Know Your Customer (KYC) or Identity Verification is at the forefront of the C-suite agenda as fintechs strive to protect themselves and keep the fraudsters at bay. Synapse, a unified banking-as-a-service platform, supports fintechs in their efforts to get ahead and stay ahead of fraudsters while delivering great customer experiences. Synapse provides domestic credit, lending and investment solutions as well as global payment, card issuance, deposit, and crypto products to more than 15 million end users through simple APIs. We have an annualized transaction volume of $67 billion and $11 billion of assets under management across our platform. Further, we are the only regulated, full-service platform on the market, empowering customers to quickly build, launch and scale innovative financial products and services. Recently, Synapse was ranked #92 in Financial Services on the 2022 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list, and recognized by Juniper Research as the Future Digital Awards, Banking-as-a-Service Innovation Platinum Winner. Being a regulated and licensed member of FINRA and SIPC, through our affiliate Synapse Brokerage LLC, Synapse developed a suite of KYC technologies and processes that our customers use to protect their platforms against identity theft, fraud, and anti-money laundering (AML) schemes, and that Synapse uses to advance global product delivery.
About Synapse KYC Technology
KYC, or identity verification, establishes a person’s identity by requiring the collection of information that confirms that they are who they say they are. For example, a driver’s license, passport, date of birth, social security number, and other documents lead to a diverse set of data points that help fintechs verify new customers’ identity. Now imagine you are launching a global solution capable of onboarding users in 35 countries. The KYC requirements expand exponentially, with local variations in identity documentation, technology, as well as speed and expectations for verification process completion. This is precisely the challenge Synapse overcame in launching our Global Cash product.
Leveraging KYC Technology to Innovate New Products
Global Cash is a secure account that enables residents in 35 countries to hold U.S. dollars, accept payments from U.S. companies, and receive a U.S.-bank-issued debit card. With Global Cash, U.S.-based fintechs can expand their market reach, onboarding international customers. For international banks and fintechs, Global Cash enables quick and easy implementation of a financial solution that grants customers virtually anywhere access to U.S.-based account services. Synapse’s KYC technology supports Global Cash by meeting U.S. regulatory requirements essential for compliance with widely varying identity methods and technologies across 35 different countries. Helping non-U.S. residents secure U.S. accounts, especially in Latin America, is vital because their economies are experiencing high inflation. In 2021 inflation had reached a level comparable to the financial crisis of 2008, and it is expected to reach 8 to 10% in 2022. Global Cash allows Latin American residents to hold, spend and invest with the stability of the U.S. dollar.
The Future of KYC
Technologists looking for a way to scale KYC quickly envision an architecture that consolidates and stores validated identities into ID scores. “ID scores help fintechs drive responsive and frictionless onboarding experiences for new users while mitigating fraud risk,” said Sankaet Pathak co-founder and CEO of Synapse. “Synapse ID score is a platform level feature that enables more streamlined identity verifications for any user that has been previously scored across the platform. Fintechs new to our platform benefit from the ever increasing population of ID scores formulated over the history of our platform. As a result, it’s faster for fintechs and more convenient for consumers who don’t have to traverse a lengthening verification process repeatedly.”