

One can further try any of its Growth plans for KYC & AML checks and Enterprise plans for business verification.??

Trulioo benefits

• Trulioo's database is the largest one among popular KYC verification APIs available for startups.?
• Its transparent & well-segmented pricing models make payments way more easier than imagined.?

Trulioo drawbacks

Trulioo's data enrichment & risk scoring features are not satisfying. It fails to meet the requirements of manual reviews & risk management in areas other than KYC.?

Trulioo Cost:

There are three pricing plans for Trulio, a free trial, the Growth plan, & Enterprise plan followed by business verification. And no online pricing option is available with this API.

#4 Refinitiv

Refinitv is the next name in our list of top KYC verification APIs. It's a well-established data analytics firm that works on large financial data catalogues.??

Refinitv can be leveraged for KYC as well as AML. If you've decided to integrate it's KYC verification API & solution, you shall have to select the right KYC model that gives access to recommendations from 100s of expert analysts across the world.?

The suggestions come from experts who depend on 600+ sanction & law enforcement watchlists to retrieve meaningful data for KYC records. In this way, Refinitiv turns out to be a comprehensive solution for both KYC & AML, specifically for investment banking & asset management.

Refinitiv benefits:

• It combines both AML and KYC tools to help companies in the finance and banking segment. It's a perfect fit for those wanting to conduct KYC verifications & AML checks.?
• It brings aggregated data from well-vetted analysts who show up with the latest watchlists for AML.?

Refinitiv Drawbacks:

The pricing of integrating Refinitiv's KYC verification API is high for those intending to come up with a top-tier financial institution.??

#5 KYC-Chain

KYC-Chain enables you to cross verify identities & perform 'Know Your Customer' process along with AML checks and of course, leveraging blockchain KYC in the system.

KYC-Chain is a sister company of SelfKey, a venture that brings an all-in-one KYC verification software to store KYC details? on-chain.?

The company is identified for its bank-grade compliance toolkit which can verify more than 10,000 data sources across 240 nations with the fastest response time of 30 secs. Isn't it interesting?

Well, it is more exciting to know that KYC-chain has recorded more than half a million customers from varied industries & segments including telecoms, trading, & fund management.

#6 Token of Trust

What will be your first step if you become a victim of online fraud or scam? Most probably, you will try to strengthen your security system, right?

But surprisingly, Darrin Edelman brought another idea that goes around KYC verification API that turned out real with the name of 'Token of Trust' in 2019.?

Token of Trust is a Minnesota-based company that provides e-ID verification services alongside document scanning & age verification.?

Now the tool is exceptionally popular among young adults & companies emerging in the gambling industry.

Token of Trust benefits:

It brings a complete suite of KYC tools that includes user-friendly tools for identity verification, biometric authentication, & even digital age verification.

Token of Trust features all-round KYC and AML coverage that enables users to make right decisions on the basis of insights derived from online reviews & market trends.

Token of Trust Cons:

The pricing of this KYC verification software is readily unavailable for guest users & the cost is comparatively higher than other alternatives.

#7 AI and machine learning

While technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning seem to be a bit complex for newbies, they're absolutely groundbreaking & interesting for developers working on automation.?

In simple words, it’s similar to using automated systems to speed up the performance of KYC verification API that works with a huge volume of applications data no matter if it’s for image quality analysis, document digitization, or sharing risk rules suggestions.?

A point to note down here is that your MYC cannot be outsourced to machines. The algorithms are simply a way to help with existing processes.

Benefits & Drawbacks:

AI and machine learning are amazing tools to automate existing processes, but you must be able to trust the quality of your tech. It’s also worth your interest to choose between a black box (opaque) or white box (transparent) system. The former is designed to work out of the box. It can give you some human-readable reasons to understand how it works & how you can control it as needed.

Here comes the end of our list of the 7 best KYC verification APIs, software, & tools that you should consider to meet the standards 'Know Your Customer compliance requirements.?

If you need a credible partner for KYC & other software products then Hie HQ is the best team to rely on. Our excellence is apt to deliver out-of-box software solutions for businesses of all sizes & niches. Contact us to know more about us.?