1. What is the mission and vision of Jumio?
Jumio’s mission is to make the internet a safer place by protecting the ecosystems of businesses through cutting-edge online identity verification and authentication services that quickly and accurately connect a person’s online and real-world identities. Jumio’s automated identity verification solutions fight fraud, maintain compliance and onboard new customers faster.
2. Why is trustworthy digital identity critical for existing and emerging markets?
As more Canadians turn to their computers and smartphones to manage their money (and every other aspect of their lives), it’s important for organizations across a broad span of industries to provide a seamless digital experience, and that starts with the onboarding process. Consumers expect the ability to create online accounts in minutes, not days — anytime, anywhere. They aren’t afraid to take their business elsewhere if they encounter unnecessary friction. In fact more than 40 per cent of potential new accounts are sacrificed during the onboarding process because of time-consuming, clunky identity verification processes.
3. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy? How does Jumio address challenges associated with this transformation?
As companies evolve to become more digital, more and more interactions with customers will occur on a screen rather than in person. These digital transformation efforts start with creating new accounts online. Digital identity verification is an unsung hero in an organization’s digital transformation strategy because companies must verify that a person’s digital identity matches their physical identity when conducting business online.
With this in mind, it’s imperative for Canadian enterprises to build in the necessary operational resiliency to survive this new reality. The COVID-19 pandemic has showcased the value of IT and digital transformation, and the need for organizations to accelerate the transition.
According to a recent J.D. Power study, nearly one-third (31 per cent) of new account openings are executed through a bank website or mobile app, up from 22 per cent in 2019. Meanwhile, the number of new account openings at branches has declined year over year by 10 per cent, and now comprises just over half of all new account openings. Sadly, many financial institutions still require users to visit a store or branch office to create a new account or to perform routine transactions — increasingly, this is going to be a difficult mandate as many of us are now homebound and social distancing.
This is a wake-up call for organizations that have placed too much focus on daily operational needs at the expense of investing in digital business and long-term resilience. Jumio helps Canadian businesses to digitally transform their KYC/AML and onboarding processes so they can quickly, securely and compliantly onboard new customers.
4. What role does Canada have to play as a leader in the space?
Canada is playing a leading role in online identity verification in a somewhat surprising way. In recent years, Montreal has emerged as a major technology hub for artificial intelligence (AI) due to the prominence of AI talent and research support in the city. This has allowed a number of companies, including Jumio, to launch AI labs in Montreal. In Jumio’s case, our goal is to build production AI models that perform three vital functions related to online identity verification: data extraction, fraud detection and risk scoring. In fact, AI has already been productionalized to reduce the time it takes to verify the digital identities of remote users. At Jumio, AI models have reduced the average customer transaction time by more than 50 per cent, with more significant reductions planned in 2020.
So, in effect, Canada is driving the AI-based innovation that is powering faster and more accurate online identity verifications around the globe.
5. Why did Jumio join the DIACC?
Jumio joined the DIACC because we wanted to be part of the conversation and help shape the emerging digital identity ecosystem. Jumio is a global leader in AI-based identity verification and biometric-based authentication and we process close to 300,000 identity verifications each day. As a result of our experience, we have much to offer in terms of best practices, especially given the pioneering work of our AI Labs division based in Montreal. At the same time, we want to learn from other members about best practices and emerging frameworks for digital identification and authentication.
We share DIACC’s mission of enabling Canadians to completely and securely participate in the global digital economy by establishing a robust, secure, scalable, inclusive and privacy-enhancing digital ecosystem. Our industry is evolving quickly and many institutions are relying on yesterday’s technologies, including knowledge-based verification and credit bureau queries which offer low levels of identity assurance and open the door to impersonation fraud and account takeovers. We are playing a valuable role in helping Canadian enterprises, of all stripes, understand the key trade-offs they need to consider and help them adopt more modern, AI-based approaches to digital identity verification and authentication.
6. What else should we know about Jumio?
Jumio is the global leader in online identity verification because of our commitment to innovation and the customer experience. Jumio leverages a unique combination of technologies including AI, OCR, computer vision, machine learning and leading-edge biometrics to set the industry benchmark for identity verification accuracy, fraud deterrence and simplified KYC/AML compliance. Moreover, Jumio has spent the last five years refining and innovating around the customer experience. This includes reducing the number of steps required to verify an ID document or identity. This also includes optimizing the language and graphics used on screen to help maximize online conversions. These types of innovations are no less significant and help our business customers streamline their customer’s online journey.
Jumio has verified more than 250 million identities issued by over 200 countries and territories from real-time web and mobile transactions. Jumio’s solutions are used by leading companies in the financial services, sharing economy, digital currency, retail, travel and online gaming sectors. Based in Palo Alto, Jumio operates globally with offices in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific and has been the recipient of numerous awards for innovation.